Re: Fair Contracting Practices and Fees

[Barb Philbrick <burkbrick -at- AOL -dot- COM>]

In article <1 -dot- 5 -dot- 4 -dot- 32 -dot- 19970124010219 -dot- 0067f0a8 -at- world -dot- std -dot- com>, Susan Holbert
<susanh -at- world -dot- std -dot- com> writes:

> The rule of thumb, which I have seen published in several places, is
that
>a contractor must charge twice the nominal hourly rate as an employee. In
>other words, a $40,000 employee gets $20/hr. A contractor must charge
$40/hr
>to make the same amount. A contractor's annualized salary after benefits
=
>hourly rate x 1,000.

Add your post to the TECHWR-L FAQ! You did a beautiful job of explaining
the real costs of doing business. I started my business using an approach
similar to one the other poster mentioned (I used annual salary divided by
2000 working hours per year). It didn't take long to figure out that 1000
working hours was more like it.

In the non-billables section, also include drive time if you don't bill
for it (I don't, though I've heard some people do). I typically work
off-site, so driving to a client cuts into my potential billables,
especially if it's for a drop-off or "face time" (aka schmoozing). I use
e-mail, couriers, an FTP site, and fax machines to keep my drive times
down. I also try to schedule most of client appointments on the same days
so I have one disrupted day instead of several.

Thanks for the time you spent on your post -

Barb Philbrick

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