Comment by bryanlarsen | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bryanlarsen | Hacker News Reader

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I disagree with the prevailing sentiment here. Availability during standard office hours is an expected part of any free-lancing gig. Nobody expects you to be available for the full 8 hours, but it is always expected that you will be available during a predetermined part of the day. Just ask any contractor in India or Poland doing a contract for a North American company.

In other words, you should say something like "$X for office hours availability. I'll give you a discount if you drop that requirement".

Charging separately for that will raise flags at the client's end. Also, many enterprises find it easier to deal with higher bundled rates than with more complicated structures.

That being said, what kind of availability are they asking for? AFAICT, the standard is for "same day" response. If they send a question in the morning, a response of some kind is expected in the afternoon, and vice versa. Much more than that justifies higher rates, IMO.

> Availability during standard office hours is an expected part of any free-lancing gig

"Freelancing" for 6+ years here. I disagree that this is the case and in fact IMHO you should treat the client as though they are one of the many demands on your time schedule, not as though you need to fit into their time schedule. Our clients have always understood that I fit them into my availability and not the other way around unless we have worked out an agreement ahead of time and they are compensating us for it.

Further, one of the primary determining factors of whether you can claim to be a 1099 worker is if your clients dictate where and when you do your work - if they get to tell you where to be at what time, you are an employee.

My advice is as another poster stated, negotiate the hell out of this with 2-3 pricing options.

Whenever I'm billing ~40 hours / week to a client, they've always expected that I'm available for a couple of hours every day at a time convenient for my primary contact.

If I'm billing substantially less than 40 hours, clients have always been much more flexible.

That may be a good out for the OP. If you want flexibility, perhaps a 20 hour / week contract would be a good option?

Agreed, I was expecting this to be about late night/weekend calls of "everythings broken! help!". I don't know how you'd say you charge extra for normal office hours.

I don't know how you'd say you charge extra for normal office hours.

It's the same reason that as the operator of a small business you can't just walk into your accountant's or lawyer's or bank manager's office and expect to see them without making an appointment. You could probably have a dedicated account manager at those places, and they'll probably be happy to provide one as long as you're paying them some multiple of the corresponding employee's annual salary for doing so.

Remember, you're running a business. You're not a member of your client's staff. That means they're paying you for the product or service you're providing according to your contract, not for being a bum on a seat for some fixed hours. It also means you will have necessarily other commitments in terms of business administration and potentially other clients. Anything that reduces your flexibility to do these other things or particularly that requires a degree of exclusivity for a single client is a big commitment and should be charged accordingly.

Personally, I wouldn't accept a long-term gig with fixed hours or on-site working. I also value the freedom that comes from working independently, and I have no wish to go back to more of an employer-employee relationship. If a client wants to work that way for a sensible reason and over short period (a few days during a crucial period leading up to launching a product, for example) then I wouldn't turn it down automatically, but my rates would be much higher (several times the normal rate I work off for my time, and multiplied up again if the engagement might then be deemed disguised employment and taxed accordingly).

I don't think it's that you're charging extra for normal office hours, but you're charging extra for rapid response and for making house calls. I try harder than most programmer freelancers (IMHO) to simply answer my phone and answer my emails, but in the OP's situation I'd also try to charge extra for what his client is asking.

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