[bdfh42]

Always charge for work after a reasonable period (perhaps 90 days) following contract end. Minimum charge - 1 hour.

Offer a maintenance contract if you want with a choice of an annual "up front" fee or monthly billing (I always charged monthly in advance).

Doing free work is no way to retain a customer's respect - I bet they do not give away much free "product" themselves.

[slindstr]

Thanks for the insight! I agree completely - the only reason I ever did free work for them was because they were literally my first customer ever, and I wanted to keep them happy.

[codeslush]

I get that you wanted to keep them happy, and sometimes that's the price to pay for getting initial traction and referrals.

Most reasonable people understand boundaries though. If you charge a minimum of one hour, then they are forced to batch up and prioritize their requests. This is a good thing. Right now, you are training them the wrong way!!! Keeping a customer happy is not the same as being a slave to them.

I would also suggest that there is no such thing as a 10 minute task. You have to account for your mind-shift between projects. This is why it helps to batch things up - and you can explain it like that. You can do four or five changes at one time much faster than you can do five changes over five different days.

Monthly retainers are great if you can get it. Maybe even something like 5 hours a month. Give them 6 every now again - that will make them happy.

Hope this helps.

EDIT: One thing I forgot to mention - you may want to discount your rate slightly for the retainer plan. This makes it mutually beneficial.