Minimum hours per interpreting event Thread poster: nini24
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nini24
United States
Local time: 14:45
English to Chinese
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I'd like your opinion.
A client has a 2-hour minimum per event ageement with me, they booked two events which were back to back, these 2 events together lasted less than 2 hours, should I invoice them for 2 or 4 hours? should I invoice the events separately?
Thank you in advance.
| | | | Andriy Yasharov 
Ukraine
Local time: 22:45
Member (2008)
English to Russian
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In general, if your client has a 2-hour minimum per event agreement with you, and you worked on 2 events that lasted less than 2 hours together, you may be entitled to invoice them for the minimum of 2 hours per event. However, it's possible that your client may have specific requirements or expectations around billing that you should consider before sending your invoice.
If you are unsure of how to proceed, it may be a good idea to reach out to your client and clarify their expecta... See more In general, if your client has a 2-hour minimum per event agreement with you, and you worked on 2 events that lasted less than 2 hours together, you may be entitled to invoice them for the minimum of 2 hours per event. However, it's possible that your client may have specific requirements or expectations around billing that you should consider before sending your invoice.
If you are unsure of how to proceed, it may be a good idea to reach out to your client and clarify their expectations regarding billing for these two events. You could also ask whether they would prefer to receive one invoice for both events, or separate invoices for each event. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Once booked, you’re booked. | Feb 26, 2023 |
You cannot get another assignment for the time you are booked. How the time you remained booked and available was spent should not be your concern. They required you to be available and you have been available for the time you promised. So you are entitled to invoice them for both events at 2 hours’ rate.
| | | | Samuel Murray
Netherlands
Local time: 21:45
Member (2006)
English to Afrikaans
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nini24 wrote:
A client has a 2-hour minimum per event agreement with me...
FWIW, it is normal for interpreters to have such a minimum, and clients who regularly hire interpreters would know this. Only clients who don't hire interpreters often may be surprised when you invoice for 2 hours after you (and they) had agreed on a 2-hour minimum.
They booked two events which were back to back. These 2 events together lasted less than 2 hours. Should I invoice them for 2 or 4 hours? Should I invoice the events separately?
I think you should invoice separately for each event, unless it's a series of events that take place over multiple days and logically all form part of a single project. (That said, you may meaning something different by the word "event" than I understand the word to mean.)
I think that you should invoice for 2 events x 2 hours (i.e. 4 hours total), because that is what you agreed. If the client is unhappy, they will point this out. You could, in theory, decide to offer the client some professional compassion (i.e. a discount), but one problem with giving a discount now would be that the client might come to expect the discount next time as well.
By the way, I am not an interpreter.
Is this a client who regularly makes use of interpreters?
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Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 15:45
Romanian to English
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nini24 wrote:
I'd like your opinion.
A client has a 2-hour minimum per event ageement with me, they booked two events which were back to back, these 2 events together lasted less than 2 hours, should I invoice them for 2 or 4 hours? should I invoice the events separately?
Thank you in advance.
If it is a court or hospital and you do not change the location, and the assignments are back-to-back, you invoice only for the time you spent on site. If you had your first assignment at 10:00 AM and the second at 1:00 PM you charge the minimum two hours for each, but if the first assignment lasted from 10:00 to 11:10 and the next was at 11:30, you charge the total time you spent at the location, not the minimum 2 hours for each assignment.
Hope it helps.
lee
| | | | | Your client may well expect to be billed for only 2h simply because it took less than 2h. | Feb 27, 2023 |
But interpreters often need to prepare for events (research etc.). And perhaps your two events were so dissimilar that you could justify charging them the full 4h?
But context is lacking:
is it a regular client and one you want to keep?
what’s the nature of the event(s)?
who’s the client (private person or multinational corporation or sth. in between)?
does your client pay you out of his pocket or pass on your expenses to his client?
etc. etc.
... See more But interpreters often need to prepare for events (research etc.). And perhaps your two events were so dissimilar that you could justify charging them the full 4h?
But context is lacking:
is it a regular client and one you want to keep?
what’s the nature of the event(s)?
who’s the client (private person or multinational corporation or sth. in between)?
does your client pay you out of his pocket or pass on your expenses to his client?
etc. etc.
You’d need to provide more info.
But seeing as you’re asking this Q, it’s probably not a regular client. You could tell them you would normally charge 2h per event, but in this case you will generously „only“ charge them for a total of 3h. A compromise.
Strictly speaking though (depending on how your agreement is worded), you should be entitled to 4h (and risk losing a client).
You could also argue that it was not clear from the start that the events were back to back, so you reserved 4 hours of your time for them and now wish to bill accordingly.
Interesting question 😊
Good luck! ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Same venue, similar topic? | Feb 27, 2023 |
Detail is lacking here. Did you travel to a certain venue at which two roughly similar "events" took place one after an other within a two-hour time frame i.e. a conference at which two talks were given with only a small break between them? This would count as one two-hour job in my eyes.
Or were there two different sessions lasting, say, one hour each, one at 9 and one at 12 so that you were effectively tied up at the venue for four hours altogether, then that would be two two-hour jobs.<... See more Detail is lacking here. Did you travel to a certain venue at which two roughly similar "events" took place one after an other within a two-hour time frame i.e. a conference at which two talks were given with only a small break between them? This would count as one two-hour job in my eyes.
Or were there two different sessions lasting, say, one hour each, one at 9 and one at 12 so that you were effectively tied up at the venue for four hours altogether, then that would be two two-hour jobs.
Or was the whole thing virtual so that you could work on something completely different between the two "events", then you might consider a compromis, being paid for 3 hours altogether.
It also depends, as has been said, on your working relationship to this client and as to how important they are to you and vice versa! ▲ Collapse
| | | | nini24
United States
Local time: 14:45
English to Chinese
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER | I decided on the 2 hours total | Feb 28, 2023 |
Dear colleagues,
Diana and Lee suggested charging the actual time spent, while Samue, Metin, and Andriyl suggested charging 2 hours for each event, Ciliian suggested a compromise of 3 hours. Diana and Cilian added the "relationship" element.
These 2 assignments were from a law firm, the 1st assignment was set for 9am, about one week later the 2nd one was added for 10am.
To answer Samuel's question: as far as I know, they regularly uses interpreters. They h... See more Dear colleagues,
Diana and Lee suggested charging the actual time spent, while Samue, Metin, and Andriyl suggested charging 2 hours for each event, Ciliian suggested a compromise of 3 hours. Diana and Cilian added the "relationship" element.
These 2 assignments were from a law firm, the 1st assignment was set for 9am, about one week later the 2nd one was added for 10am.
To answer Samuel's question: as far as I know, they regularly uses interpreters. They have engaged me several times in the past.
Thank you all so very much for puting in so many thoughts into it, I appreciated you very much.
I decided on the 2 hours total.
nini ▲ Collapse
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