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How much to charge for plating consulting gig in Saudi Arabia/ UAE

Q. Hi, my name is Brett Hess and I have been in contact with a company in Saudi Arabia/ UAE.
This company is privately owned and with less then 50 employees. They have asked me to come to their plant and do consulting analysis for them for the Cr/Ni/Zn/Cu lines and render them more efficient! Personally I have 30 years of personal ownership of a medium sized plating shop and I have at all times been extremely "hands on" and I have educated myself with many and almost every piece of literature that has ever been printed on electroplating . Language is not a barrier for me! I personally have studied for several decades this topic with a rigorous investigative knowledge to improve my shop! The question is this: being asked to do consultant work for this company, how much should be charged to make things fair? I live in Los Angeles, California at the moment,and would be transferred to Saudi Arabia/UAE for a period of 30 days.
Thank you in advance.

Brett Hess
owner/operator - Los Angeles, California, USA
October 19, 2012

A. Hi Brett. Your inquiry is interesting. Here are quick random thoughts that you can combine with the other random thoughts that you collect.

First, for most of us, even those of us who spent most of our careers consulting, such assignments are not routine business, but rare strokes of good fortune. That means I didn't figure an hourly rate based on what I usually earned, or needed to survive, but how much I'd enjoy the assignment. I did some international teaching in plating, and my rate was: "I want to bring my wife, and charge no more but no less than what it will cost us to enjoy ourselves". In other words, they paid all reasonable travel, living, and entertainment expenses for a free vacation for two. Of course, we liked where we were going (Singapore and Indonesia) and the assignment was only 2 weeks ... I don't know if you'd find enough interesting stuff to last a month in the area you are going to.

Second, if you're giving away something proprietary, something that goes beyond your time (which I never did because I didn't have a plating business), you have to charge the value of that, as if you had sold off a piece of your business.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
October 22, 2012

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