This is a little ideal.
As someone else commented, say that you are awesome at what you do. You can do the same job as someone else, and do it 3x faster — because you are GREAT.
So, your rate is $300/hr.
Unfortunately, the average person, who we know can’t hold a candle to you, charges $100/hr. You insist to your client, who has never worked with you, that you can get the job done in FAR less time. But, come on. Everyone else charges $100/hr. Unfortunately, because of this you’re a bit stuck.
With that do you:
1. Work more slowly and WIN the bid at $100/hr?
2. Work at your normal speed, charge the client 3x the time you took?
3. Be really ethical and put your money where your mouth is and do a flat bid (this is what I almost always do myself)
Here is the thing, almost every client is going to want to know the final price. If it is an ongoing gig, then they know they are going to pay for X hours a pay-period. Say, it’s the 40/hr week. Either way, the client budgets for the final price or knows that while you are on staff it costs X dollars in a pay period.
Breaking this down. In the case of that “I charge $300 an hour and I estimate the final price will be $1000” can be “I charge $100 an hour and I estimate the final price will be $1000”. The ONLY difference is time. If the client is in a hurry, the $300 bid wins right?
Now, if you are on a longer-term project, then you are going to be evaluated on your work in progress. Do you really work the entire 8 hours? Do you stop the clock on bathroom breaks? Stop charging when you answer a text? Maybe you got into a conversation about some TV show with a co-worker there, should you charge him for that time?
Honestly, business ends up pretty simple. Provide value to your clients. I’ve ALWAYS had a client happily pay when I provided the results they asked for. There have been times in my life where I underbid and others where I overbid. Some of those overbids I gave back to my clients, and other times I kept it. But the client was satisfied, and came back for more work.
This is just about hours. But would you ever tell a client you needed an extra day to get a project done because you got hammered at your friends party and have a crazy hangover? No, you probably claim a stomach flu….
Crazy long response. Ethics isn’t all black and white. Definitely do what feels ethical to you! Getting hung up on rounding hours doesn’t make sense when the real ethical question is — are you and your client getting what you both need out of this business deal? If the answer is yes, how you put the numbers on the invoice isn’t of much concern.