How long is a disco?

[Excalibur]

Reason I ask this is that I just failed to convert a lead, posibly because I state in my email response that the price quoted is for five hours. This customer wanted seven hours, five till midnight, and any surcharge would have taken me over her budget. She took my terms at face value, believed I would charge extra for the two hours, and went with the in-house disco, which came in at the same price for seven hours as my five hour quote.

Questions are: What period of time do you define for a disco? Do you always charge extra money for extra time, regardless of which end it's at? Would you do two hours extra for free to get the gig? ( In this case, I probably would have done so, since the distance involved meant that the early start wouldn't make any significant difference to my day. By the strict letter of my terms, the correct procedure would have been to apply an early start surcharge, and do the two hours free. )

So folks, a rich seam for you. Take your pick. :coat:

[chrisj]

I always ask for the start and finish times before I quote. Often clients just say Oh I only want a quote for the disco and I have to repeat that I need to know the times. If this doesn't get me anywhere I quote for 5 hrs but again this varies with distance. I do not have a set mileage fee.

I always charge for additional hours and will never do the extra time for free.At present I am getting approx 1 in 15 inquiries booked.

[DJ Jules]

Since I'm still at the bottom end of the price scale for my services, I start my charging at 3hrs, and then add hourly charges from there.

It allows me to advertise a low starting price, and add on something to get a price that I'm more comfortable working for! Because of this I don't compromise on the charges for extra hours as the prices are low anyway.

I really need to start working in a different market segment.

Julian

[Sapphire Disco]

I think 5 hours is plenty I don't like doing more than that if your going full steam from the start , however often these longer times start with background for the first hour or two so, I think it should be negotiated but not done for free unless it's a gig you really want and a good payer anyway.

[Shaun]

The quote I provide is for up to 5 hours, so whether its an hour or 5 hours the price is the same. Anything over 5 hours is usually charged at a per-determined rate per hour. That said, I have been known to offer 30 minutes extra at no extra charge if they want a 7.30 till 1am booking. I've never offered anything over and above the extra 30 minutes for free though. Then again, I am Scottish. :d

[ppentertainments]

I go about things slightly different, and I know many disagree.

I don't do any later than 1am (which covers 99% of venues) so base ALL my quotes on a 1am finish - whether they finish at 10.30, midnight, 1am etc. Keeps things a lot simpler for myself and I do inform people of this when they book and, as far as I know, haven't lost out on a booking yet.

[Excalibur]

I think 5 hours is plenty I don't like doing more than that if your going full steam from the start , however often these longer times start with background for the first hour or two .
Correct. I reckon this one was likely to need a lot of background, so in effect not seven hours of trying to kep a full dancefloor, which takes a lot of the pressure off.

. I've never offered anything over and above the extra 30 minutes for free though. Then again, I am Scottish. :d
Yes, I've noticed your generosity before. Thirty minutes free? Outrageous. :D:D

[DeckstarDeluxe]

5 hours tops, then each extra hour is charged at £60 p/h.

[CRAZY K]

Reason I ask this is that I just failed to convert a lead, posibly because I state in my email response that the price quoted is for five hours. This customer wanted seven hours, five till midnight, and any surcharge would have taken me over her budget. She took my terms at face value, believed I would charge extra for the two hours, and went with the in-house disco, which came in at the same price for seven hours as my five hour quote.

Questions are: What period of time do you define for a disco? Do you always charge extra money for extra time, regardless of which end it's at? Would you do two hours extra for free to get the gig? ( In this case, I probably would have done so, since the distance involved meant that the early start wouldn't make any significant difference to my day. By the strict letter of my terms, the correct procedure would have been to apply an early start surcharge, and do the two hours free. )

So folks, a rich seam for you. Take your pick. :coat:

When I do non Wedding events with Barn Dance and Disco 5 hours is the basic quote and latest finish 1am---if later I get a separate DJ for them.

I did one recently up to 1am with Cheese then another guy took over booked by the customer with some very boring music and was still going when I left at 3am---good luck to them:rolleyes:

My son who runs the Rodeo Bull and I have agreed that after 12pm things can sometimes change dramatically from people being drunk and merry to drunk and aggressive, so I cherry pick those who want to go to 1am.

Weddings I dont go past 12--I know whats going to happen, although there are exceptions.

You were right not to offer to do 2 hours for free, 5 to 12pm sounds a bit of a marathon, I have done one at a Wedding but got paid a lot of dosh which included an extra charge.

