Re: Rush Charges

Old sign in the shop:

"Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on MY part".

In an in-house situation you pretty much have to just take what they give you and hopefully you have some union rules that cover overtime and working thru holidays or vacations.

You have somewhat more flexibility when you work for yourself. If you know your rates, you don't have to guess, just decide what the hours are at the higher rate. This is another reason not to bill a job on a fixed, all-encompassing total amount, but on an hourly basis. If you bid it fixed-price and they then set you up with some change that means you have to work all thru the night to get it delivered on time, you just lost a whole lot of money.

If you have even a slight suspiction that a client may be looking at overtime or rush hours, it is your duty to tell them the rates up front as well as what your criteria are for applying the overages. Should be in the first conversation about costs that comes up when bidding the work. Telling them afterwards always leads to bad feelings and conflict. They may even refuse to pay the higher rate. Get that information out up-front, save a lot of drama later.