I know I should be making things easy for clients but ...

[thecomputerguy]

I have a client who owns a business about 30 minutes away from my Office.

I work for them frequently I would consider them one of my better clients. The Owner likes to have me out to his house but the earliest he is ever available is 6:30pm-7:00pm and his personal residence is about an hour away from my office.

He's the type of client who you show up for something quick like installing a printer and then you end up there for 3 hours trying to figure out anything and everything he can bring to mind while you are there so I can never plan on leaving at any point. I almost feel hostage sometimes... And he almost always requires follow-up stuff.

If I show up at his house at 7pm I probably won't be home until after 10pm.

I've worked remotely with him when he gets home at 7pm and we end up on the phone until 9pm.

He mentioned he may be home during the day over the last couple weeks and I told him to let me know when he will be home mid-day and I'll work around whenever he is home so I'm not out until after 10pm. Every time I remind him to tell me when he will be home he just replies with "Does it still need to be mid-day?"

Do you guys all stick to your guns when it comes to your business hours or do you do you bend them? I don't mind bending them and working past my hours to extent but I don't want to make it seem like it's OK that I'm an hour away from home at 9pm or 10pm.

He's a super nice guy but he just doesn't seem acknowledge that it's difficult on my end to make this work just as I know it's difficult for him to make mid-day work which is while I would open my whole afternoon on any day that he could make work.

Do I just fold and be happy that someone is willing to pay me for work or what do you guys do?

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

Charge an after hours rate that makes it worth it to you, to be out that late. He'll either pay it or figure out how to make it work mid-day.

 

[Mike McCall]

I have a client who insists on paying $100 a month to manage a single desktop and a single laptop. I almost never get to go onsite for anything, which is fine since he's nearly an hour away. What @Slaters Kustum Machines said above seems your best move. Oh, I also have a client who only pays $14.95 a month and NEVER turns the machine on for months at a time. I've asked if she wanted to cancel but she refuses. People are weird, but then so am I.

 

[sapphirescales]

Charge an after hours rate that makes it worth it to you, to be out that late. He'll either pay it or figure out how to make it work mid-day.

Exactly. The decision is his. If you're going to be inconvenienced, you need to be compensated for that inconvenience. If he wants to compensate you accordingly, fine. If not, he'll figure out how to get service at a time that's not going to cost him extra. But charging the same rate for after-hours service is akin to doing free work in my opinion. It doesn't make any sense for you to do this.

 

[Mick]

There's only one real question here: Do you need the money?

 

[nlinecomputers]

If you want to stop being treated like a desperate for work Pizza tech then you gotta charge a professional rate. Does your plumber come out at 7 pm for non-emergency work? And if it is an emergency you get charged emergency rates. My rates DOUBLE for work after 5pm. They Tripple for holidays. And for any of that, I do not guarantee availability. None of my clients have SLAs that require that of me being that they are closed on the weekends too.

 

[HFultzjr]

$$$$$$$
Make it worth your while, or explain your hours and you can't help him outside hours.
I have several who pay me very well for "odd hours".

 

[Diggs]

If your market is residential then you need to have after-hour expectations of working. Most people work during the day and you need to be available when they are (after their work hours). If you are business based and accept the odd residential customer then they need to be aware of an up-charge for after-hours work. I work residential. I accept after-hours appointments at no up-charge but it doesn't mean I have to like the hours.

 

[nerd2u]

When I know customers are like that I tell them the minute I walk through the door that I have a hard stop time of x and cannot work past it.

This allows me to start packing up as we reach the stop time without it being a huge surprise.

As for charging extra for after hours it depends on how my schedule is and my mood.

If I know they want a late night appointment say for a large Install and it goes on the calendar as such then I'll usually do the regular rate, if it's a last minute call out then they get the emergency rate.

It will surprise you how often people are perfectly fine with paying extra because they want something done.