Early start early finish I might agree to negotiate but as im doing Barn and Line Dancing as well generally at a Wedding I work them hard so that they are physically :Censored: after 5 hours:D:D:D

Because im a specialist act I tend to drive long distances so I need to be careful about not driving too late because of fatigue.

Having said that I have quoted for a job in Devon but with a 11.30pm finish.:daft::daft::daft:

What I WONT DO is reduce my standard fee for shorter hours.

[Jonathan Ford]

I quote for everything on an hourly rate, with a minimum booking of four hours (for example, if you want me for 90 minutes, you're still paying for four hours). So yes, I would have charged extra, and I wouldn't have checked a couple of hours in to get the gig.

[Daryll]

All of my quotes are on a 4/5 hour disco , extra time is charged for at £X per half hour.

Daryll

[djtrev]

My quote would be on the time that i start,with no extras regardless of the time I finish.

[funkymook]

My quote would be on the time that i start,with no extras regardless of the time I finish.

Do you have a fixed start time you calculate from? Say 8pm, so if it's a 6pm start you know to charge extra.

[paul1404]

Kinda changing the subjext a little - Ive done a few 6 hr discos lately

Does any find that if you do a wedding say from 6 -12 the guest run out of steam by about 10.30 espicially when you arrive and they all get up and dance at 6.00

Im finding the best wedding disco are when you start from 7.30 - 12 - you can throw in all the warm up tracks and then by 9 you usually have them in your hands

6 hrs is far too long for a wedding disco ( ok if your in a bar or club as you can throw in more 12 " mixes etc)

Anyone agree - Personally I wil Dj for 24 hrs if needed but I still stand by the equation Ive made this is for a adult wedding/party ( not kids disco)

GOOD NIGHT = GOOD DJ ( reading the crowd + professional set up etc etc ) + Good crowd ( that want to dance to their fav music and other peoples fav music) + Good Venue ( bar not 100 metres away in another room) + Right amount of Booze + 50 / 50 of males females ( previouis does apply to women as 100% womne would prob dance more) + correct time of disco

lol Im open to any better equations ( last bit was kinda silly I know)

[addoaddo]

When I quote I am more interested in the amount of time that I will be entertaining the guest, not just background music etc. Typically a 6pm to 12pm event would only require 3 hours of entertaining so would be ok. Extra time for early set up etc I would charge extra at a lower rate.

For example if a client wanted me there a hours earlier I may charge £20 per hour but if they wanted me later (and in effect increase the "entertaining" hours I may charge them £60 extra.

Initially I never quote the time for the disco because it could work the wrong way. If you quoted say £300 for a five hour disco and the client comes back and say we only want 3 hours so will only pay £180 you have limited movement. I would rather quote for the evening know the times they are saying and from experience. Most parties / wedding your are looking at set-up by 7pm and finish at 12pm actual dancing starting at about 8.30 (3.5 hours entertaining). In this case if they asked me to be set up by 6pm i doubt I would charge extra.

On the other hand if they said set up by 7pm and finish at 2am I feel you are looking at double the entertainment hours to 5,5hours which would result in a much higher quote.

I now always put in the quotation that extra hours are charged at £x per 1/2 hour which saves any misunderstand on the night.


This is not a pricing thread so the prices are just figures for example

[lazersounds]

If you quoted say £300 for a five hour disco and the client comes back and say we only want 3 hours so will only pay £180 you have limited movement.

Not at all, some clients need to reliase that you might play music for 3 hours but you have to factor in loading, travel, setup, packdown, loading, travel, unload. Might only seem a 3 hours to them but for us it could be double that :D

I find once I have explained that to a client then they are more inclined to accept the quote as they don't reliase how much work goes into to a gig and what the price might entail.

However back on topic, My quotes are always from 7.30pm - Midnight, I probably would not charge extra for a 7pm start but anything over midnight is charged at £50p/h payable before midnight :)

[djdave01]

we charge a standard rate which covers anything upto 5 hours on a friday or saturday evening, just adding for travel costs.

any gigs going beyond 5 hours are charged extra.

[Vectis]

What I don't understand too well is all these responses which advocate charging by the hour.

Unless you are salaried, or paying hired help by the hour, then the actual number of hours (within reason) per evening is irrelevant.

Relevant are:

a) your annual costs of running the business
b) the amount of money you need to profit in order to exist (after tax/NI/pension etc.)
c) the number of evenings you are available and likely to obtain work in a year

When I ran VectisVibe a) and b) were both fully understood. c) was 110 based on the fact there was only me, 45 Saturdays (realistically), 35 Fridays, plus a handful of other evenings / daytime corporate / kids parties.

