A Consultants fee structure should always be detailed in their proposal. This would normally be based on a day rate plus expenses, however some Consultants will quote more time than others to complete the same amount of work, so it is the total cost for the project that is important, not the daily rate.

It must be clearly agreed between both parties exactly what work is going to be carried out and who will be responsible for what.

Apart from the daily rate there will also be additional expenses that should be clarified, these include:

• travel
• postage
• telephone
• printing and stationary
• subsistence and accommodation

The Consultant should state exactly what he has included, you should assume from this that everything else is excluded.