Brite
Having thought about this a little more, I think one thing to consider
is not who you are working for etc, but the role involved. That is
probably intuitively how I deal with things.
I don't charge all contractors full stop. If they are doing work with a
community group we would waive the fee, as their role is more of a
research/outreach type than commercial profit (and many contractors do
work for community groups at cost with no extras).
Similarly, if a charity was building new accommodation for itself we
might charge, as in this case they would be in the role of a developer.
I don't know if that helps or confuses things more!
At the end of the day, when someone enquires about HER information, I
always try and ascertain why they want the information, and let them
know if I think there may be a charge, so they can be prepared for it.
However, I also don't think it unreasonable after 16 years of PPG16, and
13 years of the charging policy for people to expect to pay fees for
archaeological information in the same way they are in the habit of for
land searches etc when buying a house, and to build that into their
costs
best wishes
Nick Boldrini
Historic Environment Record Officer
Heritage Section
Countryside Service
North Yorkshire County Council
County Hall
Northallerton
DL7 8AH
Direct Dial (01609) 532331
Conserving North Yorkshire's heritage - encouraging sustainable access
www.northyorks.gov.uk/archaeology
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>>> [log in to unmask] 09/03/2006 10:55:34 >>>
Hi Nick,
Thanks. It seems the way you describe it works well enough in practice
in regard to SMR enquiries, though I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with
the theory as such.
As an employee, I charge my employer in the shape of a flat rate (a
salary) which does not include the costs of my workplace and
expenses that may arise from the work I do (such as your fee); as a
consultant I charge a rate which does include the costs for my
workplace (a dayrate, for example). As an employee, I would dump
your invoice on my employer, as a consultant I would have to factor it
into my turnover. I don't really see a difference in terms of
"commercial" or "non-commercial" here.
Large organisations can afford to employ specialists but may not have
the need for them full-time; small ones, and those with irregular
funding, might love to employ one, but have to buy the cake by the
slice. Again, I don't think "commercial" or "non-commercial" comes into
it as such.
I would expect the definition of "commercial" or "non-commercial" to be
reduced to a single aspect: whom or what the work is for. Charities are
non-commercial by definition, building companies definitely are
commercial.
I realise that my original question was adacemic in an SMR
environment - though maybe not entirely, as occasionally there seem
to be tensions between SMR officers and consultants.
Best wishes,
Birte
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