Question
I have been working with a landscape designer (not an architect) for several months and she has been billing me hourly. I didn't want to develop a detailed plan, since my budget is rather small for this project. For some recent time she spent with the potential landscape contractor at my home, she wants to bill me for 1/2 of her travel time. This is the first time she has mentioned travel time billing; she has been to my home on several other occasions. Is this a standard practice? It isn't for plumbers, handymen, etc.  Thank you.

Answer
Dear Carla:
If the designer is not also installing the plan then the only way he/she makes money is selling you his/her expertise which is essentially their time. Some designers include a high enough fee or require a minimum number of hours to cover their travel time. Others will charge you for it directly. It is certainly fairly common for a professional consultant such as a landscape architect, interior decorator, engineer, attorney, etc to charge for travel time or anytime they are essentially working towards your service. I charge for travel one way or another. Also, if the designer has made several trips it is even more likely they deserve travel time because if they typically don't charge its usually because they only anticipate one or two trips. That may be why you were not charged previously.
PS, please, please don't compare us to plumbers, handyman etc...we typically don't make money selling you parts or installation (Design-build companies excluded). Only our knowledge and designs are for sale. And trust me, no matter how it appears, a plumber is charging your or the last customer for his travel time. It may not be obvious but he is darn sure getting paid for every minute one way or another. Most plumbers are $100-150/hr..yet they only make 40-50K which equates to substantially less per hour even with overhead. Thats because they have to cover travel time, time spent on jobs that don't pan out, slow or difficult jobs, etc.
So as I said, they are charging for travel.

Best of luck with your design.

Sean J Murphy
www.seanjmurphy.com