How to correctly calculate the cost of your hour of work?

Question

Freelance

Faced with the need to calculate the cost of an hour of work for the customer.
What are the methods to do it right? Prior to that, I used to build on the volume and complexity of work.

For example, there is a certain system that needs to be configured, maintained, and so on. And there are periodically arising diverse tasks that need to be performed.

One of the problems is that there are tasks that require very little time, perhaps even 1-2 minutes, but this is for a specialist who knows the system. And here the question arises, how can such small tasks be correctly calculated by labor costs? Honestly count the time spent on them or count according to some formula from the category as in the joke "1 ruble for hitting and another 9 rubles for knowing where to hit"?

Perhaps someone has come across a similar need and can offer methods for such calculations or share useful links.

Answer 1

Calculate the cost of an hour by logically dividing the cost of the project by the number of lost hours, since you have data from there to take
All small tasks in bulk once a day if a lot or once a week if your own
If a person wants adhock solutions, then the minimum billing for this I have half an hour, plus there is an obligatory part for the fact that I am available. That is, let's say 200 bucks a month, and half an hour for every little decision at once, that is, 15 bucks, for example, if an hour costs 30. If you count two minutes and a break from the flow, and the customer does not agree, I always send him to look for a person who is ready for any a minute to raise your ass and spend a minute of your time on it.

Answer 2

I calculate as follows: is this the amount for which I am ready to get up from the couch and joyfully run to fulfill all the whims of the client? If yes, then enough; if not, add more. If the price is enough for me, but there are no customers at this price, I wait until I am emaciated from hunger so that getting up from the couch took less effort, and then I will do it for less money no less joyfully.
And for how long competitors work, I'm not interested: everyone has different life circumstances. Indirectly, my needs and the volume of my fat are also dictated by the market. He puts everything in its place himself.

Answer 3

Regarding the cost of an hour, I support 2 approaches above:
1. Study the market, look at the rates of people with similar knowledge
2. Divide the total cost of the project by the number of hours spent
. Regarding small tasks. For example, I do not impose a minimum amount of work on anyone. If the task is really small and there is a good relationship with the client, then I can do it for free. If I had to be very distracted for this, I can round up to 10-20 minutes. I don't tell the customer about it. I'm just saying that it took so long to complete the task. It seems to me that it is more pleasant for the customer to think that you worked 20 minutes than to know that you worked 3 minutes and put on 17.

Answer 4

You take the corridor of salaries according to the technology according to the market and translate it into the corridor of standard hours. And then, depending on greed / skills / workload, etc. - vary.

Answer 5

consent is the product of non-resistance on both sides.