Do you bill your customers for documentation work that you perform for them? If not, you might be surprised that more EPCs expect that they will be billed for such work than EPCs who don’t.
We know this because our recent survey Supplier vs EPC, Why is Vendor Documentation so Painful? showed us how both Suppliers and EPCs feel about the issue of charging for documentation.
As the above graphic from our survey shows, the acceptability of explicitly billing for additional document-related workload was supported by 55% of EPC respondents, while only 30% of suppliers explicitly identify project documentation as a line item on their proposals. The presumption is that itemized billing comes hand in hand with a higher tolerance and greater commitment to execute the work correctly, leading to better project results.
If you don’t currently charge for documentation work that you perform for your customers, you might reconsider doing so. With projects getting larger and customization of documentation becoming more prevalent and expected, it stands to reason that the time, effort and cost of performing this work should be accounted for.
DocBoss has a built-in tool that enables you to charge for documentation and include it as a line item in your proposals to customers. By turning documentation into a profit center, you illustrate the value of your documentation to your customers and since you’re also doing documentation better by using DocBoss, both sides win.