Weekly pricing, help with structure of deal

Question

I'm trying to structure a deal for my consultancy and would like the opinion of others about whether the following is a standard approach:

1. I'm thinking of doing billing weekly with bi-weekly reporting/feedback. Is that common?
2. When should I get paid? Should I do net15?
3. Does it make sense to have a price markup on components that I've already made for different projects in the past?

edit: I worked for another client to complete component A for 2 months. That component/knowledge should be used in this project as well. I could "configure" it in 2 days for the new case, but that would be a punishment for my efficiency. Therefore I'm thinking of charging an extra for this component specifically. I want to know if this is common practice or an outlandish thing to do.

4. Is it standard to include a clause in the contract that I'm free to renegotiate/change the agreed fixed weekly pricing?

Answer 1

It is hard to answer this question as this always depends on what´s customary in your location / your business etc.

1. I´d just ask the client what he prefers.

2. You have do decide what you are comfortable with, here. Generally the earlier the payment the more secure. Also a good idea to put late-fees into the contract.

3. This depends: If you really own the component, you should have a rough idea to how many Clients you want to sell this, do a fixed price based on this (Like Auto cad is more expensive Photoshop, which is more expensive than MS word ..) IF it was paid contract work, you normally don´t own the component but will be a little bit faster in rewriting it due to prior experience. Bill you real hours. But that´s just my opinion.

4. Depends on the structure of your deal? Something like: All prices are subject to change with a written notice of 4 weeks sound sensible so everybody know what to expect. Customer will probably have the rigth to cancel the order when you change the prices though.

Answer 2

Anecdote: I had a colleague which hired a (full-time) worker for an agreed upon annual salary... two weeks into the employment agreement this worker asked for a raise which was apparently substantial... he was fired.

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You can ruin a relationship by being greedy.

Consider this....

Client A paid you to learn this "component". They invested in you so you could further be of service to them. Without that investment you may not know this "component". In addition, without this knowledge you may not be getting any additional work from the client.

Now, you want to charge this same client a premium for the knowledge they paid you to learn. They already paid a premium with that first project taking 2 months rather than 2 days.

This is merely bad practice.

Charge the next client needing this "component" a premium for the knowledge/experience. However, never charge the client that invested in you to begin with and supplied you with this knowledge.

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Look at it another way.. via physical objects....

You have nothing to sit on... So, Bob paid for a new office chair so you could work on his project. Now, Bob has a second project. You want to charge Bob for office chair maintenance since you have a new one you need to upkeep. Considering Bob paid for the chair initially, doesn't that sound silly and greedy?

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I have a collection of past items I've used and own (personal). I also have a collection of past items I've used for each client (project).

• If I pull something from the "personal" collection, I charge a markup for it's use.
• If I pull something from the "project' collection, that client is never charged a markup for its use. They paid for it's creation (even if I technically own the item IP according to contracts.)
• I don't pull from Client A "projects" for use in Client B "projects". Anything which is "free to use anywhere", i.e. created on my own time generally or any associated client relationship has long since been dissolved, is in the "personal" collection.

Of course, this is all highly dependent upon the specialization and/or generalization of any assets and any associated contracts.