HomeCareerBilling rates – other side of the fence

Comments

Billing rates – other side of the fence — 6 Comments

  1. I’ve worked as a contractor. The billing rate did eventually become available to me through transparency from my boss when he wanted to directly hire me. We were able to use that information to cut out the middle-man and negotiate a pay rise for me with a cost reduction for them.

    I did not feel particularly one way or the other about the amount charged, what I didn’t like is that this was misrepresented to me when I was placed there by not acknowledging there was an additional fee on the top (when you already pay fees to the hiring company for your superannuation, insurance and administration).

    I later heard other people at the same company discovering their fees and using that knowledge to negotiate better rates with the placement company. That can’t be good for their business, but to be honest they didn’t do much to earn 25% of your pay year after year.

    I’ve also read plenty of horror stories where someone is being paid peanuts and the markup through placement can be 300% and up. That seems like exploitation to me.

    If I had to pick one or the other, I’m pro-transparency. If you’re making reasonable money by providing a reasonable service, then there should be no shame or argument about it.

    • Hi Cody,

      Thanks for the feedback. One thing that is unusual in your case is that you able to “cut out the middle-man”. Usually placement firms have a contract with the client that prevents the client from hiring you or for you working for them for a number of months after the contract ends without reimbursing the client. But regardless you bring up a good reason why transparency can be good for the placement firm. I have seen crazy markups from large consulting firms who pay their consultants a salary that comes out to around $50-$60/hr, yet charge the client $200-250/hr.

  2. Pingback:Billing rates – other side of the fence, part 2 | James Serra's Blog

  3. Pingback:Billing rates – other side of the fence, part 2 - SQL Server - SQL Server - Toad World

  4. The US Army hired a contractor for personal services in Afghanistan. This Contractor hired us to perform these services. Our contract states that we are 1099 employees and we will work 6 days a week, 10 hours a day for “X” salary. However, the Contractor sent us a specific invoice and told us to charge a specific amount daily. This daily amount was calculated on working 7 days a week (not 6 days per our contract). When we brought it to their attention, they told us to start charging them for the 7th day (instead of increasing our daily rate). Is this legal? If not, can you provide DOL or IRS requirements that I can provide to the Contractor? Also, they were recently terminated by the Gov. What is the chance that they won’t correct previous invoices? Thank you for your help and advice- we need some quick answers.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

HTML tags allowed in your comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>