How do you account for Travel Time?

As with our pricing models, designers do not all follow one methodology when it comes to charging for travel time.

While some may charge hourly, others charge for expenses. Some designers build travel costs into their Design Fee and some charge for mileage only. With this myriad of choices, the one thing that is paramount, is that your client is fully aware of how you will handle this element of the project expenditures.

I have always had a clause in my Letter of Agreement that outlines how we charge for travel. While virtual work has certainly cut down on the number of visits with a client, or our time sourcing at showrooms, travel is still an expense that I pass on to my clients.

While some clients are only 5-10 minutes away, the costs, especially now with our gas prices being highjacked, do add up. I also have team members that need to travel to job sites and showrooms, which is another cost in the project.

We all can “work” while on the road by hot spotting, taking calls, and the like, so I do not charge hourly for our travel time. I do charge for mileage at the government approved rate, all tolls, train, taxi, and subway expenses. We do truly care about being conscious of the expenses our clients will be paying and we often try to split a trip between two clients, whenever possible. For instance, if we are having a sourcing day for clients, we will source for two clients on the same day.

Two weeks ago, we were in New Jersey surveying a new project in Weehawken and then travelled back up to Englewood Cliffs for a client meeting. This was the perfect opportunity to maximize our time and minimize the expenses for our clients.

Working out of town can become more challenging and depending on the location of the project, we discuss terms for travel with each prospective client, prior to creating our Letter of Agreement. We want to be sure the project will be a good fit for everyone involved and the travel portion will be an important part of the equation. If I am working in Florida, since I had a place, and travel there at least once every six weeks, I do not charge for airfare. If a client requests that I go on an unscheduled visit, they will pay the cost of travel.

When I was down in Miami, clients in Palm Beach paid the expenses of mileage and tolls for me to travel up to the job site or meet for shopping days or team sourcing.

The bottom line is that there is no “right” way to charge for your travel expenses. It is a part of your billing practices and as long as you are crystal clear about the subject from the beginning, you should not have any issues.