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Carol Lee wondered: <<How do you handle the time that is required to
understand the requirements and develop an educated estimate of the tasks
and time the project will require? Do you consider that time part of your
overhead cost of business, or do you charge for it?>>
The work that goes into preparing a bid is unbillable time, at least on the
surface; that is, you can't send someone an invoice for the time and money
spent preparing your bid. Of course, you'll have to include those hours in
your total annual working time, and incorporate them in your hourly rate
just as you'd do for office expenses, medical insurance, and any of your
other costs of doing business. So this time will be included in the cost of
the contract, even though it isn't a separate line item.
If they call you on site and ask you to consult on defining the project
before you've even been given the contract, then it's fair to request
compensation. Your time isn't free, after all, and they shouldn't be getting
significant amounts of free advice they can then turn over to someone who
bids lower. Once you're actually working with the client, there'll be a fair
bit of research time and working with SMEs and others, but you'll have to
estimate how much of this there will be and include it in your estimate.
--Geoff Hart, geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
(try ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca if you get no response)
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada
"Wisdom is one of the few things that look bigger the further away it
is."--Terry Pratchett
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