Sent from my SM-G870W using Tapatalk

 

[thecomputerguy]

Yeah my mood right now is I want the time more than the money but ... what do you guys usually charge for after hours work? 1.5 time? Double time?

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

We do double for weekends, after hours, holidays.

 

[alexsmith2709]

I find that clients don't seem to understand that we like/value our out of hours time. We dont do residential call outs and i work 50+ hours a week over 6 days and i still get asked if i can come and do it in the evening. Like you say, its never just one job, they always keep you for longer. If they keep pushing after i say no i usually use the excuse that our insurance doesnt cover home visits and stops a lot of them going any further.
After 8 hours at the shop i just want to go home and eat/chill.
There are a couple clients i will go to out of hours, but they are technically business clients (although i know one of them outside of the business environment) and they understand that my time is valuable and never assume i will always say yes and i only agree to it if it is an emergency or cannot go first thing the next morning. I only charge these clients my normal rate.

 

[Alexey]

do double for weekends, after hours, holidays

Yeah, and multipliers multiply, that is, after hours is 2x, weekends is 2x, after hours on weekends is then 4x. Then, one can tune the values until satisfied.

 

[mraikes]

If your market is residential then you need to have after-hour expectations of working. Most people work during the day and you need to be available when they are (after their work hours). If you are business based and accept the odd residential customer then they need to be aware of an up-charge for after-hours work. I work residential. I accept after-hours appointments at no up-charge but it doesn't mean I have to like the hours.

This is a key point. Residential computer problems aren't "stay home from work to meet the repair guy" kinds of things. Evenings, weekends, even holidays (if so inclined) are to be expected as normal rather than extraordinary and worthy of significant additional charges. I'd go so far as to guess that in most markets a routine habit of charging 1.5 - 2 times normal rate for the area would result in a loss of customers pretty quickly.

Trades like plumbers, etc. that charge high after hours rates are usually solving critical problems worth the price. OR worthy of giving up work hours to stay home and meet them. Shoot, you can even have your neighbor, brother-in-law, etc. let them in the house to do their thing while you're at work. A plumber doesn't even need anyone particular to be there. All they need to know is "the sink leaks" and someone to unlock the door. That alone is a little different than what we usually need.

Regarding OP's specifics, there's nothing wrong with putting a reasonable time limit. Let him know right away, at the time the appointment is scheduled, that you only have a two hour slot (or whatever) available. Then remind him of that during the appointment - but politely. For example, as he brings out his list of to-do's say something like "Great, let's see how many of these we can knock out by 8pm". And despite what I've said above, in this case charge a higher rate if the guy can afford it and you don't risk losing his business work.

 

[nlinecomputers]

This is a key point. Residential computer problems aren't "stay home from work to meet the repair guy" kinds of things. Evenings, weekends, even holidays (if so inclined) are to be expected as normal rather than extraordinary and worthy of significant additional charges. I'd go so far as to guess that in most markets a routine habit of charging 1.5 - 2 times normal rate for the area would result in a loss of customers pretty quickly.

That's where the pizza techs have ruined this industry. It used to be that way. Now you can't make money doing Residential work unless you are drop off only or are willing to whore yourself at any hour of the day for pennies.

 

[PCskies]

I have a client who owns a business about 30 minutes away from my Office.

I work for them frequently I would consider them one of my better clients. The Owner likes to have me out to his house but the earliest he is ever available is 6:30pm-7:00pm and his personal residence is about an hour away from my office.

He's the type of client who you show up for something quick like installing a printer and then you end up there for 3 hours trying to figure out anything and everything he can bring to mind while you are there so I can never plan on leaving at any point. I almost feel hostage sometimes... And he almost always requires follow-up stuff.

If I show up at his house at 7pm I probably won't be home until after 10pm.

I've worked remotely with him when he gets home at 7pm and we end up on the phone until 9pm.

