Billing for your travel time

[Anne Beetem]

>Anne,
>
>I'm not sure I understand, so let me use an example.  Suppose you have
>two clients who live only one mile from each other but fifteen miles
>from you.  You intend to tune both pianos on the same trip, one right
>after the other.  Are you saying you would charge the first one for the
>time it takes to get there from your home (15 miles) while you would
>charge the second for only one mile, because you're coming from only one
>mile away?
>

Ah,  I rarely am able to batch my clients this way since I admittedly am in
a specialty aspect of keyboard work, namely harpsichords, clavichords,
fortepianos.
When possible,  I do batch them and let them share the travel expenses in a
fair manner. This is particularly important as my clients are often 6 to 18
hrs. drive away, such as last month's run,  and tomorrow's.   Generally
they don't end up needing to cover round trip expenses by themselves.

If batching,  you can quote a maximum surcharge, subject to reduction when
you have other clients in the same area.   So if you have 5 clients who are
100 mi. away,  they only need each cover a 20 mi. travel consideration.

Again,   everybody needs to know costs before going.

No they don't get confused.  They get invoices.

I should state that my private individual clients are amenable to letting
me avoid rush hour traffic, and the universities are understanding enough
to pay the charges for professional time when they can't be accomodating
for time.

ab