Independent Consultant - Charge one or two days for hotel?

[loudriscoll]

Hello,
I am a new independent consultant.  Recently, a well established customer wanted me to travel to on site.  It is 250 miles each way that I drove.  Obviously, I needed a hotel so I could get to their location in the morning.  Once the day was over, (full day 8-5), I stayed again as I didn't want to travel 250 miles back.  Should I charge the customer for one or two hotel days?

[pk_aeryn]

When I hire contractors I expect them to ask or negotiate this with me ahead of time- there’s not necessarily a right or wrong answer. If you know them to be a generous client try two and see what they say.

[Gremlin]

In future, I would agree travel and incidentals up front.  I've had clients who would have an expectation that no hotel expenses should be covered for one day of work.  As pk_aeryn said, there's no right or wrong, just what you agree.

[Kayad]

If I were a small business owner hiring you I think I would be a bit tiffed about the night #2 charge with no advance negotiation/approval.

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

What would you have done when you were a W2 employee doing work for this client? That’s probably what they expect.

[toganet]

When I hire consultants my company requires we determine these costs up front (and they cap them at 10% of the overall spend).

When I traveled as a consultant we (almost) always included this up front, but on a few occasions we added the costs afterwards.  This usually was due to unforeseen circumstances (weather, scope change, equipment delay), so the Client was aware and was part of the conversation about how to handle the cost.