![]() ![]() So you need to do some analysis about if this is a good deal for you. This trip seems like an effort to keep his head above water. Normally he should pay your expenses, however, from what you wrote, I feel like he is struggling. On some level the original business owner is correct, the burden of running your business falls on you. You should not feel in any way obligated to pay for these travel costs which are not your business expenses.ĭon't back down - and in light of the communication you've already received from this client, insist on payment of these costs up-front (or have them book all of the travel & accommodation). Your business is not traveling to his customers. Your business is delivering your service to this client (either at his normal location, or remotely). So in your case unless you've agreed up-front that you will be traveling to other locations, you're clearly not budgeting for that & haven't included that cost in whatever you're charging them. When you're entering into an agreement to do business where you're providing some goods or a service, you give them a price, taking into account what it costs you to produce those goods or perform the service. While the cost of doing business is certainly something a business should cover internally, that cost is, one way or another, always ultimately paid for by that business's customers (where else would the money come from?). The burden of running your own business and all of the costsĪssociated with that are your burden and not mine I'm sorry, but if we can't agree on a reasonable price for my services then I'm not able to take this on. If your client is a fool and balks when people have the nerve to ask to be paid for their work then simply repeat the following ad nauseam: That's certainly true to some extent but odds are that he's forgetting that as a business owner you also get to dictate the cost of your product and that clients don't get to dictate prices or demand a sale. But the phrase that makes me think your client might be an idiot is " the costs associated with that are your burden and not mine". If your client is just getting hung up on semantics and a general lack of understanding of how billing stuff works then there shouldn't be a problem. And that's also why you need a contract for these things. If you travel down and a book a hotel for a week but the client changes his mind after day one then you still need to be able to bill him to at least cover your costs. Some apply a higher hourly rate and those should include some kind of minimum billed hours. Some contractors simply quote a fixed price for a time-limited gig like this. If that's okay with you I can draw up a quick contract and send it to you by the afternoon? I charge a flat fee of X$ for all out-of-state work and a per diem of Y$. I'm happy to take on this work but if you don't want the hassle of handling my expenses on this trip I'll of course have to adjust my rate. This is standard practice so you shouldn't get any push-back when you quote a different rate for this kind of work, but your client's response isn't the most reasonable so who knows. If you bill X$ an hour for the work you currently do for this client remotely, then you simply bill X+Y$ an hour where you calculate Y based on your expected costs with a generous surcharge for the time you lose while travelling and the general inconvenience. This is why you should have various rates based on the work clients expect from you. If he won't reimburse your travel then you simply charge him for it. Is he off-base or am I? Am I expecting too much? I'm thinking that he's asking me to go represent his company, so he should reimburse me for travel. I can’t reimburse or pay for a rental car, hotel, food, snacks, entertainment or other on your behalf. As a fellow business owner, I am your customer so the burden of running your own business and all of the costs associated with that are your burden and not mine. So I’d pay my own way for any of my own expenses or those of my employees. All ‘internal’ non-billable hours become a cost of doing business. You should bill us what you expect our client to pay We can not pay for any expenses or charges from a vendor (you) which cannot be billed to our client. ![]() Is this normal? Or should they pay because I'm going on their behalf to drum up more work? They need me to meet with one of their customers (in another state) in order to try and drum up more work but they are requiring that I pay for my flight, hotel, food, etc. I'm a 1099 contractor to a full-time client in another state. ![]()
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