Breaks/lunch

[goldie469]

Does anybody charge for these?
For example 9 hours tracking with an hour for lunch = a bill for ten hours

I dont do long days much, but when I do I tend to just nip off for ten minutes to make lunch and eat at the console. If the band decide to take an hours break, do they get charged for it?

I'd charge, as I'm still in the studio and its still in use. What if the engineer calls an hour break?

Just looking for some thoughts...

Cheers!
Chris

[Gregg Juke]

Years ago that was a given (an un-paid lunch and dinner break). If you are charging a lock-out or day rate, you're already covered. If you're charging by the hour, I guess you have to find out if that's the kind of thing that will enrage your client. (It probably would me; on a long project, that's a lot of hours getting charged for that may have been pretty un-productive).

Best policy if you want that covered is probably some kind of block rate that covers your lunch and dinner time. That way, if they stroll in an hour and a half after the hour-long break, you have no problems shutting down at the appointed time.

GJ

[cgarges]

I charge by the day with a loose clock so it never really comes up. When I have worked at places with a rigid clock, I don't ever charge someone for dinner breaks. If I go to a garage to get my car worked on, the mechanic doesn't charge me during his lunch breaks.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[fossiltooth]

I charge by the day with a loose clock so it never really comes up. When I have worked at places with a rigid clock, I don't ever charge someone for dinner breaks. If I go to a garage to get my car worked on, the mechanic doesn't charge me during his lunch breaks.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

I'm agreeing with this.

[@?,*???&?]

Does anybody charge for these?
For example 9 hours tracking with an hour for lunch = a bill for ten hours

NEVER. Whether you take a lunch break or not, you can't feasibly charge for it.

Charging for set-up time is a must though.

[goldie469]

Thanks for all the replies
That's pretty much where I was at, I was just looking for some other opinions

Cheers!

[TapeOpLarry]

If I can't go home they get charged. I don't mandate that we take breaks though. The client determines that.

[JGriffin]

If lunch is brought in and we work through, clearly they get charged. If everyone leaves and says "we're back in an hour," they don't get charged. If they leave and say "we're back in an hour" and I'm expected to have a bunch of stuff done by time they get back, they get charged.

I have heard tell of engineers who just stop working when the food arrives, eat, and resume work once they're done eating. I can't process that, because usually if we're working through lunch it's because we don't have time to stop. I have been told that these engineers charge for the lunch hour, as the room is occupied and can't be used for anything else.

[@?,*???&?]

If I can't go home they get charged.

Come on, is that really the GESTALT you want to bring to the creative process?

lol

[Gregg Juke]

I'm just guessing, but he probably prefers Pepper, and if they don't have that at the studio...

GJ

[chris harris]

If I can't go home they get charged.

Come on, is that really the GESTALT you want to bring to the creative process?

lol

Yeah! I mean, you could be charging $5 for usage of an eBow.

Sheesh.... some of these amateurs don't know anything about facilitating the creative process.

[Nick Sevilla]

I have exactly two answers for this:

1.- Lunch breaks are to be at least 1/2 hr, UNPAID. In my state, CA, that is the law, and I don't like taking the law into my own greasy hands.

2.- If I am given food by a beautiful woman while being simultaneously massaged by a second beautiful woman, all the while doing some light editing on a single monophonic instrument, THEN it has to be paid. I am working, after all...

[cgarges]

It always amazes me how people can forget what the state law requires in terms of allowances for breaks. In NC, I think employess are required to take 30 minutes for every six horus on the clock and one hour for every eight. Or something like that. I mean, it seems totally reasonable to me.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[wesley.wittich]

Lunch breaks are to be at least 1/2 hr, UNPAID. In my state, CA, that is the law, and I don't like taking the law into my own greasy hands.

It always amazes me how people can forget what the state law requires in terms of allowances for breaks. In NC, I think employess are required to take 30 minutes for every six horus on the clock and one hour for every eight. Or something like that. I mean, it seems totally reasonable to me.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

I feel like these laws wouldn't really apply in a lot of situtations, especially as a freelance engineer or as a studio owner. The wording of the CA law states that employers must provide breaks to employees. As a freelance engineer or studio owner, you aren't an employee of anyone. You could say you are an employee of the band, in some sense, but I don't think you are in a legal sense, you're more of an independent contractor. I don't think a law could require you to take a lunch break if you didn't want to.

On the other hand, I think Chris is right that a decent break schedule is a very reasonable expectation, as well as a good idea. Overworked people don't work well.

WS

[cgarges]

I'm just saying that the laws are in place for a reason and those kind of hours seem reasonable to me. I'm just kind of amazed when people don't realize that the harder they push without a break, the LESS they're actually going to get done in the course of a day. But there are a lot of things about this profession that amaze me!

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC