What to charge?

wildgoose1uk

Most of my recent work has been consultancy or business planning but I have had a query form a new sole trader asking for a quote for book-keeping and possibly tax return. I have no real idea what to charge and thought I would ask you guys how you quote?

wildgoose1uk

Well I quoted £25 a month in the first instance with a review after six months (was going to be £35 but as a new start up I felt I could not charge that).

The competition quoted £22.50 per month including the tax return ...................

......strewth.... left me speechless. I know I am not aiming to be the cheapest but I did not think I was setting the bar that high.

strewth......

Monsoon

I guess it depends what they do and the volume of the bookkeeping. I could do a sole trader with minimal bookkeeping for £35-30 per month Inc tax return, but only if it was pretty simple. A busy plumber would be looking at more like £80 a month or so.

If you look at the blog in my sig, I've done a few posts about charging which shows my thoughts.

All I can say is there will always be someone cheaper, don't lower your prices to be the cheapest or you will always attract a certain type of client; grateful, maybe, but not very profitable! The Market is very saturated at the moment and some people do price very cheap, but there are plenty of people willing to pay a fair rate, not everyone shops on price. It's hard to say no to work, but some people want to pay peanuts.

Remember, if you price too low to the point where you aren't happy with it and possibly come to resent the job because of it, that's an ethical consideration that means you probably shouldn't be acting for them anyway!

T.C.

I am lucky enough not to have to quote for the work. I always do one quarter's, or one month's, book-keeping and then invoice the client for how long it has taken. They then know how much it will be after that. PS Most of my clients come by word of mouth.