If I agreed to a kids party on a Saturday evening, that would almost certainly nobble a wedding or private function booking, and as such was reflected in the fee. So a Saturday evening was £x irrespective of gig type. Whether it was 6pm-8pm or 7pm-1am was irrelevant. There were only so many Saturdays available and the amount I needed to earn was £x.

Now THAT is so much easier to convey to a prospective client than bartering around how many hours of driving, packing, unpacking etc.. Totally irrelevant IMHO.

[CRAZY K]

Initially I never quote the time for the disco because it could work the wrong way. If you quoted say £300 for a five hour disco and the client comes back and say we only want 3 hours so will only pay £180 you have limited movement.

One important point is being missed here--part of your negotiating should take into account the next bus coming along!!!!

By that I mean you would be silly to accept a gig for £180 because the client wants short hours when you may know from experience ( we certainly do) that if theres still a few months before the event you are very likely to pick up a full evenings work for your full fee from a subsequent enquiry.

I know a bird in the hand etc ---but if its a Saturday night its very possible you can pick up the full priced booking.

If its a Monday in January--maybe time to negotiate.

This assumes you know the trends in your business of course.

Which is why we have in big letters on our Contact Page for Barn Dance--the charge for 1,2,3 or 4 hours is the same -- no reductions for short hours.

Of COURSE they still phone up asking for reductions---:daft::daft::daft:

[Excalibur]

What I don't understand too well is all these responses which advocate charging by the hour.

Unless you are salaried, or paying hired help by the hour, then the actual number of hours (within reason) per evening is irrelevant.

.

In my opinion, not irrelevant, but certainly not the only criteria for setting your price. Martin, your logic is sound, re the price charged per gig being ( in very very rough terms ) the total income you require, divided by the amount of gigs you do.

In some cases, the amount of time you work is relevant, in others, it's far less so. Turning up two hours early for a wedding gig, and playing background music may often not be charged, but running on till the early hours of the morning certainly would be. The first example might make no significant difference to your day, the second most definitely would.

[djtrev]

What I don't understand too well is all these responses which advocate charging by the hour.

Unless you are salaried, or paying hired help by the hour, then the actual number of hours (within reason) per evening is irrelevant.

.

I have to agree with Martin.
My fee would reflect my expectation for a fair figure for the service I am providing while also taking into consideration my expectation of a daily 'livable' wage.

[funkymook]

In my opinion, not irrelevant, but certainly not the only criteria for setting your price. Martin, your logic is sound, re the price charged per gig being ( in very very rough terms ) the total income you require, divided by the amount of gigs you do.

In some cases, the amount of time you work is relevant, in others, it's far less so. Turning up two hours early for a wedding gig, and playing background music may often not be charged, but running on till the early hours of the morning certainly would be. The first example might make no significant difference to your day, the second most definitely would.

I find it's the other way around - arriving earlier has more of an impact on my day than staying later (depends what I'm doing the next day of course). But the number of venues where the likelihood of an unexpected extension is very small, most are a 12 or 1pm finish and this can easily be confirmed before quoting.

So for me my quotes cover up to 5 hours playing time, no reduction for less hours, and extra hours are taken into account (though not itemised on the quote).

On the odd occasion (usually house parties or marquees) I've been known to play a bit longer for free if it's a great party and I'm enjoying it.

I do give a little bit of leeway on weddings, due to their nature exact timings aren't always predictable (unlike an evening birthday function for example). I usually arrive earlier than normal gigs and I'm prepared to fit in with whatever's happening without looking at the clock.

[Excalibur]

I find it's the other way around - arriving earlier has more of an impact on my day than staying later
It's alright for you young whippersnappers, but if I don't get home at a reasonable hour, for my mug of Cocoa, then I'm no use to man nor beast the following day. ;):D:D

What I'm alluding to, in my usual merry whimsical way, is that very often, I can't do much of anything else unconnected with the function, so arriving early isn't an imposition. Staying late often is, especially if I'm a long way from home.

And Martin, staying late for free cos you're having fun? Been there, done that. ;);):D:D

[djtrev]

........, I can't do much of anything else unconnected with the function, so arriving early isn't an imposition........ ;);):D:D

Anymore than staying on late is for me.I will have nothing else arranged before or after the function.As for the next day - I think I will manage to cope and recover.

