Hi all, I have never done a formal consult for any company. I have definitely helped plenty of friends with stuff, but never a business seeking my help. I would like your opinion if I am over charging/ not charging enough. The job is in southern California and I will be installing CLS, Distillation, working on layout, training staff on the equipment, and writing SOP’s. I have 25 years of experience in cannabis, 15 years in Extraction, and 5 years of Operations/Compliance in the market. I told the company 5k for retainer(allows them to call and ask questions anytime) $100/H for physical on site work, training, and SOP’s. the company will also pay for travel.
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The retainer is a solid price/idea.
I would charge 200$ an hour for on sight training Unless they guarantee you like 40 hours of on sight training minimum or something like that.
I would normally charge per SOP to draft up SOPs for them.
But since your already charging a 5k retainer I think just charging them the time it takes to draft them up is fair.
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Thank you
The retainer fee is very fair. A job like this can take an extensive time. You will need to do a lot of research unless your familiar with every equipment your installing and don’t have to be innovative to meet the client needs Bc of budget.
Given the size of the job. I would charge by a 40 hour week. You don’t want to leave a job especially your first one not 100% complete and confident the staff are capable to run the equipment efficiently.
Also SOPs if they have a specific one Youre unfamiliar with they need locate the best person of their craft on here and buy the sop from them. Charge the client the X amount of dollars. Also anytime you provide that SOP to another client keep giving $ back to original creator.
Tell them you want housing and traveling paid. Airbnb by the week is usually what i do. I find it easier to come back n relax and recap In a house rather than a hotel.
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I generally charge 250/hr for onsite work. or 10 hour blocks for 2000, prepaid. Are you asking for any derivatives on your specific processes? Any royalties or leasing of your IP as well, Or just the up front cost and they keep what you teach? If you’re only asking for that upfront cost I’d say you’re being more than fair, and honestly probably under bidding a bit. (also be sure they cover room and travel expenses or add that to the tab as well)
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thank you, All the equipment going in I am familiar with, some of the custom stuff I like to do might take some time and research to source a good fabricator in the area( I like manifolds for auxiliary equipment lines) Housing and travel will be paid for. SOP’s are already written by me, I was just gonna tack on the hours I’ve spent on them to the bill ( I think that’s fair).
Not only do I think you could easily pull 200 an hour for your time. You could reasonably ask 250 and they shouldn’t have issues with it.
Also I wouldn’t be afraid to ask for equity either. The 5k retainer is not a bad idea but you could easily ask for equity in place of the retainer if you’d like. Any reasonable company shouldn’t see an issue with this. If I were to consult for another licensed facility it would be a requirement to work with them. I am leaving you with a lasting knowledgebase from which to make money. Give me lasting options to make money after I’ve equipped you for the job, ya know?
To be honest, a company with a processing license should have absolutely no issues making what they spent on consulting back within a few months. You have 25 years of experience - I am not familiar with your work but if you do have this much experience your time and resources are invaluable. They will be making a shitload of money on what you teach them. Don’t be afraid to ask for a shitload
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Thank you, I did not think about IP royalties or leasing and thought I might be under cutting myself.
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Thank you, I may have to rethink the retainer after your input and @WolfeXtracts reply I didn’t think about equity or some type of IP continual reimbursement.
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You guys are awesome
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Most people don’t. And to be honest, neither did I. Not until I started working for a licensed facility and began to understand what actually goes into this stuff, and how easy it is to be taken advantage of. Not that anyone took advantage of me - but probably could have when I first got into the legal market. When i was BM consulting I would charge 5k flat rate then they had to put me up in a hotel or bnb. 5k covered literally everything and TBH it was easy money when it was a quick consult and local but the one I did that was not local sucked. They were massively unprepared, under-educated, and didn’t even have enough space to put equipment. Not to mention they were trying to use a moonshine still with an open flame 10 feet from where the extractor was supposed to be.
Bottom line - You never know how bad the consult can be. Make sure you are prepared for the worst both in respect to what you perceive them to know about extraction and how well you expect them to handle your expertise.
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Also, if you are prepared in this way - when they do well it makes your job a breeze
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What do you usually charge per SOP?
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I would get a NDA signed to cover yourself. Also make a formal contract. Don’t get a free one on the web research for a nicer professional one. Also if you have a complicated client and they want to change things mid build make sure you add a fee. Now here is the tricky part. I myself charge the client based upon the size of operation they are doing. Startup low budget labs i don’t charge as much as a full blown investor backed one. I don’t like equity percentage. you can do the best job possible with the build out and processing training but what about the other depts such as sales.
Yes charge for your SOPs. You deserve it. Make sure it’s a formal format. After the job is completed offer a continual yearly contract for problems and situations they will encounter than you will be the go to guy for these answers.
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I don’t do “cannabis” consulting, but have in IT stuff.
I don’t charge a different hourly price for remote or onsite work. Travel time is also the same hourly rate. Travel expenses. If it is a multi day remote gig, per diem based on location.
Ideally you would have an estimate for the client that breaks down tasks for the gig, and how many hours you plan on spending on each task.
such an odd thing to see how people in this business charge companies for consulting. half of the things or more i hear are crazy lmao. this shit would never work in my field (oil and gas).
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In my experience, a flat rate for anything leaves you vulnerable. I charge a lower rate for remote work (from home) and a larger rate when on site. Most of my work ends up from home, which I prefer and allows me to do a better job when it comes to SOP formulation, site prep, etc.
Be clear about who covers what in regards to travel and lodging expenses. I charge a flat rate per day for actual days traveling to and from the job site as well. That way I can work on their job,or anyone else’s job while in transit. I can make money if I have work to do. If I don’t, at least they are paying something for the time away from home and not working.
Lastly, as said above, make sure you’re covered by contract what they can share or use in other facilities. Or else they will carbon copy your work and cut you out of future projects.
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I generally charge 75/hr for stuff I can do from my office and 150/hr on-site plus travel expenses. I estimate the hours necessary for the project and take half up front as a retainer and half on delivery of consultation. If they buy their system from Green Machine Labs it comes with free phone consultation about their system any time.
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Depends on which ones and how intensive. Usually around 1000$ for like full short path or wiped film SOP.
Maybe 500$ for smaller ones. Give or take
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As someone who’s worked as a consultant in other mainstream industries: Honestly, I think the rate you’ve quoted is pretty on-point given your limited consulting experience regardless of your actual industry experience.
Consultants who earn the top-end pay rates for their given field command those rates for a few reasons other than strictly knowledge. This includes things like:
- Work efficiency. They can complete more and more valuable work in fewer hours. Higher rates are to ensure the consultant is still compensated fairly.
- Client List. An experienced consultant likely has multiple clients and projects all competing for their time. Increased demand for a limited resource (consultants’ time) means prices go up.
- Overhead costs. Experienced consultants very likely hire on other personnel and have overhead costs. Hiring someone with the ability to put a team of people on your problem is worth more than a single person, no?
For reference, at my old engineering consulting firm, the billable rate for someone with at your experience level was $150/hr and this was in an industry with plenty of money to throw around for good work (Oil and Gas). There are a lot of very smart and experienced people on this website who charge well above that for their services who might not enjoy me encouraging the “race to the bottom”. I’m a firm believer that as the cannabis industry becomes more mainstream we need to look to some of the already established industries for guidance on what the future will look like.
Let me be clear, I am 100% in favor of all the talented people out there getting paid for their valuable work and if the market says it’s worth $300+/hr, by all means go get paid that. I just don’t think that those consulting gigs will stay around forever.
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