Also it is worth it to mention that a good payment history from the client indicates that the client must have been satisfied with your work. With a contract, retainer, and an hourly wage being invoiced to the client; you can actually show a payment history that is indicative of the client’s satisfaction with your work. If the client was not satisifed with your work, why did the client continue to pay your invoices?

If you take a true accounting of cases worked on a “flat rate”; you will find that most of them go in the “red” for the P.I.. I think any seasoned P.I. knows that it is hard to predict what you are going to run into once you start an investigation. Often times we find ourselves doing more interviews, more surveillance, more witness locates, etc., etc., than we originally thought we would, I personally would like to be paid for that extra work. I don’t want to “flat rate” a case that “should only take a few days to complete”, only to find out that I am working on that case for the next three months for not a penny more than “what should have taken a few days to complete”.

Also, the P.I.s time is worth something; probably a lot more than he or she would get on a “flat rate”. Does your client get to call you whenever he or she wants on your “flat rate”? “Counseling” with a client can be quite time consuming, and some clients will take advantage of your time under a ‘flat rate”, but if you can say the magic words “I am going to have to bill for this time on the phone”; they don’t seem to want to seek as much advice from you.

There are a ton of reasons that I don’t work an “hourly wage case” for a “flat fee”. These reasons above are just a few.

In my personal opinion, the “flat rate case” is a losing proposition!

Rick.