Serious Inquiry - Help With Billing for 2nd Job

[syonxwf]

SORRY to come in and be all serious sally...but I know there are quite a few I.T. guys that hang around here and I was hoping one of you might know the answer to my question. I'll try to make it quick and sweet.

I currently work full time salaried as an I.T. Manager. Another company that works with my employer is in need of I.T. support, separate from my current job, but said they want me specifically to help manage their I.T. needs (they keep hearing good things about me or something, I dunno). They don't need someone full time, just a "pay as you go" on-site/remote and consulting type deal. I have only ever done this a couple times before for other companies, but never this in depth, so I don't know how to do billing and what not.

After talking to them yesterday, they gave me a figure ($50 an hour) and told me to think on it and let me know if I think it's a fair rate, and if not, to let them know what I feel would be fair. It will be 1099 work, so I'll have to take care of my own taxes, which has to be factored in (15% off the top).
I'm not sure how to bill them once we get going though. They are about 8 miles (15 minutes, 25 if traffic sucks) north of me in the heart of the city. Should I charge them as soon as I leave my office, and then stop charging them once I return? Should I ask for a slightly higher hourly amount and not charge them for drive time plus parking (if needed, some work can be done remotely)? Should I charge say, 1 hour minimum, and then 30 minute increments after that?
I called a couple I.T. support companies in the Seattle area, and the rate is much higher ($100-130 per hour), but I'm not looking to charge them an amount that's the same as one of those places, because why go with me when you can get the same rate elsewhere (plus I would really like the extra money, coming up on Christmas and my wife's birthday, and additional mods and what not ).

My initial thought was to counter with $60 an hour to offset the cost of mileage and parking when needed, and then to bill them from the time I leave until the time I get back (or as soon as the call starts to as soon as the call/work ends). If it's something I can do remotely, I figure I could bill in 30 minute increments.

Any ideas, suggestions, etc?

 

[Bender1]

If you want 60 go back with 80

 

[Saabstory]

We have an IT guy we contract for program specific work in my office (custom software suite). He charges $160/hour to our program for any work he does.

He is one of the few I know of who can do what we need directly (obviously others could learn but it would require time for that) so that plays into the cost, but still, $50 seems pretty low to me.

 

[2013R]

thats pretty huge money for that type of job out in your area. Those type of jobs here only bring 60-65/hour and this is a far more expensive area. Def get paid as soon as you start your drive though... Just make sure your current job doesnt have any contract restrictions about moonlighting for other companies.. or you could get fired if found out.

 

[jay745]

each market is different, but $50 seems very low. I would ask for $80 per hour with a minimum of 3 hours for each time they need to solicit your service.

 

[2013R]

i mean for me, i'd ask $120/hour, especially on 1099-R. but i was job hunting a lot over the last 3 months and most of the W4 contract positions are around $60/hour max. basic system admin and tech support stuff.

 

[syonxwf]

Thank you guys, I appreciate the suggestions and advice so far!
I believe that $50 an hour is probably a little low, but this is a small lawyer firm (our company lawyer) that doesn't really make much money, and I don't want to scare them away with too big a number. They only have 6 employees, each has one computer, and then they have one server, which is actually a desktop running windows 7...yuck...
I can easily see many hours of work just to start off and get them back to where they need to be for sure.

Back on point though, maybe I should go for $75 an hour, and then just tell them as soon as I start on my way there I will start billing (or as soon as I answer the phone/begin working on an issue). I don't think I'll do a minimum, because it's already going to be minimum 1 hour on most occasions just to drive there, so probably 2 hours each time I have to drive there, which is good money in my eyes. The company I work for right now is only paying me the equivalent of around $29 an hour, but the job is really cushy, and really pretty lenient on just about everything, which makes up for it a little. I've considered looking for another job, but that's another discussion for another day.

Oh and in regards to the moonlighting thing, the job was suggested to me by my company, so they are okay with it (and actually encouraging it so that I can make more money).

 

[Saabstory]

thats pretty huge money for that type of job out in your area. Those type of jobs here only bring 60-65/hour and this is a far more expensive area. Def get paid as soon as you start your drive though... Just make sure your current job doesnt have any contract restrictions about moonlighting for other companies.. or you could get fired if found out.

San Fran isn't that much more expensive than DC; and we are talking about contracting consultant work, not simply IT. OP; look into creating your own LLC or company. If anything goes south with this deal; you don't want them able to come after you, only after the "LLC" they hired.

 

[syonxwf]

San Fran isn't that much more expensive than DC; and we are talking about contracting consultant work, not simply IT. OP; look into creating your own LLC or company. If anything goes south with this deal; you don't want them able to come after you, only after the "LLC" they hired.

Good idea, very solid advice right there.

Definitely will be doing everything for them, so I'll be consulting them first on what I would recommend and what I feel they need to update and change, and then making the changes to the environment for the most part. I can't do everything, but most every day support of their PC's and server environment I can handle no problem.

 

[ShrekSquatch]

I do this type of thing, under the table for two companies. I charge $65 an hour, but they also understand my "real" job may mean I can't get to them immediately. It's usually spyware, the occasional real virus, and mostly "oh crap, I don't know what happened, can you fix it". A lot of time I can fix things remotely, but often not.

Depending on the type of people there, you may be surprised how tiring this kind of thing can be. There have many times I have wondered if it was worth it...

And if it wasn't under the table, I would want at least $80. There can be a lot of time, effort, and frustrated involved with this type of side job, lemme tell you.

 

[syonxwf]

I do this type of thing, under the table for two companies. I charge $65 an hour, but they also understand my "real" job may mean I can't get to them immediately. It's usually spyware, the occasional real virus, and mostly "oh crap, I don't know what happened, can you fix it". A lot of time I can fix things remotely, but often not.

Depending on the type of people there, you may be surprised how tiring this kind of thing can be. There have many times I have wondered if it was worth it...

And if it wasn't under the table, I would want at least $80. There can be a lot of time, effort, and frustrated involved with this type of side job, lemme tell you.

Definitely something I'll have to think about moving forward with this for sure.

I did work out an agreement with them though, and we are basically on a trial run to make sure everything works out for everyone.

They agreed to $75 an hour.
If I work remotely, I start getting paid as soon as the call starts until the work has been completed. If I work on-site for them, they pay me as soon as I leave my office until I get back to my office. It takes me usually 20 minutes each way, so I'm usually guaranteed around 1 hour per on-site call. Even if I have to go drive up there to flip a switch, I can flip a switch for $75

But we'll see how it goes. If it ends up being too much for me, I don't have a problem cutting it off.

 

[Stinger]

I was going to say, if it's 1099 you need to charge 3x what you want per hour, to cover for expenses (insurance, etc.) and taxes. So for a net $30/hr you should charge $90/hour.