Whether you are commissioning us for a research project, a writing project, or both, the first question most clients have is “How much will it cost?” While our hourly fee is fixed, our clients have full control over how much time they want to invest in the project each month. You can authorize anywhere from 10 hours per month to 100 hours per month. The length of time a project can take, however, depends on a variety of factors, such as the type of project, the complexity, your project goals, and what we find in the records

If your project involves research, we cannot guarantee we will find your ancestors. They may not be in records we expect to find them in, they may have moved to another locality we hadn’t expected, or their names may be mistranscribed or misrecorded. If all our ancestors left detailed records in logical places, genealogical research would be quick and simple. It usually isn’t. You are paying for our time and expertise, not research results.

Think of your research or writing project as constructing a custom home. No two custom homes are alike, any more than two family histories are alike. Do you want to build a two-bedroom home on a neighborhood lot, or do you want to build a five-bedroom home in a gated community? Or something in between? And if something in between, what size house? What part of town? How big is the lot or how many acres? And after construction begins, will you decide you want to add on another room? How long it will take before you can move in will vary on these things, as will the price of the house.

Here, we’re constructing a unique family history, as no two families are alike, and there are many variables. Let’s say you want to have your family history written into a book. Here are some of the questions we’ll be asking you:

1. Has thorough genealogical research been done? Who performed the research? You or another genealogist? If another genealogist, have you secured a copyright release to use that researcher’s material in your book?
2. What type of family history do you want written? For example will it contain all of your ancestors, one branch of the family, or the lineage of all four grandparents? Do you want a narrative written or complied genealogies? Or do you want a two-part book with both a narrative and compiled genealogies? Will it be a one-volume book or two?
3. How indepth do you want the narrative? If your ancestors served in a major war, for example, how detailed do you want the war covered? Or if your ancestors are recent immigrants, how detailed do you want life in the Old Country covered, or are you more interested in their lives in America? If your lineage goes back to the Mayflower, how much historical context do you want added to each generation?
4. Do you want your writing project to be finished after the manuscript is completed, so that you can find a printer who will do the layout/design and printing? Or do you want us to provide you with a camera-ready copy, which involves scanning photographs and documents, designing and laying out the pages, and compiling a name, place, and subject index? Will you be providing us your genealogy data in an electronic form? If not, that information will need to be rekeyed and formatted.
5. If you are including illustrations, have you secured all the necessary permissions to use those that are still protected by copyright? We will be happy to assist you with this process; however, you are responsible for any permission or usage fees.
6. Do you want us to conduct oral history interviews with living relatives? If so, do you want us to do this in person or over the telephone? We prefer and recommend in-person interviews, as people are more comfortable talking with a stranger in person rather than on the phone. We will also be engaging a tape transcriptionist for the project. It takes from 16 to 20 hours to transcribe an hour of interview tape.

Remember, we’ll be sending you monthly progress reports, and you can adjust the allocated hours as needed or terminate the project upon written notice.

What Kinds of Expenses Will There Be?

All projects incur expenses. Depending on your project, here are the types of expenses that may be involved:

1. Travel for research or to conduct oral history interviews. We’re based in Salt Lake City, but we make frequent trips to the National Archives in Washington, DC, and to repositories in Ireland and the British Isles. We will advise you when our next trip is planned and give you an estimate of how many hours we can devote to your project. Travel expenses (meals, lodging, and travel) are prorated among the number of clients for whom we will be working. For other travel specific to your research project, we will provide you with a estimate of total costs.
2. Research costs. Photocopies, printouts, document fees, etc. are billed at cost.
3. Tape transcription if we are doing oral history interviews for your project. This is also billed to you at cost. Currently, our transcriptionist charges $30/hour.
4. Permission fees. If you would like us to help you secure permissions from other researchers or for illustrations, we’d be happy to do so. Sometimes there is no permission fee to use an illustration in a family history book, but fees vary depending on the copyright holder or repository that owns the image.
5. Book design and indexing. There’s more to a writing project than just the writing! We can also do the design and layout of the pages; scan and place the photographs, maps, and historical documents; and compile a name, place, and subject index. This gives you a camera-ready electronic file of your book, ready for a printer to run.

If you have additional questions not covered here or want to discuss your research project, please feel free to e-mail us.