as i prefer to work in the shop over working onsite, i have little experence in this. usually, i make it and they pick it up. this time i have to install posts and arches and trim at the house. time onsite is billed, time in the shop is billed, but what of travel time?
I guess that depends on whether you want to get paid for your travel time, or donate it to the customer. When you're driving, you're not working.
You don't need to itemize travel time in your bill, though -- combine it with shop time.
-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)
Save the baby humans - stop partial-birth abortion NOW
minorite asks:
Billed. It is time you could be doing work for someone else, isn't it?
As a sop, bill them at half time for the travel, if you want.
Charlie Self
"If our democracy is to flourish, it must have criticism; if our government is to function it must have dissent." Henry Commager
We provide supervision, we don't do heavy work as one of my former bosses from West Texas would say.
My time is billed portal to portal, 4 hours minimum, 4 hour increments.
Saturday, Sunday and overtime billed at double time rates.
Travel expenses at direct cost plus 10% for handling.
HTH
=========================================================== ( my time) is just as valuable driving down the road as it is standing over a table saw...
If I owned the shop... and had to pay a second person to deliver something I would still have to pay that person... and truthfully I guess I would NOT be paying him the same as I did myself so I could see billing less then "your" regular shop time... but not less then uyou would have to pay another person ...
Bob G.
When in business (especially for oneself!), every little bit helps. Here in NC, I am allowed to pay myself for driving, if business related. I keep track of actual time driving on the same logs I use for business use of a vehicle (mileage and upkeep), and take it as a deduction at tax time. My favorite lumber supplier, Steve Wall Lumber, is about a two hour drive from me, one-way. I am allowed to deduct the driving time, the mileage, and meals. (If the trip is long enough-and I've done a couple long trips, to visit my representative galleries in person-then I am also allowed to deduct my overnight lodging.) Check with your state. It pays to be frugal! (Before I was legally a business, I would bill travel time in the shop bill.)
Michael Helms Mountaineer Millworks Weddington, NC remove "nogoons" from email for replies
I have worked in several service businesses. It is common to bill a travel charge based on zones or actual. At my present employer, a medical imaging manufacturer equipment, the zone 1 rate is equivalent to 1hr labor + $0.50/mile. When I was an HVAC tech, the travel charge was part of the minimum base charge. In both cases, if it was OT, travel was billed at standard OT rates portal-to-portal. As another poster said, if you weren't on the road, you could be doing billable labor in the shop.
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