Team of two. Charging seperately or together?

[navyblue]

We are a team of two web designers who just got up and running in the freelance world. I do the coding and my partner does the graphic design and technical writing. My question is: if my partner works from 8am - 10am, and I work from 3pm - 5pm, should we charge the client for 4 hours of work or 2?

Same question applies here, if my partner works from 8am - 10am, and I also work during those same exact hours should we charge for 4 hours of work or just 2?

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks for reading.

[hawkerz]

You have two options. Ultimately, you are putting 4 'man hours' into the sites development. You can charge for 2 hrs at double the rate to compensate for the man hours, or you can charge for 4 hours at your individual hourly rates. It doesn't really matter, it should work out to the same amount either way.

[Tidal2]

I would go for the 4 hour option it gives the customer more information about the effort you are putting in.

[ethnicomm]

I would also go with the four hour option. To avoid problems, I would also suggest that you communicate how you bill up front so that your client understands. Your service is an intangible one for the most part - until you get the final product to the client. You don't want them wondering what you do to justify the cost. Better to give them detailed breakdowns.