Do you charge clients travel fees?

[grobichaud]

very simple question...

[rumleymusic]

If the work is out of the city/county, absolutely.

[grobichaud]

how do you judge how much to charge them?

[Murton]

Transport appears on my invoices.

I included my standard fee, any related out of pocket expenses like CD's, DVD's etc and transport/accommodation.

So it ends up like $250/40min Set + travel + accommodation + another other expenses like hire changes. $250 covers wages, insurances, equipment and a basic mix. $30/hour extra for labour for additional mixing etc

[sonare]

I like to keep it as simple as possible-- one fee for a concert (up to 4 mics) and higher concert fees for more mics (channels really-- which covers mixtime), a different fee structure for sessions, plus expenses (mileage + meals + motel when needed). FedX is a different issue. High-quality mp3 downloads are really handy but do not take the place of the final CD of either concert or sessions. If I were the client I would not enjoy being nickeled and dimed for a few CD-Rs.

Rich

[mpdonahue]

We don't charge travel fees unless the job is more than an hours drive.
Our normal rates for any kit that will fit in a car are the current IRS rates for reimbursable mileage. (2009=$0.55/mi). Any incidentals are also included (Tolls, parking....)
If it is a bigger job that requires us to take the truck, we charge $1.50/mi.
If a system is shipped we charge the client actual cost including insurance.

All the best,
-mark

[rumleymusic]

how do you judge how much to charge them?

For me I charge standard location recording fees, which are set based on time, equipemnt, etc. I would give the client an estimate including travel expenses which can vary widely obviously, based on a little research. If it is just gass, $.45-$.50/mile round trip is pretty standard for any business.

As long as you are up front at the beginning, clients wont feel like you are trying to squeeze every penny you can out of them, always give an estimate and try to be accurate, though don't forget to charge for parking if needed. I had one local gig that cost me almost $40 in parking, which took a huge chunk out of my profits in this budget job.

[rumleymusic]

current IRS rates for reimbursable mileage. (2009=$0.55/mi).

Oh, is it that high now? I better up that fee a little.

[John Willett]

I normally charge a "door-to-door" time from the time I leave base until I return.

I do not normally charge mileage for a gig in a reasonable distance from base, but would for a longer trip - but then I may be flexible on travelling time - it all depends on the gig, the client and what side I got out of bed that morning.

[David Spearritt]

Hi John. Is your driving hourly rate different to your engineering hourly rate?

[Thomas W. Bethe]

More than 50 miles round trip we charge a travel fee (.55 a mile) and if it means over night we charge a per diem to cover food and lodging and depending on where it is the fee can vary so we give the client an estimate before the contract is signed.

Most people understand some don't and expect the "recording fee" to cover everything.

[John Willett]

Originally Posted by David Spearritt

Hi John. Is your driving hourly rate different to your engineering hourly rate?

For location recording the client is paying for my time - so it is the same whatever.

However, if long driving times are involved I often charge a lower time rate and then charge mileage. With these sorts of jobs I look at it on a job by job basis and charge what I think reasonable for that particular job. Long driving for a short job would get charged more than long driving for a long job, for example.

[Remoteness]

I'm only going to address our travel and mileage fees.

When our trucks go out there's a mileage fee of roughly $1.75 to $2.50 USD per mile depending on the truck plus a half day rate charge for the truck for each day of travel plus per diem and hotels for the driver. When we're doing portable dates it's a straight mile charge and flat fee van/truck rental when applicable.

The crew gets a half day rate on travels days if their travel takes longer than 4 hours plus plane fare, hotels and rental cars when applicable.

We do not charge any mileage fee within a thirty mile radius of our field shop; it's on us.

With that said, sometimes you have to meet a certain price point the client set to get the job, so we do (at times) play with the numbers to make it work...

Within reason of course.

I was having a conversation with Tino from Avatar Studios during the APRS/NARAS/SPARS (man, that's a lot of acronyms) reception/mixer party at Avatar last Friday and he was saying how today they have their base fee and come down from there and I can totally empathizes with that concept. I replied that it's quite different than in the old days when we started at our base fee and went up from there. Think about how insane our economy is nowadays that we start at our base rate and discount from there instead of charging for the additional line items. Sometimes we have to sweeten the pot to get the session and that is a drag, but we also have to pay our bills. Even in this economic climate I have passed on more gigs because of the rate than not.

[MBishopSFX]

I was there at Avatar on Friday night as well. Too bad I missed seeing you, Steven! It was great to see and hear Rupert Neve's acceptance speech.

Our tech engineer charges a half-day rate for travel days plus actual transport costs (truck or freight). He's usually driving a rental truck for transport to the larger sessions.

Yes, the base rate and down from there seems to be the norm. We never, ever just give a discount. We change the services to fit the available budget. Too many potential clients have the mindset that the cost of audio recording services should be close to "free" or the equivalent of minimum wage. We all need to do our part to help change that perception!

.

[Thomas W. Bethe]

Originally Posted by MBishopSFX

I was there at Avatar on Friday night as well. Too bad I missed seeing you, Steven! It was great to see and hear Rupert Neve's acceptance speech.

Our tech engineer charges a half-day rate for travel days plus actual transport costs (truck or freight). He's usually driving a rental truck for transport to the larger sessions.

Yes, the base rate and down from there seems to be the norm. We never, ever just give a discount. We change the services to fit the available budget. Too many potential clients have the mindset that the cost of audio recording services should be close to "free" or the equivalent of minimum wage. We all need to do our part to help change that perception!

.

Good to see you here posting...

Ditto on the "many potential clients have the mindset that the cost of audio recording services should be close to "free" or the equivalent of minimum wage. "
I know that only too well.

I like your idea of changing the services offered to fit their budget instead of giving them a discount.

We often get asked, when we are talking to a potential client, to start discounting our services because the client still wants the Mercedes but only wants to pay for the Ford Fiesta. We had one client that kept adding to his "needs" list but forgot to also add to the "need to pay for all this stuff" list. We had to finally raise our rates but he was not happy with the increase. This was a four times yearly broadcast and we originally bid it for a one day event but the setup grew and grew and we finally had to work 2 days to set it all up and check it all out. The client then started to ask if we could also be there for the rehearsal on the day in between. This all was happening when gasoline was over $3.50 per gallon and the round trip to the broadcast site was over 45 miles. Not a fun time.

Take care!