Billing for minimum time?? Not sure how else to word the question!

[beadmama]

I will be doing website/shopping cart work for a gal and I will be charging by the hour for any updates or changes she needs. For those of you who do this do you do minimum amounts of time.

example:
The client needs 3 or 4 things done that will take you maybe 10 minutes and you charge for a minimum of 30 minutes??

My husbands mechanic shop does this in 30 minute increments. When a client calls or any thing needs to be done for the job they charge a minimum of 30 minutes.

Thoughts or experience welcome.

[Night Owl]

There are a few ways you can do this.

First, you can charge for the time in actual minutes, which can be a pain if you have 3 clients all wanting you to do 3 minute projects. I wouldn't recommend this.

Second, you can do what you are considering, but there is a lot of variety in how different designers handle it. Some designers, for example, charge in 15 minute increments, with a minimum of one hour. Others have a 30-minute minimum. Some designers will use time tracking software to keep track of everything they do for a client, and then send a bill when all the little tasks have reached a minimum of 30 minutes for that month.

You can work with your clients on this by requesting that they gather all their little projects they want you to do and send them to you at once.

Or you can setup monthly retainer packages for your clients. So a client can buy one hour per month, or three hours per month, for example. And it's up to them to send you enough work to use up the hour.

Does that help?

[Kristine233]

I bill by 30 minute increments but charge a minimum of 1 hour. My clients always get that and I usually suggest they wait until they have several changes/updates to make at once to get the most of the time they are charged.

I have a couple clients who pay for a year of maintinence service, which usually means they pay for 1 hour worth of work a month for the year in advance, then use it as they need it. These have all been local clients though that I've had to meet in person. This would be similar to the retainer package that Michelle was talking about.