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Ask HN: How do you charge for hosting costs?

5 points by Ellipsis753 ↗ HN
I'm starting as a freelancer and am unsure how I can set up hosting for my client. Should I just ask them to set it up and give them detailed instructions or should I just set it up with my account and ask them to pay me monthly for the hosting? Or should I even ask for the bank details so I can set it up for them? We live too far away for me to help them in person.

How do you charge clients for on going costs?

5 comments

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Jem
I tried getting the client to do it when I started last year and it was a pain getting data/details etc from them. Now I charge it at cost + 10% admin fee, invoiced with the project they're paying me for (and will then be invoiced at yearly intervals in future; I use freshbooks.) I'm not in the business to make money from hosting so don't see the point over-charging.
mkilling
What about maintenance? I can't believe the 10% admin fee covers that.
Jem
What sort of maintenance? Server maintenance is the host's problem, software / upgrades etc I charge for. 10% admin fee is just setup and email creation.
martin-adams
I used to host my client projects over the past 10 years and finally stopped (and thankful for it). Sometimes the hosting costs to the client is so small that it takes you ages to chase them for the money.

If you can automate payments and be strict on pulling the off switch when they don't pay, then that might be good.

My approach now is to get them to pay for hosting/domains, and give me their login details and I configure it all. Then you can invoice for you time separately and never be out of pocket.

The biggest pain I found is switching hosting providers, whether through saving money, better service. Getting all he clients moved would take best part of 4 months sometimes because I had more important freelance work to be getting on with.

zachlatta
I generally set up a separate VPS and manage their hosting through their. Depends on the client, but I generally charge a bit more than the actual cost of the VPS each month.