W. Chris Shank on Sun, 29 Dec 2002 11:10:35 -0500


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Re: [PLUG] Jobs -- YES


An important note - $50/hr for a consultant with a contract spanning
several months is pretty good gig - since they are guaranteed 40/hrs
week for the duration of the contract. 

$50/hr for a consultant to service/maintain a server for a small
business a few times a month is really really low - and this is how i
interpreted gary's technical needs for non-profits - am I wrong?

It's very difficult to maintain enough clients at a few hours a month to
make $50/hr pay off. I don't think it would be unreasonable to pay
$150/hr for that type of service.  
  


On Sun, 2002-12-29 at 09:45, Bill Patterson wrote:
> Actually there are a few reasons why consultants often get more than that per
> hour.
>     1. They take on a much greater risk to their income by being consultants.
> It is very easy to go from over $50/hr. to nothing.
>     2. They are required to be able to do things that there aren't enough
> employees to do.  This can mean a considerable amount of training time and
> expense.
>     3. They have to pay for any and all benefits they get.  This includes the
> 7.75% social security tax that your employer pays.  This includes all HMO or
> hospitalization premiums.  This includes all workers compensation, life,
> liability, and other kinds of insurance.  Business owner employees are REQUIRED
> to pay into the unemployment compensation funds, but are NOT allowed to take
> any benefits from it.
>     4. Pennsylvania has wanted about $300 per year minimum from corporations
> just to get started.  New Jersey is close at $280.  And it doesn't matter
> whether you are incorporated in Delaware, each state in which you do business
> wants its cut.  On top of that a corporation is frequently expected to carry
> business insurance ($500-$600 minimum).  Errors and omissions insurance can be
> $1000-$2000.  Accounting fees can easily hover around $1000.
>     5. If the consultants are brokered the broker takes a percentage that the
> client pays and that the consultant never sees.  (Typically this is a 20-40%
> markup.)
> 
> You can't take the hourly rate billed to the client, multiply it by 2000
> hours/year, and get an annual salary equivalent.  It just doesn't work that
> way.  Most clients understand this.
> 
> I have to be careful or I'll talk myself out of consulting.
> 
> Bill Patterson
> 
> gabriel rosenkoetter wrote:
> 
> > On Sat, Dec 28, 2002 at 11:51:31PM -0500, Mike Leone wrote:
> > > That $50 an hr almost certainly is not a salaried rate, Gabe. Most likely
> > > consultant fee. And that's not high, for consultants.
> >
> > Oh, I understood what it was. And it's being not high for
> > consultants is only that much more ridiculous. :^>
> >
> > --
> > gabriel rosenkoetter
> > gr@eclipsed.net
> >
> >   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >    Part 1.2Type: application/pgp-signature
> 
> _________________________________________________________________________
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-- 
W. Chris Shank <chris.shank@acetechgroup.com>
ACE Technology Group

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