The 'hourly rate trap' I keep seeing new freelancers fall into here in ABQ

I've noticed a lot of folks in this group posting about how they're struggling to make ends meet, and almost every time it's because they're charging by the hour. I had a web design client last year who took 30 hours on a simple site because I kept getting scope creep emails asking for 'one more thing.' If I'd charged a flat $1,500 for the whole project instead of $50 an hour, I would have made way more and not felt rushed. The problem is that hourly billing punishes you for being fast and good at your job. Has anyone else switched from hourly to project-based pricing and seen a real difference in their bottom line?

3 comments

3 Comments

blairm7720d agoTop Commenter

Did you factor in how much time you spend on client emails and revisions when you set that flat rate? I learned the hard way that "quick tweaks" add up fast if you don't cap them in the contract.

jessica33120d ago

My buddy runs a handyman service in Santa Fe and he had this same problem with hourly rates. He switched to flat fees for stuff like fence repairs, but then he got stuck on a job where the homeowner kept asking him to fix unrelated things like a squeaky door and a leaky faucet for free. Now he puts a hard limit on included extras in his contracts, like three small fixes max, before he charges extra. Did your web design contract have anything like that for the email revisions?

angelamurphy20d ago

Flat project rates sound good until you realize you're basically gambling on your own efficiency. Hourly billing at least protects you when a client turns a simple job into a never-ending sinkhole of requests and meetings. I've seen too many freelancers get burned on flat fees because they didn't account for the client who can't stop adding "one more thing.