He mentioned he may be home during the day over the last couple weeks and I told him to let me know when he will be home mid-day and I'll work around whenever he is home so I'm not out until after 10pm. Every time I remind him to tell me when he will be home he just replies with "Does it still need to be mid-day?"

Do you guys all stick to your guns when it comes to your business hours or do you do you bend them? I don't mind bending them and working past my hours to extent but I don't want to make it seem like it's OK that I'm an hour away from home at 9pm or 10pm.

He's a super nice guy but he just doesn't seem acknowledge that it's difficult on my end to make this work just as I know it's difficult for him to make mid-day work which is while I would open my whole afternoon on any day that he could make work.

Do I just fold and be happy that someone is willing to pay me for work or what do you guys do?

This reminds me of a past client of mine I had for about 10 years. He owned a small business and I supported his office staff during business hours Mon-Fri. And he wanted me to take care of things at his house too, but only when he wasn't busy, which meant evenings and sometimes even weekend work.

Like everyone else that has commented I would recommend a rate increase, but you should do so gently. If you have been charging him your regular rate during the evening, start charging him 1.5 times that. If he is one of your better clients you really can't raise rates too high too quick. Your rate at 1.5 is very common for after hours work so I would start there. Sometimes you have to be gentle when changing prices. Just tell him your business has been doing really well and because of that your work load has increased, and you will need to start charging time and a half for after hours work. Make sure he understands that this new pricing is for all your clients, not just him. You don't want to make him feel like you are raising rates because of him. In fact, implementing this after hours rate fee now will only help you in the future because I guarantee you will soon come across other clients just like him. And when they ask you to do after hours work you will know to tell them your after hours rate.

 

[brandonkick]

It doesn't have to get personal, but you do need to be careful as he is as you say one of your better clients.

Once you get into a certain earnings territory, people tend to start valuing their time a lot more than extra money. I don't want to spend from 7 to 10 PM at a clients house to come home and go to bed so I can get up for work the next day. I want to unwind, relax and enjoy myself for a few hours after work.

The fact that this guy is willing to have you over, considering your driving an hour each way and staying up to 3 hours, means your probably not charging nearly enough. The bottom line, I think, is you have to come up with a way to do most of this stuff during normal business hours and charge normal business prices. Have him bring his machine in to his place of business, you can go work on it there or get it from him there and return it to him there.

In this existing case, it's a bit hard. If you ramp up the rates, your likely to make him mad. That's hard when he is one of your better customers. That's something for you to consider though.

In cases going forward, I'd simply make the rate so high that almost no one would want it. At least double normal hourly rate plus an additional fee for travel time beyond half an hour one way. Suddenly that urgent problem can wait until Monday!

 

[Altster]

You just need to sit down and think about what "YOUR TIME IS WORTH - to you and your clients!"

And you need to think about how your home life will suffer if you continue to work like this. I used to have a full-time job (doing this type of work) and I would offer my services to a few clients after work hours. I feel I charged a fair rate and no one ever complained about it. I also asked that there was a chance that a client "might have" extra work for me to do, to write it down and maintain a list for me to be able to check off as I completed the work. It worked better for me with some customers since I had keys to their offices and would work without their intervention.

You just gotta do what you gotta do and stick to your guns!

 

[glricht]

... It worked better for me with some customers since I had keys to their offices and would work without their intervention. ...

On a side note: there are a lot of risks in doing this if nobody else is around. I might do this in a business location (depends on the customer), but never in a residential environment.

For residential work, I tell my customers that there must be somebody (over 18) there at all times while I'm working. If they need to leave (e.g. run a quick errand) leaving me alone, I will leave too. It's all about liability. You're in a bad spot if later somebody says "my [whatever] is missing, you must have stolen it!". Hard to prove you did not do something!

 

[GTP]

I have been onsite with both business (after hours) and residential when the client suddenly has to "just duck out for a sec!"
On these occasions this "duck" also either waits in the car (on their time) or schedules another time.
I refuse to be alone in someone's home or business.