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Consulting - travel time

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tracedf
(@tracedf)
Posts: 169
Estimable Member
Topic starter
 

For those of you who consult, how do you bill travel time? Do you charge full rate or half rate? Do you differentiate between daytime weekday travel and weekends or off-hours travel?

 
Posted : 01/06/2018 6:39 pm
(@trewmte)
Posts: 1877
Noble Member
 

For those of you who consult, how do you bill travel time? Do you charge full rate or half rate? Do you differentiate between daytime weekday travel and weekends or off-hours travel?

If you are happy to wade through this thread https://www.forensicfocus.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=9747/ I seem to recall several posts discussing travel expenses.

 
Posted : 01/06/2018 6:49 pm
(@jahearne)
Posts: 35
Eminent Member
 

I definitely charge for expenses (hotel, fare, etc), but I usually itemize travel time and discount it at invoice. Discount is almost always 100%. Also I cap travel time at 8 hours per day no matter how long it takes.

It's a very competitive field out there and every client is different, so this gives me the most flexibility without locking me in and clients love discounts.

 
Posted : 01/06/2018 7:04 pm
(@armresl)
Posts: 1011
Noble Member
 

Think about what is fair as opposed to what you would be doing if you weren't driving.
Are you working on other cases where you can be generating money?

I've seen travel rates from 25 to 75hr plus mileage/or gas cost

For those of you who consult, how do you bill travel time? Do you charge full rate or half rate? Do you differentiate between daytime weekday travel and weekends or off-hours travel?

 
Posted : 01/06/2018 7:36 pm
tracedf
(@tracedf)
Posts: 169
Estimable Member
Topic starter
 

I definitely charge for expenses (hotel, fare, etc), but I usually itemize travel time and discount it at invoice. Discount is almost always 100%. Also I cap travel time at 8 hours per day no matter how long it takes.

It's a very competitive field out there and every client is different, so this gives me the most flexibility without locking me in and clients love discounts.

Thank you all for the responses here.

jahearne I think your last line hits at my dilemma. I've been trying to establish something that will work for all cases and I really just need flexibility.

I've had travel time listed on my rate sheet at 1/2 time since I started consulting, but I don't think I've ever actually billed travel because most of my out-of-town work is done remotely. The reason I started this thread is that I'm looking at a case where I will have to do almost a full day of travel each direction for one day of on-site work. Based on the responses here, I'm updating my rate sheet to show that travel time is reduced rate and negotiable.

If the travel is minimal compared to the regular billable hours, or is off-hours, I'll just write it off. If I have to do two days of weekday travel for only one day of work, I'm going to insist on some compensation for that time and the client and I can work it out (in advance). Most likely, I'll ask for a half day billing for each full day of travel and try to be productive during that time (e.g. by reviewing documents on the plane/train). I will subtract out any hours that I use to work on other projects (which I will bill to the appropriate clients at the full-rate).

 
Posted : 05/06/2018 4:38 am
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