Pricing

EUR 149 net per hour. Billed by actual time, per quarter hour started.

For businesses based in Germany, statutory VAT applies. For businesses based in other EU countries, I bill without German VAT under the reverse charge mechanism, provided a valid VAT ID is supplied. For businesses based in third countries, billing is VAT exempt.

Day rates are a wonderful invention. For people whose day ends at 5 pm, and whose problem does too.

A break-in has never heard of office hours. What starts as “could you take a look at this for a day” is, in my experience, a day, then a night, then another day and another night. In forensics, the eight-hour day is pure folklore.

With work like that, a day rate can end in exactly two ways. Either you pay for a full day although I was done after five hours. Or from the ninth hour on I work for free and check the clock every ten minutes. The first is bad for you. The second is worse for you, you just find out later.

Hence the quarter hour. You pay for the work that was done, not a minute more, and not for a day somebody has to massage into shape. You won’t find that in any guide. 25 years taught me, years in which “one day” reliably turned into several.

Saturday is a normal working day. On Sundays, public holidays, and at night between 10 pm and 6 am, add 50 percent each. A Sunday or holiday night counts as both, so it costs double.

I am a human being, and I live outside the hamster wheel. Anyone who wants me on a Sunday night pays double.

Not because I can afford to charge it, but because it makes you think twice. What can wait until Monday waits until Monday. What can’t wait is worth it.

Travel time costs EUR 90 net per hour. I come in my own car, at EUR 0.70 net per kilometer, or I fly, business class. Accommodation at cost, with receipts. I don’t charge for meals.

I don’t take the train. I like to be on time, at your place.

EUR 500 net, before any work. After that, billing is daily and payment is daily.

The deposit does two jobs. It is the first part of the fee and is credited against the work done. And it is my check that a real business stands behind the request. That is why the payment must come from a verified account of the commissioning business, at the bank in its name, at PayPal a verified business account. I do not accept payments from other accounts. Fraud attempts reach me too. So I do not start before the payment has arrived, without exception.

I have seen horses throw up in front of the pharmacy, as we say in German, which means I have seen it all. And I have studied Homo sapiens long enough. So I bill daily, and thanks to instant bank transfers, payment is daily too. That is a condition, not a negotiating position.

Payment is by instant bank transfer or PayPal. I do not accept cash, bitcoin, or cheques. Proof that a transfer was sent is not a payment. These days money gets from Paris to Munich in two minutes. What counts is what has arrived in my account, not a screenshot of it. There are reasons I am this strict. I know what my work is worth, and I do nothing without correct payment.

I have worked for large corporations whose payment run happens once a month and who use it to grant themselves an interest-free loan. The invoice lands on the “can wait” pile or the “we’ve always done it this way” pile, and three months later you are politely asking for the third time. I no longer play along. No money, no work.

You are only invoiced for what you commissioned in writing beforehand, and you are invoiced daily.

An hour of the person who does the work. Not every request becomes an engagement. The ones that do get all of me.

Behind that are 25 years as a court-appointed expert witness for public prosecutors, courts, and law firms, a hardening and early-warning system I built myself and that runs on my own server fleet first, and my own servers in EU data centers.

Exclusively for companies, public authorities, and self-employed professionals, that is, businesses within the meaning of § 14 BGB (German Civil Code). Not for private consumers.