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randymyers
Community Member

I really don't care for the somewhat new option for customers to give a range on the hourly rate.

I'm finding that at least 95 % of the time, the customers just don't understand what that range means.  I assume what it is supposed to mean is that they are willing to pay, per hour, anything from the lower part of their range to the higher part of their range.

Well, that's just now how they are using it.  It is obvious that when they give that range, (because the ranges are so large), that they think they are giving the range of what they are willing to pay in total for the entire job.  In other words they are givng a fixed price range on a job that they are set up to be an hourly job.  This leaves me always having to explain their misunderstanding which is an unwanted, extra bit of communication.

They should take the range away and go back to giving them  the option of only giving a fixed amount per hour that they are willing to pay.

Just my two cents on the subject.

5 REPLIES 5
petra_r
Community Member


Randy M wrote:

They should take the range away and go back to giving them  the option of only giving a fixed amount per hour that they are willing to pay.


There has never been such an option.

 

I like the ranges and frankly never had a client tell me that they meant it as a fixed rate price.

Having the range means I can avoid applying for gigs where the client is most unlikely to pay my hourly rate.

 

I also fail to see how clients could be "confused" when they are entering an hourly range, but not confused when entering an hourly amount? That makes no sense.

It's quite obvious when someone gives a range of say $10.00 to $35.00 per hour that they do not mean that they are willing to pay anywhere between $10.00 to $35.00 per hour.  What they mean is that they are willing to pay between $10.00 to $35.00 for the entire job.  If they truly thought that they were giving an HOURLY range, it's obvious that they would not give such a wide range.


Randy M wrote:

It's quite obvious when someone gives a range of say $10.00 to $35.00 per hour that they do not mean that they are willing to pay anywhere between $10.00 to $35.00 per hour.  What they mean is that they are willing to pay between $10.00 to $35.00 for the entire job.  If they truly thought that they were giving an HOURLY range, it's obvious that they would not give such a wide range.


What a very strange logic. That is not obvious at all. 


I am still stunned that you had 95% of such clients tell you that they meant it for the entire job. 


Otherwise, how would you know what they meant?

I've bid on a lot of jobs with a wide hourly range, and I've never run into a case where a client thought that was the price for the whole job.


Randy M wrote:

It's quite obvious when someone gives a range of say $10.00 to $35.00 per hour that they do not mean that they are willing to pay anywhere between $10.00 to $35.00 per hour.  


Why is it "quite obvious"? Lots of clients have no idea what their project should cost and don't want to shoot themselves in the foot by putting a price that's too low. I haven't had any prospective clients think that I'm going to charge them a $35 fixed price. Maybe your own clients are confused because when they look at your reviews, you've got lots of projects where you've charged $10-35 as a total cost. 

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