I bill at $800 a day in the Ruby space. It's not that often though, because I'd rather work on my own stuff than other people's!
From my experience, this is not on the high side, though perhaps slightly above average.
Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?
31–40 of 113 posts
Re: Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?
#32I don't know why people are dancing around this issue. I'll name some dollar amounts for you. As a LAMP consultant, I charged $100/hr. USD take-home and worked W-2. I'm now looking to get into independent (non-W2) consulting and will be charging from $50-$100/hr. USD on a sliding scale based on the type of work and the ability of the client to pay. Not all small businesses can pony up $100/hr., but mid-to-large corporate clients certainly can. Database tuning gigs can see $250-$300+ hr., but that's a very specialized skill set. You'll need to determine the going rate for your market and start out in the middle of it. If you go to low, you sell yourself short and look cheap (which can sometimes give the illusion of poor quality). If you aim too high, you price yourself out of the market.
Good luck!
Re: Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?
#33Another question is: How do you even find consulting gigs?
This is how recruiters do it: http://computerconsultants.yuku.com/reply/2987/t/A-fascinati...
In other words, it's more about sales skills than technical ability.
Re: Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?
#34there's a whole obsessive-compulsive website called realrates.com on exactly this subject.
That site is garbage.
Re: Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?
#35As a boring freelance Oracle consultant, I can bill 450-500 GBP/day... interesting LAMP and Web based roles seem to be around half that.
Considering that's > $1000 per day (probably closer to $1500 -- haven't dared to check the exchange rate these days), and $500/day for a LAMP project ... hey, that's not bad.
Re: Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
"Remember that you cannot get eight billable hours out of an eight hour day." This is an extremely important point. When I was freelancing, I was surprised by just how much non-billable overhead time I had (at least 5-10 hours a week when working with 3 clients). To reduce overhead, work with as few clients as possible. But you'll run into dead time that way, since jobs don't start on a dime. I know a guy who has fre…
Just curious since I haven't done freelancing yet... how do you determine what is billable vs. non-billable? If 60% of your time is billable then what constitutes the other 40%? I know part of it is looking for new work. What else?
It depends on how you bill (hourly vs day vs project) -- but there are many things that are obviously non-billable, because they are not for any client (e.g. doing your taxes/administrative for your business, buying office supplies, and every other little thing that isn't directly tied to the end product you're providing to clients).
Another big time sink (that I didn't realize) is all the work that's involved with even setting up a contract or freelance relationship. Depending on the client, you can spend weeks waiting / working out details before the project begins. This is why longer projects are more valuable (and can be billed at a lower rate) -- since there's always some fixed overhead per project.
Re: Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?
#37Sorry, you are not going to get away with it that easy. This is like going up to that hot girl you have been eyeballing and saying "I really want to go through the whole dating process because I really don't understand it, can we just skip all that and get straight to serious relationship?" This question is nearly impossible to answer and a very personal decision. Nobody here can tell you how much you are worth. For…
Remember that you cannot get eight billable hours out of an eight hour day. You can (and do) if you go on-site, and you can if you actually work eight hours for a single client in any capacity. You can't bill for doing your office paperwork, promotion, eating lunch and such, but that's not part of an 8 hour "work" day (like your commute isn't part of your work day either).
Depending on the client, you can bill for commute (or travel) time. Make sure this is clear though before you start doing it, you don't want to create ill will.
Re: Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?
#38I don't know why people are dancing around this issue. I'll name some dollar amounts for you. As a LAMP consultant, I charged $100/hr. USD take-home and worked W-2. I'm now looking to get into independent (non-W2) consulting and will be charging from $50-$100/hr. USD on a sliding scale based on the type of work and the ability of the client to pay. Not all small businesses can pony up $100/hr., but mid-to-large corpo…
If you do go too low, remember one important thing: your value increases as you get to know their system. After x months, raise your rates. You'll still be a bargain over someone new because there's no learning curve.
Rates go up for everything else, why not you too?
Re: Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?
#39Another question is: How do you even find consulting gigs?
Network, network, network, network, network! (Sorry, I cannot overemphasize this.) You are your own marketing department. All the time. No, you don't have to be one of those Amway pests, but don't be afraid to say what you do and to volunteer your opinion about something computer related. You're not doing it to get business; you're doing it because that's who you are. Even if nothing happens now, it could 6 months la…
>He said he had a friend who owned a pawn shop with a computer
Unethical to aid a pawn shop, especially if you are a Christian. But hey, who am I to judge.
Edit: pawn shops are unethical from a Christian viewpoint, as they charge interest. And the parent said he was doing Bible study. But again, who am I to give advice on such topics as an heathen. Just downmod and show me I'm wrong.
Re: Ask YC: What are the going rates for consulting gigs?
#40I do a lot of PHP work in Austin, TX. I charged my very first client $65/hour. I was pretty excited about that at the time (whoa, someone will pay me $65/hour!). Then I realized that this was very cheap to many businesses, and saw how much many "agencies" were charging to complete a project. I then got a couple more clients and raised this to $75, then $95, and still haven't had anyone turn me down. Most people would say that means to charge more, but I haven't done this yet...
If you can find a few good clients that pay consistently and are really cool to work with, you can make a really good living working about 20 hours/week, especially if you live in a city where the costs aren't outrageous. As said above, you need to talk to a lot of people. As edw519 said above, if you do consulting and talk to enough people, it's surprising how you feel as though you "luck out" and get some good, well paying work.