Working out how long a project will take is a difficult task as there are so many factors to consider. You know when you take your car in to be serviced, you always ask “how long will it take?’ – and you actually expect a sensible answer as well, don’t you? Well, let me ask you a question or two….
1. How long will a cleaner take to clean a house? 
2. How long will a car valet take to clean a car?
3. How long will it take an electrician to fix your electrical fault?
4. How long will it take for a new bathroom to be fitted?
5. How long will the carpet fitters take to fit a new carpet?
While you were reading those questions, I am sure you have been asking others. The cleaning company would more than likely ask you how many rooms you have and the car valet will certainly want to know whether you want the inside of your car cleaned as well as the outside before providing a quote and giving you an estimate regarding the time it would take. You will be able to think of questions for the other three, I am quite sure…. So, how long will it take to trace your family history?
Well, heaven alone knows without knowing where you are starting from, where your family were from, what you are looking to find out…. I could go on! Before Christmas I mentioned that several people had come to us very late in the day (with less than ten days to go until Christmas Day!), asking for a family history binder for their X (relative) for Christmas. We have had a referral in January which the client felt was ‘plenty of time’ for a delivery date in February. Erm…. not really! Other clients have consciously make the decision to request a longer term family history project for a big occasion – either Christmas, anniversary, birthday or whatever…. which (a) breaks up the payments as well as (b) giving us more time to work on it. The longer we have, the greater the depth of information we can locate.
How long is a piece of string? Well, the longer it is, the more you can do with it!
