Billing
Make billing clear before work starts.
Understand how scope, payment timing, invoices, retainers, and external costs are handled before you approve work.
Ask before approving work whenever billing affects scope, timing, cost, or responsibility.
Billing models
Match the billing model to the work
Check what you will receive, how the charge is calculated and when payment is due. The proposal should make those points clear for your work.
Small advice or first-response work
Describe the question and include the relevant page or error message. We can then agree a first paid task, such as reviewing why an enquiry form does not send email.
Project work
Agree the deliverable, price or estimate, and when you will review it. For a page rebuild, specify which page, who supplies the text and images, and what the completed page must do.
Retainer or ongoing work
Agree which recurring tasks the fee includes, how requests are prioritised and how additional work is handled. A monthly arrangement should state the period it covers.
Hourly or on-demand work
This can suit a fault whose cause is not yet known. Agree the rate and when the work will be reviewed before further time is spent.
Third-party costs
Hosting, domains, plugins, APIs, ads, licences, and external tools are separate unless they are explicitly included.
Scope before price
Check whether the quote covers investigation or repair
“Find why the enquiry form fails” and “repair the form” describe different deliverables. An investigation may identify a missing setting, a software fault or a problem with email delivery. The repair can only be defined once the cause is understood.
Before approving a quote, check whether it covers the investigation, the repair or both. If you need a spending limit or a review point, ask for it to be stated in the agreement.
Before approval
Settle these four questions
Payment timing, price, scope changes, and external costs should be clear before work starts.
When is payment due?
Small tasks may be billed immediately. Projects may use an upfront payment or milestones. Retainers are normally billed for the agreed period.
Can you give a fixed price?
Yes, when the work is defined clearly enough. If the cause of a fault is unknown, a smaller paid review may be needed before we can quote a fixed price for the repair.
What if the work changes?
If the agreed work changes materially, we pause and explain the change. The next step and any change to the charge must be agreed before proceeding.
Who pays for external services?
The client normally pays for hosting, domains, plugin licences, APIs, ads, and third-party tools unless another arrangement is agreed in writing.
Billing question
Ask before the work begins.
Include the project or invoice reference and the part you need explained. For example: “Does this quote include repairing the form, or only finding the cause?”