This process is of great interest to me. We work at it from month to month as our business grows and we do project estimates based on hourly ranges. I wrote a blog about it recently and it has some excellent comments attached about some other similar methods. I often refer potential customers to this blog so they can see (in the spirit of openess) how our numbers are derived.
http://mkruger.cfwebtools.com/index.cfm?mode=alias&alias=project%20estimates The larger companies don't like the "range" so I use my methodology and simply offer the maximum as a flat amount - which they use as a basis for a P.O. Since we are usually doing projects under 100,000 this is fine with them. Needless to say I like the larger companies (ha). That being said, I have several long standing customers who have been with me for a very long time. Yes, they can be frustrating to deal with, but I remember when they were our bread and butter. I try to work with them and help to feel like things have not changed too much. -Mark -----Original Message----- From: Les Mizzell [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, December 30, 2005 5:02 AM To: CF-Talk Subject: Re: A Contractor or Two > So I work out the number of hours I think it's going to take, add a big > margin for error, then add another margin for error. Though I typically bid "per project", I spend a lot of time figuring out exactly how many hours it's going to take me to complete something, and I've gotten to the point where I'm usually very close if the client gets me the stuff I need by their deadline and then leaves me alone to get their job done. I've also built up a decent library of widgets (press release apps, email newsletters, event calendars - along with their admin page - that sort of thing) that I can just pop into a site, add the proper CSS and it's done - and I've got a standard charge for those particular widgets. An event calendar is always going to be $xx.xx, as long as the functionality stays pretty much the same as my pre-built widget. I do add in a certain amount of "slop" to allow for a margin of error, and there's also certain clients that have a per hour "a**hole fee" that gets factored in as well, because I know it's going to take twice as long to get their job done because they won't leave me alone long enough to make any real progress. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Logware (www.logware.us): a new and convenient web-based time tracking application. Start tracking and documenting hours spent on a project or with a client with Logware today. Try it for free with a 15 day trial account. http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=67 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:227981 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
