We try to make sure that our clients have no nasty surprises – apart perhaps from what the records may reveal about their ancestors! We try very hard to let you know:

	what the work may cost,
	how long it will take,
	the chances of success,  and
	what sort of information the records are likely to reveal.

How much do we charge?

Research

Our rates for research work are:

	Minimum fee of £65 for the first 2½ research hours,  then
	£20 per research hour thereafter,  plus
	any official search fees and the cost of certificates and photocopies with associated postage – we will advise you of the possibility, and likely scale, of these items before you give the go-ahead.

Note: The time charged is for research hours - i.e. the time spent in the archives, library etc. We do not count the time taken to write your report or in travelling – if we did, as many others do, then the time charged would at least double if not treble.

We ask for payment for the research time, official fees, and certificate costs in advance. Photocopies will be billed in arrears though, for overseas clients, we can often give an all-up cost in advance so as to avoid two sets of bank charges.     Payment should be in pounds sterling (GBP £) by cheque drawn on a bank in London – any good bank can provide this service; alternatively sterling cheques may be purchased from Ruesch International or International Currency Express.   Sorry but we do not have facilities to accept credit cards.

Consultancy

For those clients who just want expert advice, but wish to carry out the searching themselves, we also offer a Consultancy Service. For a fee of £20 we will spend up to an hour analysing your research problem and providing a written research strategy. This work will not include any searching of records, though we will consult our own library, where appropriate, to help formulate the strategy. If you decide to ask us to carry out research based on the suggested strategy, within two months, then a discount of £15 will be given on the minimum fee.

Before you send any money, contact us for an estimate, an assessment of the likelyhood of success and confirmation that we can take on your work. Unfortunately we receive more requests for help than we can take on and many are declined because the enquirer fails to send basic information known to them that would enable us to provide an estimate.