mivey
Senior Member
CHWflorida,
I feel your pain. There are many here that will look at someone's quoted rate and immediately say "that is too low" when they have absolutely no clue as to how that rate is being billed. It sounds like to me there are some guys who either: 1) Don't get off their behinds and put in a full week or 2) Charge only for the time they are actually turning a screwdriver. Even on that part, I'm just speculating and I really could care less.
I think it would be obvious to say a $30/hr billing rate is too low unless you were doing charity work, but where do you draw the line? You will never know until you look at the details. I find it stupid for someone to say: "you can't make money at $80/hour" when they have no clue how the business is run. Obviously, there are people making money at that rate, but they are doing things different from the guy who says his rate is $200/hr and may even be in a different cost zone.
I like Marc's post #76 as it makes the most sense. Be sure you have covered all of your real costs. You may also find ways to change your business methods that make things work better as well.
I see this site as a place to get input, then take those inputs and shape them into what I want, not to be a site to get a complete cookie-cutter model or billing rate.
That being said, I do like to look at the many salary survey websites to see if the net wages and benefits are competitive. This information is almost impossible to get from a billing rate.
I feel your pain. There are many here that will look at someone's quoted rate and immediately say "that is too low" when they have absolutely no clue as to how that rate is being billed. It sounds like to me there are some guys who either: 1) Don't get off their behinds and put in a full week or 2) Charge only for the time they are actually turning a screwdriver. Even on that part, I'm just speculating and I really could care less.
I think it would be obvious to say a $30/hr billing rate is too low unless you were doing charity work, but where do you draw the line? You will never know until you look at the details. I find it stupid for someone to say: "you can't make money at $80/hour" when they have no clue how the business is run. Obviously, there are people making money at that rate, but they are doing things different from the guy who says his rate is $200/hr and may even be in a different cost zone.
I like Marc's post #76 as it makes the most sense. Be sure you have covered all of your real costs. You may also find ways to change your business methods that make things work better as well.
I see this site as a place to get input, then take those inputs and shape them into what I want, not to be a site to get a complete cookie-cutter model or billing rate.
That being said, I do like to look at the many salary survey websites to see if the net wages and benefits are competitive. This information is almost impossible to get from a billing rate.