I'm in the middle of negotiating a nice freelance gig. The client now wants me to be available large parts of the day during office hours so internal developers can run things by me and be more productive.
That's all fine, except that part of the reason I'm freelancing is being able to be flexible in how I schedule my day.
Is it common to negotiate for an upfront retainer fee based on this? After all, I'm committing myself to be available for solely said client during the agreed on hours.
Another way would of course be to try and get a higher hourly wage, but it seems better from a negotiating standpoint to split to two.
Thoughts?
-EDIT-
To be clear, the time that I need to be available for them are billable hours, i.e.: to get the primary job done for which I'm hired.
On top of that I need to be available for internal developers during those hours should the need arise. I therefore have to structure my working hours around the office hours of the client.
Therefore a retainer fee would sit on top of billable hours and would compensate for my lack of flexible working hours NOT incurred opportunity costs.
That's all fine, except that part of the reason I'm freelancing is being able to be flexible in how I schedule my day.
Is it common to negotiate for an upfront retainer fee based on this? After all, I'm committing myself to be available for solely said client during the agreed on hours.
Another way would of course be to try and get a higher hourly wage, but it seems better from a negotiating standpoint to split to two.
Thoughts?
-EDIT- To be clear, the time that I need to be available for them are billable hours, i.e.: to get the primary job done for which I'm hired.
On top of that I need to be available for internal developers during those hours should the need arise. I therefore have to structure my working hours around the office hours of the client.
Therefore a retainer fee would sit on top of billable hours and would compensate for my lack of flexible working hours NOT incurred opportunity costs.