Saved by the bill - or a long financial uphill

Dear blog reader,

In order to deal with the economic downturn our government have enable a 50% tax deduction when you hire electricians, plummers etc. to do jobs in your home. The primary purpose is not to subsidize my investments but to secure that i make the effort to stay in my profession and let others do what they are superior at.

During the last few weeks I have for the first time in my life hired a couple of different professionals to stay focused on what I do better. But with hourly rates between €50 and €76 some of the advices could come in handy to save you by before the bill gooes out of control

PROJECT PLANNING

Your professional skills could come in handy and without them you are lost. Here a few hints that might be useful

• Establish a clear written specification of all details in what you want to get done - and update it daily!
• Request a firm price - but expect to be billed by the hour by someone that never ever commit towards a time estimate, since your project is sooooo special
• Even if you do not get a firm price - make an own budget and make your guestimate known the first day
• Buy all required material in advance - and be prepared to re-stock on a daily basis to prevent being charged for purchasing time as productive time

PROJECT EXECUTION

I am of the opinion that you and your way of acting is part of this as well

• Have someone representing you on site - it pays off, and don't leave home without it
• Your perception of productive time is sound to measure - and expect billed hours to be include a coffea zip first thing in the morning and collecting stuff before arriving on site and a lunch break where transport to and from the lunch restaurant is likely considered as billed hours.
• Check in daily to get a status report - and ask for the estimate of remaining time. I have a hard time to understand that the average time of connecting a power outlet could be 87 minutes !!!
• Set a firm end-date - scope creep from TTM misses is likely to be your largest cost.
• The last half hour is winding down time - to assure punctual departure 2 minutes before the hour.

BILLING

Always fun to see what kind of surprises that will show up and how to deal with them

• This process is a lot more paced - apparently this is where the speed goes up
• Ask for detailed break down of billed material - that otherwise t is likely to show up in a lumpsum
• Question hours billed, that tend to be rounded up to nearest full day - even if we just talk about 3 hours work
• And as if billing for transport time was not enough - the bill is likely to be spiced up by additional travel expenses

It is facinating how some professionals, even if hired locally, are prepared to gamble with their business reputation and the power of word of mouth. I understand the strategy high price and fast quality work, but combining high price, medium pace and lack of ability to predict required working time sounds like a few hints shy of having a clue about running business.

All the best