Is setup/takedown time part of your hourly rate or outside of it?

I am trying to set my rates and am wondering how to count the setup and takedown time into my hourly rate. For example, if I am hired for a birthday party for one hour, should I consider it one hour of painting with the setup/takedown time outside of that hour? Mind you, it doesn't take me long to set up, but I am just wondering how others look at it. I feel that it is only good manners to show up a few minutes early and paint for a solid hour, then take down, but that's not necessarily good business sense. But it is good business sense to make the customer feel they got their money's worth, of course. So, what do you do?

I don't charge for that time.... now, I can set up for a festival event within 15 minutes and birthday parties have almost no set up time at all... so take it for what it's worth.

I don't charge for set up and clean up. I figure my price is for painting time. Aside from festival, with tent set up and such, I can set up or clean up in under 10 mins. (I've been working on ways to make it more efficient)

We don't charge for our set up or clean-up time. We usually arrive 30 minutes prior to the party to set-up. My hubby is a clown, so he has some setup time for his magic shows and such, and we also offer popcorn and sno cone so sometimes we have to set that up. But we don't include that in our hourly rate. We do make sure we tell the people who contracted us that we will be there about 30 minutes prior so they know to expect us early.

I don't charge for setup time either. I've been working on reducing the time it takes me to setup, so I don't have to get there super-early. I also let clients know I'll be there early to setup.

I don't charge for set-up and clean up which is why I invested in my fatmax. I started with a jeep diaper bag that I had to pull everything out of and put everything back in before and after evens. It was costing me 20-30 minutes tacked onto each gig. It was hindering me from being able to schedule gigs close together and therefore costing me money. The fatmax has minimized my set-up and clean up to 3-5 minutes which has paid for the fatmax 10 time over.

I don't charge for set-up or break down, but I'm pretty fast at it, so it's 10 minutes tops to set up & 10 minutes to break down.

Varies for me.

For birthday parties and local events I go "on the clock" when I start to paint - so set-up and take down are not part of the paid time.

However, for my half-day and full-day rates set-up and take down ARE part of the paid time.

Thanks everyone for the input, I appreciate it. My setup time is about 10 minutes, tops, so I wasn't really too worried about it but everyone has said pretty much what I was thinking, so it's good to know that my instincts were valid.

Shannon, that makes sense. For half-day and full-day you probably give a break on the rate anyway, and also it is a different type of job.

It seems to me from a business perspective your set up and take down time are the cost of doing business. So just as you factor the cost of supplies in your hourly rate, so you should your prep time. The client gets their full hour of paint time, but you know that with set up, breakdown and travel time you are getting paid really for two hours of work. So rate accordingly. In other words I agree with all - just giving another way to look at it.