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I am new to DMM. I am in California and I am not sure what to charge my clients. Do most of you charge for monthly, hourly, do you charge a minimum, do you charge for travel? My email is Balancedbooksbydebra@yahoo.com if you want to let me know privately.
Thank you for your help!
This is a question that every DMM has to ask themselves as part of doing business planning. If you haven’t created a business plan with a 5-year financial plan, I would encourage you to do so. This will help you figure out what your costs will be, what amount of time you want to put into your business, and what you need to make.
The answer to your other questions is that it is up to you. Some DMMs invoice monthly, some hourly; some a minimum, some no minimum; some charge for travel, some don’t.
Don’t know how to do a business plan (which should help answer these questions for YOUR business), look up a SCORE in your area (https://www.score.org/ — use Find My Chapter) and see if they have courses you can attend at little or no cost.
This is always a loaded question and one that we can’t answer with a specific number in an AADMM sanctioned setting due to antitrust issues. However, you are in an expensive state so keep that in mind. I agree with Thomas that you need to think about what you need/want to make, how many hours a week you will work (realizing that not all of it will be billable) and what you would need to charge in order to accomplish that goal. You may realize that your target market or your geographic area cannot bear that amount and you will need to rethink if you need a new target market or you need to adjust your expectations. This is also dependent on the types of services you will be providing. Are you just writing out checks for a client to sign and balancing their checkbook every month or are you assisting with more high level financial decisions…budgets, savings goals, spending habits or are you taking on fiduciary roles that require higher levels of insurance and more responsibility and risk? What do you bring to the table in terms of knowledge and experience? My biggest piece of advice is to have confidence in yourself and the value you provide and feel comfortable getting paid for it. Don’t start too low because it makes it hard to raise your prices later when you realize you are undercharging for your services.
As for me, I charge hourly at first, ALWAYS because I don’t know what I am getting into. I have clients where the work is essentially the same each month and I convert those to a flat rate with the understanding that if there is a special project or their needs change, that will be billed out separately or the flat rate will increase. I bill monthly. I don’t have a monthly minimum, but I wouldn’t take on a client that would only take less than an hour a month. It wouldn’t be worth the administrative time. I don’t typically charge for travel except in some cases, though it says in my agreement that I have the right to charge for ALL of my time including travel. However, I work remotely for the VAST majority of my time so I don’t lose out on much by not charging travel time. I also try to make calls that are billable while in the car so I am not missing out on that time. If I saw all of my clients in person, I would definitely charge travel time as that would eat up too much of my day with non-billable time. But, everyone manages these things differently. Good luck!
Thank you for your input. Very helpful!
Thank you Caitlin, I appreciate you sharing your experience with me! Very helpful!
I invite everyone reading this thread to review the Antitrust Compliance link in the Member’s area of AADMM’s website. Debra, I realize you didn’t ask how much people charge, but I reference this to educate those who may be unaware of its existence.
Now, to your question:
– I charge an hourly fee, the same for everything I do: residential organizing activities, DMM activities (onsite or at my home), and/or anything and everything in-between.
– I have a 5-hour minimum; new clients pay in advance.
– I offer ‘package pricing’: 20-hours gets a 5% discount on my hourly rate; a 40-hour package rates a 10% discount. And of course all clients are different: I try to rein in one of my DMM clients to no more than 10-15 hours a month, while others get by with as little as 2 hours monthly.
– I charge time for travel more than 20 minutes each way (again, same rate). I don’t charge every minute; for example, a client who lives 25 miles from me, which typically takes 40 minutes each way, is charged 1 hour travel time. Another client who lives 12 miles from me, which typically takes 25 minutes, is charged 1/2 hour travel time.I have been doing this work for 9 years (8 owning my own business), focusing on elderly but I have a few younger clients, too. I’ve never moved to project pricing because I’m not confident that I wouldn’t end up short-changing the client or myself. Like all DMM’s, I believe, I’m completely devoted to/invested in my client’s welfare; many have been with me since the very early days in 2009/10. (The good news: consistent income. The bad news: heartbreak every time a beloved client dies.)
Good luck and best wishes!
Thank you Roxanne! Very helpful!
Sorry, another question, if you don’t mind sharing…how do you handle working remotely? How does that work?
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