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Contingency plan for breakdowns?

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by allpurposetech

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As a computer consultant for small businesses, home
businesses and home users, I have occasionally found
myself in time-sucking situations that I cannot bill a client
for. Usually I will keep at the problem until it is resolved no
matter howmuch time it takes, but there is always a
residue of frustration for both me (for feeling forced to
drop the value of my time to zero) and my client (for
expecting me to get things to work ASAP).

I want to know how other consultants accountfor
breakdowns in their billing processes.

I find breakdowns fall into one or more of three categories:
1) consultant errors
2) consultant trial-and-error (a.k.a. "research")
3) technical breakdowns that happen on the consultant's
watch, but are not the fault of the consultant (e.g. bad print
drivers)

How do you deal with these contingencies in relationship
with your client?

3 replies

by timwalsh

My 2 cents worth:

1) Consultant-induced problems: If a problem is caused by the consultants ineptitude, false assumptions, or just plain bad luck, the client shouldn't be charged extra.
2) Consultant research: Research for what? If the research relates to 1), the same answer applies. If the research relates to anything else, it should be billable, UNLESS the consultant doesn't have a clue and is just flailing in the dark hoping to stumple upon a solution.
3) Other problems: Often, a consultant is brought in to work on a system installed by others. When you bid a job such is this, usually the expectation is that the system is configured correctly and no other problems exist (other than those the consultant is hired to fix). Often, of course, this is not the case and you are forced to fix other problems before you can proceed with the job you were hired to do.

The key here is communication. Make sure your clients understand up front that your bid/estimate is based on the premise that the installed systems are configured properly and working correctly, but that you may actually find hidden problems that must be fixed first, in the course of your work. Also inform them up front that this additional work could affect cost.

If (when) you do run into these problems, immediately inform the client of the problem and whether it can be bypassed for now or must be fixed before you can proceed. This serves several purposes. It keeps the client in the loop (rather than just giving them a bill for more than expected). It places the burden on the client of how (or whether) to proceed. It prevents surprises.

While a small amount of "donated" time often goes a long way to foster good will with a client (especially new ones), your clients also need to understand that you also are in business to make money and can't give your time away as a matter of regular course.
(continued)

by timwalsh

One other billing concern - under-estimation
This happens to all consultants (at least until they acquire lots of experience). Make sure clients also understand up front that the price you quote is ONLY an estimate. If you find that you can't meet your estimate (and assuming there aren't additional factors affecting the work at hand), try to determine how far off you are and inform the client. If your estimate is off a few percentage points, most clients will just say "go ahead." If your estimate is grossly off, let the client know how much more time you need and what you can accomplish in the time remaining under the original estimate. You might consider splitting the difference with the client as far a cost (hal-price for any time over what you estimated).

Bottom line: Think of it in terms of warranty work - if you broke it, or caused it to break, you fix it for free. Otherwise it costs money to fix.

Well, I guess that's mor like 4 cents worth.

by oz_media

I don't want to rewrite what Tim has already said but I will add;
I recently had a customer with a major issue regarding GroupWise that caused me to open a Novell ticket. Novell is very quick to respond but fixes often take some research and testing.
It took about four days for Novell to reach the right solution in which case it turned out to be the customers second office server that was originally configured wrong. I can't bill for the four days of research while I was awaiting answers BUT was able to come to an agreeement with the customer that I spent 6 1/2 hours outside of the office testing solutions and speaking with Novell on the issue that was mutually agreed to as billable as it was not my fault.
I have had another customer debate a $1200.00 overbilling on a $4100.00 invoice where I was the one at fault for not seeing the fix in a timely fashion.
I agreed to SOME fault however, the issue was also not resolved by their fulltime IT staff so I managed to split the difference and only lost $600.00 billable.

The relationship you have with customers MUST be honest. Come clean and admit it when you are stumped but agree to resolve the issue on your own time and only bill for time spent on site.
Not only do you learnsomething but you gain credibility too.

I say this a lot, but you MUST sell yourself and your ideas in order for a customer to have faith in you, I generally never get questioned as my customrs believe that I always have their best interests in mind.

Good luck,
OM

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