| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Do you charge more for weekend work? Thread poster: teju
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| I don't accept work at all without agreeing up front on the price | Apr 3, 2008 |
No matter what time of day or night, weekday or holiday, I agree with my client on the rate before I start work.
I work a lot for agencies, and the regulars have a very fast routine for agreeing on the number of source words, and an hourly rate for anything where the source words are not relevant - proofing or whatever. They usually offer 50% extra for weekend or overnight work, and they pass it on to the end client.
With 'occasional' or new clients I quote a rate and ... See more No matter what time of day or night, weekday or holiday, I agree with my client on the rate before I start work.
I work a lot for agencies, and the regulars have a very fast routine for agreeing on the number of source words, and an hourly rate for anything where the source words are not relevant - proofing or whatever. They usually offer 50% extra for weekend or overnight work, and they pass it on to the end client.
With 'occasional' or new clients I quote a rate and tell them when there is a 'rushed job' or weekend charge. Then they are free to find another translator or pay up as they like. ▲ Collapse
| | | | teju 
Local time: 17:53
English to Spanish
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TOPIC STARTER | Thanks Andrew | Apr 3, 2008 |
Thank you for the link. It was a safe bet to think that this had been discussed before. There are many valid points in this link as well.
| | | | teju
Local time: 17:53
English to Spanish
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TOPIC STARTER | Thank you to all of you for replying | Apr 3, 2008 |
Wow, there's a lot of diversity in the answers posted. Among all the postings, Phillip's "I need free time" comment struck a cord.
While it's true that as freelancers we can work as much or as little as we want to, it's important to me to strike a balance between my professional and my personal life. I call it "recharging batteries". After I've been working a 12 hour day, eating at my desk, and this goes on for weeks at a time without a break, I get pretty crabby. I need my time off... See more Wow, there's a lot of diversity in the answers posted. Among all the postings, Phillip's "I need free time" comment struck a cord.
While it's true that as freelancers we can work as much or as little as we want to, it's important to me to strike a balance between my professional and my personal life. I call it "recharging batteries". After I've been working a 12 hour day, eating at my desk, and this goes on for weeks at a time without a break, I get pretty crabby. I need my time off. My brain gets to a point that it doesn't want to cooperate any more. But I'm talking about marathon translations, day in and day out. This doesn't happen to me that often. And the only reason I'm doing it now, is because it's one of my best clients.
I think it doesn't matter if you take the weekends off, as long as you do take some time off. I prefer to rest on the weekends because I have a family, and that's when we do things together. And that time is valuable to me, so, if I'm going to keep working without a day off, I want to be compensated accordingly.
Like Christine said "being a freelancer does not mean that you have to be on call day and night, year round". But that's exactly what my clients think. Even when I'm out of the country, I get emails with "I hate to bother you, but it's urgent". That's when having great colleagues who can give you a hand, can save your day. (Thank you Henry!)
There's a wide range of opinions, from "I don't charge anything extra" to "50% more". I guess we all have to make a decision about what's right for us, and how our work affects our family life. We can all agree to disagree. Thanks to all of you for your input!
By the way, I haven't heard any horror stories from anyone about a client who gave you an urgent assignment, and then didn't pay you. I hope that was because it didn't happen to any of you!
May all our translations be enjoyable, may we have all the time we need to do them without stressing out, and may all our clients pay us a fair wage on time!
Happy translating!
teju ▲ Collapse
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