Home › Forums › Forum Archives › Professional Harpists › Charge When Not Actually Playing
- This topic has 8 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 14 years, 8 months ago by unknown-user.
-
AuthorPosts
-
June 28, 2009 at 6:26 pm #151962Margot HaywardParticipant
Hello all! I have an unusual wedding situation, and I thought I’d post it here for suggestions on how to handle it. I’m going to be performing for a wedding for which the details keep changing, along with the price. The latest version is violin & harp for the ceremony, then both of us drive over to the reception site to play for both the cocktail and the dinner hour. The catch is that the cocktail hour is from 7pm to 8pm, and the dinner hour is from 9pm to 10pm. We will not actually be playing from 8-9, but obviously will need to hang around waiting for this hour. All of this I just found out, and had assumed previously that we would be playing for 2 consecutive hours. The bride has suggested that they could “maybe” provide dinner for us during that down time. This bride has already racked up a comparably large bill, due to using us for both the ceremony and the reception, amplification, extra mileage to drive to the reception, etc. Would it be ungracious of me
June 28, 2009 at 8:01 pm #151963brian-noelParticipantYou are
June 28, 2009 at 8:02 pm #151964brian-noelParticipantSorry:
June 28, 2009 at 8:10 pm #151965Margot HaywardParticipantI do, of course, have a contract that I’ve sent her. It includes an OT rate, of course, BUT I was not aware of the down-time in between and quoted her a price for 2 hours of playing at the reception. She seems to be thinking already that I will not charge her for that time, based on the e-mail I’ve received. The quote I sent her (before I knew of the hour in between) read as such:
Ceremony: $xxx
Two Hours of Background Music: $xxx
Amplification: $xx
Mileage: $xx
Total: $xxx
June 28, 2009 at 9:12 pm #151966brian-noelParticipantHi Margot,
Your contract should include a start time and a stop time (i.e. 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.), not just “2 hours of background music”, which allows her to change the time to whatever she wants, leaving you open to possible schedule conflicts.
June 28, 2009 at 9:34 pm #151967Margot HaywardParticipantThe contract I sent her specifically reads: “Hours of Engagement: Ceremony 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.; Reception 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.” (I bill these as seperate events and do not charge for time in between except for mileage). The e-mail quote was meant to break down individual costs, but it did read “two hours of background music.” Do you think this oversite in the e-mailed breakdown of costs (failing to specify times here as well) requires me to be lenient?My OT in my contract specifically reads: “Overtime Rate: $50 per hour ($100 for a duo). Overtime must be requested in advance and agreed upon by both parties. A standard wedding ceremony includes 30 minutes of set-up time, 30 minutes of prelude music, 30 minutes for the ceremony and another 30 minutes for postlude and equipment removal for a total of two hours on site. Any wedding requiring the Harpist’s presence for longer than two hours will be billed as overtime. Please note that the Harpist cannot guarantee availability to remain on site beyond two hours if additional time is not requested in advance.” Thanks!
July 1, 2009 at 4:13 am #151968brian-noelParticipantHi again Margot,
From what I can see, for all intents and purposes, your contract ends at 9 p.m.
July 2, 2009 at 12:31 am #151969Sylvia ClarkMemberI’m wondering how you have time to pack, load, get to the reception site, unload, and set up before the reception begins.
July 6, 2009 at 12:55 pm #151970unknown-userParticipantHey Margot,
This just happened to me back in April.
-
AuthorPosts
- The forum ‘Professional Harpists’ is closed to new topics and replies.