Rates
Rates vary from $40 - $60 per hour depending on the scope of work being done (1 hour minimum, billed by the quarter hour thereafter).
Monthly Retainer Packages
| 5-9 Hours | no discount |
| 10-19 Hours | 5% off |
| 20+ Hours | 10% off |
Hours used over your monthly retainer amount will be billed at the standard hourly rate.
Payment Terms
Retainer payments are due the first business day of the month and must be paid in full before monthly services will begin. Unused retainer hours will not be rolled over to the next month.
Payment may be made via check or credit card.
Rush services will incur an additional surcharge.
Additional fees, such as postage, copies, mileage, travel time, etc. will be itemized and billed in addition to hourly or retainer fees.
Rates and terms are subject to change.
Common Rate Questions
Why won't you roll over my unused hours?
I have to be able to schedule my time among all my clients. The amount of time I set aside in my schedule and the number of clients I take on depends on the number of hours my clients retain. If a client retains 20 hours, but only uses 10 of those hours, and wants to carry over to the next month, that's one less client I'm able to take on because I had scheduled 20 hours into my month. Plus, I'm having to squeeze an extra 10 hours into my next month with no additional compensation. Think of it like when you make an appointment with a doctor, massage therapist, attorney, etc. and you do not give 24 hours notice to cancel your appointment. Many times you will get charged either a portion of the fee or get charged for the whole appointment because that just cost them billable time.
Why do I have to pay the standard hourly rate for time used over my retainer hours instead of being charged the discounted rate for the extra hours?
Charging the standard hourly rate for time over the retainer instead of the discounted rate is also directly related to scheduled time. Say Client A has a retainer for 10 hours per month, Client B for 20 hours, Client C for 5 hours, and Client D for 20 hours. I schedule my time and base the number of clients I can work with on how many billable hours I can handle without hooking myself up to a caffeine drip. If Client C decides they have a project they need completed this month and is going to end up taking 20 hours, then those extra 10 hours are at a premium (think "overtime") If Client C wants to continually use 20 hours per month, then it would be in both our best interest to amend our agreement to 20 hours because:
A) It would allow me to know for sure to schedule 20 hours per month into my schedule instead of 5.
B) It would allow me to tell Potential Client E that I am not able to accept new clients at this time because my schedule is full.
C) It would allow Client C to get the discount on the additional hours s/he is going to use anyway.
If I am not getting a discount for retaining less than 10 hours, why would I sign up for a retainer?
Two reasons:
1) I am not accepting new clients who do not want to partner with me in a long term relationship to further their business (i.e. no "project" based clients).
2) Retainer clients get priority scheduling over the few project based clients I do have. (Yes, sometimes project based clients have to get told I am not able to take on their project because I'm busy with retainer client work.)