[rememberlenny]

Not a freelancer now, but did a lot of contracting.

Key is to price using a WEEKLY RATE. Break your work into chunks of weeks.

Do not do hourly work.

If the client is looking for less than a week, then its possible to do a daily rate, at a higher average, but the moment you have to break up your tasks as hourly jobs or pay-per-task, you are creating the opportunity to absorb unexpected costs from the client.

[fny]

I think the trick about hourly is to make sure you don't lock yourself into a fixed hour contract. I typically give a broad estimate, and I also tell the client that if I go over, they will be billed for those hours.

[meric]

Wouldn't an hourly rate be useful if we have a full time job and am only able to provide 5-15 hours, varying each week, to our clients?