How Do I Bill For All Of My Hours?

I run a small handyman and remodeling business and have a hard time generating enough billable hours. I don’t feel comfortable billing for things like giving an estimate, picking up supplies, and cleaning up. So I end up spending far more time working on a job than my estimate.
Handy Bruce

Bruce. Let’s get the practical piece out of the way first.

I can understand not billing for your estimates. However, once you have been hired and are “on the job” your time is billable. Time spent going to the hardware store or lumber yard is billable time. Time spent cleaning up the site is billable time. If you’re not including that in your estimates and on your invoices, you’re going to feel short-changed and continue to struggle in your business.

So a quick and practical answer is to begin charging for all of your time once you’re on the job.

Now let’s take a look at what is going on under the surface because I can already hear you replying with a big BUT: “But if I include those hours in my estimates, I won’t get the jobs!”

If you’re not charging for all of your time, you’re undervaluing your work. And that means you’re undervaluing yourself.

Your ability to receive abundance, whether monetary or otherwise, is a direct reflection of the value you place on yourself.

Now while you did not come out and say it in your question, I sense a bit of frustration and even resentment that you’re not making as much money as you would like. That resentment is a sign that you are coming up against the edge of your financial comfort zone. And it’s also a sign that you’re ready to expand that comfort zone.

Here’s my suggestion: The next time you bid a job, determine how many hours you’ll spend on tasks you do not currently bill for – getting supplies, cleaning up, etc. – and include some of that time in your estimate. For instance if a job will have 3 hours of that “unbillable” time, include 1-hour of it in your estimate.

Why not include it all?

Because you don’t want to shock your system. If you push your comfort zone too far too fast you will lose clients because your ability to believe in the value of what you are providing will not match up to the estimate.

It would be like trying to run a marathon when you’ve only been jogging for a month: You wouldn’t finish the race because your body would not be “in shape” for that kind of exertion.

Well think of your ability to receive as a muscle that needs to be exercised. If you push it too far, it’s not going to make it and could even get injured – you’ll lose clients. But if you don’t push it at all, it will never get stronger and may even get weaker.

So start by billing for some of those hours and as you get more comfortable add more. If you do this consistently, within a short time, you should be able to bill for all of your time, feel great about doing so and have clients lining up to hire you!