I'm a little curious about a point glossed over in this (decent) writeup: what are these situations where one's hourly rate would vary wildly enough to be a major factor? I can see negotiating scope, creating a project price where one might not be as proficient as the resulting price would reward ($100/hr turning into $20/hr), lots of googletime, etc., but since I figure there's no tying these figures to rules of thumb since each situation is different.
Going into it with a fixed rate not left for negotiation unless and until the potential customer asks for it (I've found mentioning it early helps) can greatly simplify one's approach to creating a quote.
If I understand correctly, you're asking about situations in which your hourly rate may vary - from programming ($100/hr) to Googling information ($20/hr)? If you're spending time Googling for part of that programming process, I think it should still be billed your standard programming rate, since that is what you value your time as being for that general task. I guess it's up for debate but it can get complex very quickly if you try to go too specific in terms of pricing.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 18.4 ms ] threadGoing into it with a fixed rate not left for negotiation unless and until the potential customer asks for it (I've found mentioning it early helps) can greatly simplify one's approach to creating a quote.
"It's all over but the shouting"