[addoaddo]

I still do not still see why people are quoting 5 hours for a disco. Would you charge the same for a 9pm - 2am disco as you would for a 7pm 12pm disco. I certain would charge more for the late finish

[funkymook]

I still do not still see why people are quoting 5 hours for a disco. Would you charge the same for a 9pm - 2am disco as you would for a 7pm 12pm disco. I certain would charge more for the late finish

Obviously you can take that into account if you want to. And you don't literally say to the client 'this is my price for 5 hours' you quote for the job - but you use the 5 hours as a benchmark.

[djtrev]

I still do not still see why people are quoting 5 hours for a disco. Would you charge the same for a 9pm - 2am disco as you would for a 7pm 12pm disco. I certain would charge more for the late finish

On the face of it,yes,although I can understand someone finding cause to charge more.

[CRAZY K]

What I don't understand too well is all these responses which advocate charging by the hour.

Unless you are salaried, or paying hired help by the hour, then the actual number of hours (within reason) per evening is irrelevant.

Relevant are:

a) your annual costs of running the business
b) the amount of money you need to profit in order to exist (after tax/NI/pension etc.)
c) the number of evenings you are available and likely to obtain work in a year

When I ran VectisVibe a) and b) were both fully understood. c) was 110 based on the fact there was only me, 45 Saturdays (realistically), 35 Fridays, plus a handful of other evenings / daytime corporate / kids parties.

If I agreed to a kids party on a Saturday evening, that would almost certainly nobble a wedding or private function booking, and as such was reflected in the fee. So a Saturday evening was £x irrespective of gig type. Whether it was 6pm-8pm or 7pm-1am was irrelevant. There were only so many Saturdays available and the amount I needed to earn was £x.

Now THAT is so much easier to convey to a prospective client than bartering around how many hours of driving, packing, unpacking etc.. Totally irrelevant IMHO.

That is what I have been alluding to--I often state to customers (especially those who say oh its only for 2 hours) we have a standard turn out charge like many Contractors engaged in a specialist field involving the transportation erection and dismantling of expensive heavy equipment ( like Dynorod ) and timings are not particulary relevant unless you enter the realms of the VERY unsociable hours say after 1am.

[soundmaster mobile disco]

like most of the others have said most of my bookings are 7.30pm-12,but it if was on untill 1am i would charge them for that extra hour.

Peter did you get a chance to speak to them?If you did then you would probably have been able to sell your self to them,and possibly secure the booking.

[Excalibur]

I still do not still see why people are quoting 5 hours for a disco.
In my case, because it was in the T&C's I "inherited" from a kind member, regarding a series of regular work. I adapted them for my own circumstances and purposes, and simply left that clause in.

What I'm now wondering ( and not simply because of this case ) is whether to remove it, modify it, or leave it. Tricky. :daft:



Peter did you get a chance to speak to them?If you did then you would probably have been able to sell your self to them,and possibly secure the booking.
Communication was by email, but I'm sure that if I had asked, I would have been given the opportunity for a chat, and in this case, I think I may well have secured the booking. ( Although still at the price quoted for five hours. )

Three things were against me trying harder to get the gig:
1) It's at the extreme North of my territory, it's not a drive I relish, either. I've done it before, and know what it entails.
2) The date is in December, and should the weather turn bad, that road is a swine. I could end up struggling to make the gig, or to return home afterwards.
3) The function is for twenty guests, and although I really fancied it from the details given in the enquiry ( and believed I could have done a superb job for the customer, as well as having a lot of fun myself ), I think she was taking the line of least resistance, and going for the safety net of the in-house offering. I have however left the door wide open, and also offered her any help and advice she may need. (The first bit was to ensure she meets the resident disco well beforehand, in order to ensure that she gets what she stipulated in the original enquiry. I'd hate to see her lumbered with some one-size-fits-all agency offering, when she wanted something tailored to her wishes ).

[CRAZY K]

like most of the others have said most of my bookings are 7.30pm-12,but it if was on untill 1am i would charge them for that extra hour.

Peter did you get a chance to speak to them?If you did then you would probably have been able to sell your self to them,and possibly secure the booking.

Unfortunately these days the "E mail Internet enquiries" often dont want to divulge a phone number --which is understandable in some cases.

its hard to persuade people its in case of email problems and NOT to ring them daily to pressure them into signing up.:rolleyes:

Mind you reading Peters last post as in December probably easily replaced.:beer1: