Start Up Office Fee Rates

Hey guys,

After 15 years with a couple firms, I’m deciding to branch out and do my own shop. I left my office as of last week and am hoping to pick some brains of folks who’ve started their own thing recently. I branching out mostly because I wanted to control my hours better (I have two small children and a third on the way) and also wanted more control over billing decisions. I was tired of taking doing things other people’s way with work papers and processes and, what I considered, over billing just to meet hour and billing requirements to cover outdated admin and overhead costs.

I have a small base I’m going to be carrying with me for tax and advisory (enough to get me started) then will be branching out to do additional services like fractional CFO and will be taking courses to include business valuation services. Most of my work is with smaller business, pass-through businesses and mid-high net worth individuals.

I’ve been in Orange County, CA where I’ve held the positions of senior tax manager and tax principal to the last handful of years, but I will be moving to Jacksonville, FL next summer. Being at a full service firm with a physical office my entire career, I know my billing rates were inflated to cover admin costs. That said, without having much overhead (but will need to be doing admin myself for the time being), I need to determine a strong billing rate that is competitive but also reasonable given I’m running all the non-billable stuff too. My rates the last handful of years have been from $350-$415. Also knowing Orange County rates are higher than most in the country, I don’t want to price myself out when I move next year.

If anyone can provide insight of how they set up their own shop or provide suggested billing rates, it would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance to everyone that contributes.