Consulting and fees: what to charge?

  On Friday, we got a question from a reader:

Dear DailyWorth,

I'm bidding on a consulting project as usual can’t figure out how much money to ask for or how to ask for it. The client threw out a range and I didn’t ask him exactly how he came to it. I obviously want the high end. Right now I am breaking it down to hourly rate and an estimate of 20 hours per week. It may be a multi-year project. I don’t really know how long it will all take.

Any advice on long term contracts? Is it generally good or bad to give hourly justification?

Signed,
Price Sensitive

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