THE WISDOM OF COSTCO

I can't believe it either. Another blog entry based pearls of wisdom from Costco.
The current issue of COSTCO CONNECT, their self described lifestyle magazine, has a small article entitled Nickel and Diming Doesn't Add Up. The authors describe their dissatisfaction with a contractor who quoted them a decent price, and did a decent job, BUT... his final bill was much larger than his estimate.
Why? Because he charged extra for travel time, hours spent reviewing the project before he accepted the job and time critiquing certain materials, a task the authors did not ask him to undertake.

Sound familiar?

Lawyer's often separate out professional fees and charges such as photocopy fees, legal research charges, meals and cab fees for firm employees. Never mind billing for travel time or such creative charges as buying a new briefcase and charging it as a document container. This has always puzzled me. Why should't such fees be part of the calculation that results in a firm's billing rates?