its why I have an up to 6 hour package which alleviates setting time during speeches toasts etc.
Stand Around Time... Do You Charge?
- Thread starter Chuck The DJ
- Start date
K
Kirby Ball
Guest
Our Platinum package (with photos) will give the client "up to 7 hours of my time", all other packages pay by the hour. 
I do charge for stand around time. Here's an example.
My wife and I did a wedding where the B&G hired Mariachi's to play cocktail hour and the beginning of dinner. We were hired to do ceremony and the rest of dinner and reception. For us, it was a 2 hour down time. We charged for it. Why not? Just like the photographers and catering staff...you charge for an alotted amount of time.
My wife and I did a wedding where the B&G hired Mariachi's to play cocktail hour and the beginning of dinner. We were hired to do ceremony and the rest of dinner and reception. For us, it was a 2 hour down time. We charged for it. Why not? Just like the photographers and catering staff...you charge for an alotted amount of time.
I booked a wedding last week for November where I need to be set up by 4:45 A band will play until 8:00 and I will play from 8:00-11pm. I basically will have 3 hours of stand around time plus 3.5 hours of performance I took my 5-1/2 hour rate and took 15% off and charged them $1095 for the gig which basically breaks down to 3.5 Hours at the the normal $275/ HR plus the stand alone time I charged $75/Hr. They thought that rate was great (They are in Boston getting married in FLA)...
hmmm where to address this.
If we really must must stand around we do charge for it for the most part but i will tell you this, one of the things that I am adamant about is not setting up in guest view. I allow my guys to load in in street clothes and as you know it can get hot, sweaty and dirty especially now. So I dont want my clients guests to see us lugging in equipment or to get in the way. If we encounter that and can preemptively catch it then we just set up a little earlier and i usually eat that charge to save face.
I tell clients though that setting up during the event makes our company look bad and it makes them look like either they didnt want to pay for the extra time or we were just crappy and wouldnt set up before guest arrival.
If its a local job we will have our weekend ops team set it up and leave.
If we really must must stand around we do charge for it for the most part but i will tell you this, one of the things that I am adamant about is not setting up in guest view. I allow my guys to load in in street clothes and as you know it can get hot, sweaty and dirty especially now. So I dont want my clients guests to see us lugging in equipment or to get in the way. If we encounter that and can preemptively catch it then we just set up a little earlier and i usually eat that charge to save face.
I tell clients though that setting up during the event makes our company look bad and it makes them look like either they didnt want to pay for the extra time or we were just crappy and wouldnt set up before guest arrival.
If its a local job we will have our weekend ops team set it up and leave.
Kyle,,,, "stand around time" would be when the clients wants to make sure that you are set up before their guests arrive.
Like tomorrow 6/14 I have a wedding that they are going to have a strolling soloist play the first 1.5 hours... Now I could set up during that, but they want me set before, so there is "stand around time"
Like tomorrow 6/14 I have a wedding that they are going to have a strolling soloist play the first 1.5 hours... Now I could set up during that, but they want me set before, so there is "stand around time"
If you were employed as a cashier, yet not a single customer came through your register all day - do you think you're employer should forego paying your daily wages?
Book your downtime with a similar expectation.
Book your downtime with a similar expectation.
The cashier gets paid their nomal hourly wage even if they do stand around and do nothing..... as then I should get paid my normal hourl;y fee if I play music or not.
So in my example of last week-end I had to be set by 5pm and not play untill 6:30 and go to 10:30... So I should charge them my normal rate $800.00 for 4 hours... 5 - 9pm then my OT rate of $200.00 per hour for the last 1.5 so another $300 so the total would be $1100.00
That's not what I did, but I like your thinking!
If you were employed as a cashier, yet not a single customer came through your register all day - do you think you're employer should forego paying your daily wages?
The ONLY way you could compare a DJ to a cashier, when it comes to stand around time, is when the typical cashier stands behind the register all day, only to be handed a few hundred dollars at the end of it. And, even then, we'd start bickering about why a DJ should not be valued higher than a cashier, even though they both are a couple of button pushers.
I say we go back to the "DJ Is Like A Secretary" analogy.
The ONLY way you could compare a DJ to a cashier, when it comes to stand around time, is when the typical cashier stands behind the register all day, only to be handed a few hundred dollars at the end of it. And, even then, we'd start bickering about why a DJ should not be valued higher than a cashier, even though they both are a couple of button pushers.
I say we go back to the "DJ Is Like A Secretary" analogy.
I'm sorry, I am NOT wearing a skirt for you and bending over........................................................................................................................................................... again!
:sqerr: 
The way I look at it. People are renting 2 things. My equipment and my time. If I was able to rent my equipment and or my time during this "stand around time, I'd have no problem not charging them for it.
Anytime you rent anything or anyone's service(legally), there is a set amount of minimum time due to the fact the the equipment or service won't be available to anyone else.
Would a rental car company let customers say, "I only want to rent the car to drive 4 hours and then drive it back tomorrow, so i only really need to rent it for 8 hours"
I can understand giving a deal like ray's and I certainly want to work with the customer. But it's just not practical for a customer to not expect to be charged while the equipment and service has become "unrentable" due to their requirements.
Anytime you rent anything or anyone's service(legally), there is a set amount of minimum time due to the fact the the equipment or service won't be available to anyone else.
Would a rental car company let customers say, "I only want to rent the car to drive 4 hours and then drive it back tomorrow, so i only really need to rent it for 8 hours"
I can understand giving a deal like ray's and I certainly want to work with the customer. But it's just not practical for a customer to not expect to be charged while the equipment and service has become "unrentable" due to their requirements.
If I understand you correctly, then EXACTLY!
I see it like this (another one of those things that I have said before, only to get shunned by the "real" pros): if I have to stand, or sit, or nap in between the ceremony and the reception, I don't give a "C" as in "crap," because it's not like I can go out and make money doing something else (except for selling drugs). But I WOULD want to charge if I like gouging people.
I DO, however, have a "discounted" package for events that end before 6pm or start after 6pm. Why? It's fair on many levels, but, in my case, there is always that potential of tutoring/teaching in the morning or in the evening--an event that goes from, say, 1pm to 9pm really crappifies this possibility for me (in other words, these people have taken me for the ENTIRE day).