On the quote, the on-site line reads: $239 per working day, billed from departure. Two words in there do a lot of work: "billed from departure." It is my line on the quote, so I will tell you plainly what it means, why it is the honest way to price a field day, and where the day rate stops and reimbursed travel begins.
The clock starts when we leave
A field day is not only the hours spent standing at the site. It begins the moment we set out from base: the metro to the station, the train to the city, the taxi from the station to the gate. That time is real, it is consumed by your task, and it cannot be sold to anyone else on the same day. Billing from departure simply states that the working day covers the whole journey out and back, not just the minutes on location. It is the transparent version. The alternative, billing only from arrival, quietly pretends that a four-hour round trip is free, and then makes it expensive through hidden add-ons.
What the day rate already includes
Within that single day rate sits the operator's time and judgment, the travel time itself, the on-site work, the capture protocol (timestamped photos and continuous video where relevant), and the written report delivered the same evening or the next day. There is no separate charge for "arriving" or "writing it up". One working day on location, start to finish, is one line.
What is reimbursed separately, at cost
Physical travel expenses are not profit; they are passed through. Train and metro tickets, road taxis, and, on an overnight trip, accommodation are itemized at actual cost with receipts. They appear as their own lines in the written quote before you approve, so you can see exactly what the day rate covers and what is reimbursement. Nothing is marked up. If a ticket costs a certain amount, that amount is what appears.
- Day rate, $239: the whole working day out and back, the site work, the capture, the report.
- Reimbursed at cost: train, metro, taxi, overnight accommodation, receipts attached.
- Both are shown in the quote before you pay. You approve the total, not a surprise.
- A nearby city usually fits inside one billed day, round trip included.
- Remote locations and overnight trips quote travel separately and clearly, never buried.
Why it also fixes the cancellation line
The same logic draws a clean refund boundary, which is why it is stated up front. Because the commitment begins at departure, departure counts as the task starting. Cancel before we leave and the refund is full; once we are on the road, the day is already being spent on you. That is not a gotcha, it is the natural consequence of billing a day that starts when we leave, and it is written into the quote so there is never a dispute about where the line sat.
Putting a number on your day
If your target is in a nearby city, expect one billed day plus the pass-through tickets. If it is far, or needs an overnight, the quote will say so and itemize the travel rather than folding it invisibly into the rate. Either way you get a fixed, written figure before anything is booked. To put a number on your city and task, use the order form. It takes about three minutes, and a written quote comes back within a day.