Quote & Invoice by the Project

I learned in my earlier consulting business to quote by project and bill by the hour. I noticed that other companies would under bid and then overcharge. I gave a minimum and a maximum (30%) and would bill according to the time taken for each project.

On a recent deck, the client convinced me to separate out the supplies and the labour. This led to negotiations and discrepancies in hours counted and supplies billed. Going forward, we will quote by the project instead of by the hour.

While profits are not huge with deck-building, billing by project will help minimize the commodification of labour.