FREE:
A quick 10-minute phone or Zoom chat to see if I can be helpful to you costs nothing. Email me and let’s set up a time to discuss your needs!
Hourly rate, short term:
CAD $45 / hour, plus expenses.
And for the detail-oriented….
Rates are negotiable. We’ll discuss exactly what work might need to be done, and exactly what I’ll be doing, when I’ll be doing it, and exactly what I’m charging for my time and expenses before we start any project.
Human vs Machine time:
- In my office: I track time using a digital tracker, and charge for my human time, NOT machine time. (eg, if your computer is in the corner of my office running an unattended giant overnight backup to an external disk without my intervention, you’re not being charged for the unattended time.)
- Traveling: If I’m traveling to you, my entire time will be charged (whether I’m madly mouse clicking or waiting for your device to respond.)
Hourly rate, long term:
If we’re undertaking a large project, let’s write up a scope of work and make some agreements about rates.
Purchasing power:
Am I buying devices and parts and accessories on your behalf?
I charge exact costs I incur on hardware & devices & shipping & tax, plus a 15% surcharge. That includes portable harddrives, SSDs, or USB drives, batteries, replacement parts or upgrade parts, and some computers.
This “devices or parts” cost charge is in addition to my hourly rate.
This percentage surcharge can diminish slightly if we’re discussing buying expensive equipment or a lot of equipment, so do have a chat with me.
Piecework:
If I’m archiving / digitizing for you, sometimes it makes more sense to charge by the piece — like $20 per VHS to digital, for instance, or $5 per HIGH quality art photo scan, or $30 per corrected / edited HIGH quality photo scan. Or a few cents a page for large simple auto-feed documents. Let’s chat.
Minimum Time:
My minimum time to take on a project is one hour. After that I’m by the minute.
(Example: If I work 49 minutes on your project, I charge for 60 minutes. If I work for 60 minutes, I charge 60 minutes. If I work for 98 minutes on your project, I charge one hour and 38 minutes, aka exact time.)
In advance:
Hourly rate, supplies, and equipment purchase costs must be agreed upon and paid in advance. (One day at a time is fine, especially as we are both building trust in each other.)
If I can’t do the work or source the device, I’ll hand your money back. If I come in under budget, I’ll give some back. If it’s looking like over budget, I’ll stop and check with you. I have a bit of flex here; let’s chat.
GST:
Currently (March 2025) in my semi-retired state, I’m under the threshold for collecting GST. I’ll monitor, and if I need to get a GST number, I’ll start charging it and you’ll see that and my GST number as a line item on my invoices. But for now, nope.
Hiring Extra Help:
I have folks I can call on if your job+deadline is too big for one keyboard and /or out of my skillsets. It’ll be negotiated in advance if so, but we’ll get ‘er done.