setting hrly rates....

"~^ beancounter ~^" wrote

They seem a little low to me, but not by much. I'd probably be tempted to go $120 (it's an even increment) hourly. Never thought about the pre-paid discount, although I do give more time than I actually bill or get paid for. I generally get retainers on all new work (50% of estimated fees) and absolutely require it on all "late/past-due" clients (100% of estimated fees). Remember that "new business" clients also require more of your time, and are more apt to stiff you on the fee in the end. They're also more likely to be vocal over price increases. A 50% jump in fees from year 1 to year 2 comes as a shock to them.

I've given discounts for military, from free to only the time on non-military forms/schedules (like Schedule C, E, etc). I don't advertise that though, but word does get around, and we have a small military presence here.

It's your practice though, and long as you are comfortable with the fee structure, the quantity of your revenues for the year, as well as the quality of the clients, then all is good.

thanx for the reply/feedback Paul...I guess as long as I can approach a 40 hr billiable week...and turn some business away...the supply & demand is sorta in balance....

the pre paid 10 hr blocks are nice, cause the $ is "banked" and it makes billing 100% of time easier...for some reason...

anyway...thanx.....

"~^ beancounter ~^" wrote

Yeah, you'll find that you can't bill out 40 hours every week like clockwork.

You'll want/need vacations, sick days (although we tend to work through both). There are CPE and other educational days. Time out of the office as well as in the office on marketing and such with prospective clients. Your own internal bookkeeping and other office functions that eat up your time, etc and so on.

Hadn't thought about getting "pre-paids" from the clients. And yes, the work on retainer seems to get fully billed more-so than when you have to present a bill for a couple of thousand.

I'll ponder that and see if it'll work with my clients.