"WillR" wrote in message
...
Andy Dingley wrote:
It was somewhere outside Barstow when WillR
wrote:


So - I am curious Andy: Would you (try to) charge for the extra time
spent in clarifying on such a small job? Or would you "eat it"?


Oh, I'd eat it - quite definitely. You have to factor that into your
overheads for sure, so it all adds to the cost. However trying to
_track_ the amount of this time would easily add up to even more
effort.


Do you add a portion of the overhead to each job as a matter of course?

I think that eating it would be a losing proposition -- and clearly
that's why I commented.

This is where the distinction between hobbyist and production shop become
operative. For a large percentage of hobbyists, $100 for an hour or two of
work that is not so different from what they do every night for free, is a
pretty good deal. For a production shop, it's a whole different issue. The
hobbyist will often feel he learned something from the exercise, or feel
good about having done a paying job, or maybe expand his/her skills by
trying something they've never done before. But - the important point is,
the hobbyist is by definition, not in it for profit. He's in it for the fun
of it. Any pay he receives is gravy to him. Losing proposition? Yeah,
maybe, by a measured standard, but if hobbyists were to measure their
profitability, we'd all have to quit our hobby.

--

-Mike-