Writing
One number, every month
I charge one flat fee a month. It doesn't go up when the work gets hard and it doesn't come with a timesheet. Here is why, and the short list of what it doesn't cover.
What I got tired of
I have sat on the buying side of consulting. Hourly billing puts the two of you on opposite sides of the table from the first day. Every question you ask costs you money, so you stop asking. Every shortcut I take saves you money, so you wonder whether I took one. A fixed-price project fixes the price and then spends the rest of the engagement arguing about what was in scope. I didn't like being treated either way, and I don't want to treat anyone else that way.
So, one number
You pay the same amount every month. That covers everything I build, everything I fix, the questions, the training, and every tool I use to do the work. If a month turns out heavy, that is mine to carry. If a month turns out light, you still get what we agreed to at the start of it, and you can stop at the end of it.
There is no hourly rate anywhere in the paperwork. I don't track my hours and I won't report them, because the moment I do, you'll start pricing your questions again.
What it doesn't cover
The list is short, and I'd rather you saw it here than on an invoice.
- Travel. If you want me on site, the flights and the hotel are yours at cost, agreed before I book anything.
- Your licences. Microsoft, your accounting software, anything you subscribe to is bought in your own name. Nothing passes through me and I take no margin on it.
- The occasional job that is a different size. Once in a while someone wants something that is not a month's work but a season's, or that needs something bought or built that changes the arithmetic. When that happens I say so before we start, we agree on a number for that piece, and it goes on paper. It doesn't turn up as a surprise later.
Why the first month costs the same as the rest
A lot of consultants charge for an assessment and then charge again to fix what the assessment found. I don't think the first month deserves a different price. It ends with something working in your own accounts, on your real records, and a one-page list of what could come next. If the honest finding is "wait" or "you don't need me", the month is priced so that answer was still worth having.
How you know you're getting your money's worth
Nobody is counting hours, so the accountability has to live somewhere else. It lives on one page: the list of what we agreed to do this month, in order, worked from the top. You see it at the start, you see what got done at the end, and you get written notes after each session. If something new comes up, it goes on the list and something else moves down. That trade is yours to make, not mine.
And you can leave. Ten days before the next month starts, you say stop, and the next month is never invoiced. Everything built stays where it was built, in your accounts, working.
Why it works for me too
A flat fee only makes sense if I get faster every month. That's the deal I've made with myself: build things once, properly, in a way that carries from one client to the next. Each business I work with gets the benefit of every one before it, and nobody pays for me to learn the same lesson twice.