But in Israel, I've found that anything over $100/hour scares off everyone, including the very largest potential clients. They're used to paying $60/hour for top brass at a consulting firm, which makes it difficult to convince them that my higher rates are worthwhile.
I'm not saying that convincing them is impossible; I've made a living in this way for 15 years now, helped in part by my willingness to negotiate and discount my rates in exchange for long-term agreements. But whereas the US and Europe might have large, wealthy companies with technical needs who don't flinch at $150/hour or even $200/hour, such rates would get you tossed out on your ear in Israel.
That said, I haven't tried charging by the day, and will give it a shot at the next opportunity. I'm very curious to see what happens then.
I agree, there are no other industries where a professional will take on the business risk of another party with the exception of legal, and when they do they expect 30% of the case winnings. But for the vast majority of legal they charge for every hour worked. There is no reason for freelancers to work on a project compensation basis, they are shouldering unnecessary risk, that is usually due to the client not understanding development. Per project pricing immediately sets the freelancer up to have to defend against every change that inevitably comes in. Unless it is routine work, I rarely take on custom development work as anything other than an hourly arrangement.
Be careful; project risk and your billing increment are orthogonal concerns.
But what's the reasoning behind giving weekly prices, why does it result in better rates? I'm sincerely curious about this.
A $1 discount is ~0.1% of an $800/day bill rate.
A $1 discount is ~0.025% of a $4000/week bill rate.
A $1 discount is ~0.001% of an $8000 project.
In what increment do you want to negotiate your rate? In full percentage points, or in hundredths of a percent?
And what figures do you want to be negotiating in: amounts that are low enough that your client can immediately get their heads around, like $100 vs. $150, or the real amounts their company will pay in the end, like $8000 vs. $7900, where an individual person at the company is less likely to feel like they should have a strong opinion?
Remember this: your clients are not paying you with their own money. It is monopoly money to them. It comes out of a budget, not their own pockets.
(To say nothing of the fact that when you bill hourly, you give your clients tacit permission to ask for your time in hourly increments).