Morning Adrian

Your thread has been read 80 times without reply which might indicate that your question is very difficult to answer.

I see all sorts of daily rates quoted. Some tiny, some huge, many in between.

You say that you have 25 years experience in construction and FM, but with no indication of what that experience has meant.

For all I know you could have spent 25 years installing fire alarms and may be an expert on how many fire alarms should be in a building, to what specification and in what locations - but you could offer very little value in terms of providing a broader range of H&S advisory services in construction, FM or beyond.

So, at the very least, you need to give the readers a better picture of your skills, knowledge and experience.

Ultimately, you need to consider how many hours a week (INCLUDING travelling and work at home, in hotels etc) you want to do and how much you want to earn per week, and assess how you sell yourself to the market for that amount or more, making sure that you include for expenses OR keep them separate from the daily rate.

AND you need to include for all the other costs that becoming a consultant may involve - so you might be spending more time at home and running up higher energy costs, you might want to pay an accountant, get in somebody to market you etc etc.

AND it may be entirely appropriate to set different rates according to the value of what you offering.

As example, I used to work for a major engineering consultancy - in general hourly rates were set based on the individual's annual salary (divided by circa 2000 hours per year) and then multiplied assuming a ball park of a multiplier of 2ish simply to break even (LOTS of backroom costs in a large organisation, you should have lesser such costs).

.....but then the bid team would consider how much ABOVE break even to be bidding at and the number would vary enormously AND of course the price included for at least part of the cost of actually putting together the bid (Win some, lose some, but the bid team have to be paid) 

So, on a huge contract, the multiplier would be set at fairly close to break even - high volume, low margin.

For niche work but a small contract, a MUCH high multiplier. For expert witness work or anything similar such that there is very little competition (so perhaps someone on the "ICE Panel" of reservoir engineers - no, I am not on that Panel!!), almost whatever number you choose..

Look at recruitment websites for short term contact rates. The add a percentage on top for business costs and additional profit.

For each £5/hr is about equivalent to a £10k annual salary increments.

Alternatively make use of an onine tax calculator - put in the salary you would like to earn to get an approximate Gross annual salary rate - most sites report figures interms of hourly/daily/weekly/monthly rates.

Then once again add in an allowance for business costs, pension contributions etc, profit.

Presumably you intend working for more than a basic salary plus cost. 

The hardest part of any  1 man consultancy is getting the sales leads and/or associate work. Then there is the cash flow - from 1st contact enquiry to doing the work and finally getting paid can take many months. So cash flow is the issue. I would suggest that you need initial funds of at least 6months to live off, if you have no other work income.

As others have discussed; costing/pricing is completely subjective. 

In addition to the running cost considerations of the business detailed above I also consider what is involved with the job prior to quoting;

-The size, occupancy and use of the site; -The activities conducted and the associated hazards and risks from those activities; -Exisitng controls, systems, accreditation, documentation and the sites culture; -The distance from home and hours required on site; -Tasks and responsibilities of the contract; is it just a one-off risk assessment or a full audit of the companies systems? Is it just one report or continued ongoing support. 

As nobody else has stated what they charge I will; 

It's subject to change upon consideration of all of the above, but as a guide I charge £265 a day which includes a report/write up.

If the on-site inspection or the write-up takes me longer than a day (or is anticipated to) I increase my quote by £132.50 for every half-day anticipated/taken.

This is for me and my companies needs, this may not be suitable or sufficient for you and your business, or competitive compared to other professionals in your area.

I occassionally seek quotes from other professionals for works on behalf of clients, reviewing quotes gives me a good view of what others in my field and area are charging and I can adjust my prices accordingly.

I don't think being secretive about pricing or any aspect of contracting work is helpful for anyone when we're all in the same boat. Sharing this information takes nothing from me nor my company, but may be beneficial for others, it would be better if other people shared.

Thanks

£265 day is ridiculously low in my opinion, Even if you work every day - 5day/week for 47 weeks a year is a turnover of circa £62k. Then less business costs.

If you have other income, fair enough

Most consultants don't wotk every day, maybe2/3rds to 3/4 of available days. I don't charge £1k day, but certainly much more than £265

OCHR membership is pointless/never asked for

IOSH membership is irrelevant to my area of safety consultancy

Originally Posted by: Self and Hasty

As others have discussed; costing/pricing is completely subjective. 

As nobody else has stated what they charge I will; 

It's subject to change upon consideration of all of the above, but as a guide I charge £265 a day which includes a report/write up.

If the on-site inspection or the write-up takes me longer than a day (or is anticipated to) I increase my quote by £132.50 for every half-day anticipated/taken.

I'm a smidgen more than that but it's what I'm happy charging. I only work 3 days a week. I'm not going to die a millionairre but I'm not going to die poor either.

I have some regular clients who I visit weekly, some fortnightly and some monthly and some as and when the work comes in. 

I never work a Friday, due to having a minor stroke a few years ago when my work/life balance was completely wrong. So a revamp of my lifestyle and now I'm happy and content.

I've just changed my company car so now have a vehicle that will hopefully last me until I retire, whenever that will be. 

Whilst I said that being VAT registered works for me, you have to be aware it only works if you are working for VAT registered companies or you become 20% dearer than other small consultant companys.

Heres a question for other consultants though. Travel time, do you include that in your day or not or a bit of it?

For my clients I visit weekly, I travel in my time to and from, but if I'm doing site visits for them, all my travel time is on the clock. 

I've been following this conversation with interest as I'm currently battling with the decision whether to become a self employed H&S Advisor having been the Company's H&S Manager for 18 years and the named "Competent Advisor " as per MHSWR Reg 7. 

So any guidance in pointing me to another source to discuss this with, directly would be very helpful. I apologise for changing the thread of the conversation mid stream and I will continue to follow as the subject of charging is significant.

Does anybody have any comments about Contracts of Service for a Competent Advisor that you provide and whether there is an income to be made from these?

Really interesting Kate, thanks for posting that.  I see that it refers to being careful not to waste money on unnecessary advertising.  My experience has been the same (advertising is often a necessary evil, but you must get it right). As a member of the OSHCR I only get something like 2 referrals a year through that route.  I have spent ages writing, refining and re-refining my Google advert to get it as narrowly targetted as possible to avoid wasting money.  It take me 5-10 minutes a day to review the metrics on the Google Analytics and the Google Ads apps, attend to the housekeeping of the advert (location, key words, exclusions, accessibility on various media).  Everytime I fix an issue, Google seems to change the rules, or worse still ignore the rules already established - grrrr! On average I get one or two calls a month through the Google Ad, of which typically only one call is of any value.  Each advert click (normally by someone using an unrelated key word in the North of Scotland or Isle of Man, despite my filters) costs circa £5-£8 each. My other calls just come via "normal" Google.  Google advertising costs me anything between £80-£100 per month (I set a cap), and I don't run it all year round.  If you're not highly IT literate I would suggest you avoid Google Ads, but your decision.

Edited by user 17 March 2023 10:10:15(UTC)  | Reason: Typo correction