Can you charge by deadline?

A client of mine told me today they need a job done and out to press in less than a week, including procuring print bids for them. Is it right or should I build a 'deadline' fee into the price on top of the 'hourly/project' fee? It kinda puts other projects on the backburner...any ideas?

IMHO you are entitled to rush charges in this sort of situation.

however, depending on your relationship with the client they may refuse or you might decide the extra bit of cash is not worth the strain on the relationship.

you also have to consider the impact on your other clients. if it is quite unreasonable you might need to simply refuse the project or find someone who can help you get everything done on time!

Another thing you might consider is how it will look for you to complete a project so quickly. At first, it may seem like a display of your amazing talents, but if you quote their next job at taking 4 weeks (while this one took only 1), it can appear that you're ripping them off on the time/hour estimate.

There are times when I can knock a job out in only a few hours, but will not deliver it until a later, agreed upon date, simply because of the appearance.

Just a thought.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 1a2b3c4d

...or find someone who can help you get everything done on time!

---

Whether you actually need someone else's help or not this can justify both the added expense and the reduction of time over a normal project.
Saying that you had to pull some of your other coders/designers off of their assigned projects or that you had to hire a freelancer(s) to meet his deadline would explain the extra charges for the additional man-hours and why a 4-week job was able to be completed in 1 week.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JabezStone

There are times when I can knock a job out in only a few hours, but will not deliver it until a later, agreed upon date, simply because of the appearance.

---

great point. another thing I've learned is when you deliver closer to the agreed-upon deadline there is less tendency for the client to ask for unnecessary revisions. don't get me wrong, if real revisions are needed I welcome the early feedback but sometimes I have had clients who actually said they love the work but since we delivered early how's about doing another version so they have another choice! arggh.

Great points everyone. Thanks for the advice!