With regards to the recent "conversations" newsletter from hal helms and steve nelson I thought I'd fire my .02 cents in on how we figure out how much to charge our clients. If you have no idea wtf I'm talking about then goto halhelms.com and sign up for the occasional newsletter. its good. really.
So first off, we're canadian so the prices should be divided by two for an idea of what we're worth in us dollars. And yeah, we're cheap. I'd also like to say here and now that the MOST IMPORTANT thing to do is sign a contract before you even THINK about doing ANYTHING for a client. Its sad but every person I've worked for without a contract (I feel) has taken advantage of us. A contract allows you the power to say, "The job is done." Usually after 2-3 face to face meetings we typically break it down by: - First figuring out physical hardware and software requirements. (dedicated or shared hosting? / sqlserver or access / etc) - Logically, the cost of hosting is hand in hand with this. In the past we shopped around and gave the client three quotes. Now we are moving in to do it ourselves and make an 'all inclusive' package. - Next we consult with the client to get ALL the content up front in some form. It doesn't have to be polished. Doesn't have to be complete. We just need to know a realistic idea of how much content we're dealing with as it affects the design drastically. Be it graphic or dynamic. By content I mean pictures and verbage. Not code. We learned this one after doing a flash site for a client who knew the sections of the site but not content. Once we'd finished everything we gave him the ability to plug in the content. OF COURSE he had volumes of verbage and HUNDREDS of pictures which of course made the design warp freakishly. He called us and said, "WHAT DID YOU DO IT LOOKS TERRIBLE?!?!". Grrr... makes me mad thinking about it. But it was our fault for not anticipating this.. - We then work with a graphic designer to develop 3 mockups. We bill him at $100Cdn per mockup. He charges us $50. Graphic designer partnerships are great for those not interested in design too btw. Designers are uninterested in writing code. By forming an 'alliance' we give designers the ability to market themselves as having total solutions for all situations (not just brochureware). Any work they bring us we pay 5% of the contract and first right to refuse all the design work. Everyone's happy. Then we estimate the actual nitty gritty of the project by the following criteria: database design, developemnt: $150CDN per hour html,javascript,presentation stuff: $65CDN per hour flash/actionscripting, etc: $90 CDN per hour (cf/asp/asp.net/php)serverside coding,configuring,etc: $150CDN per hour But how do we resolve these prices? How long do we know it will take to do the project? We guess. :) As I gain more experience I find that I already have most situations already coded in some form on my hd anyhow.. We don't take pictures, do graphics or develop content. BUT if a client requires these things we say, "I'd be more than happy to include this in our quote" and we subsequently find professionals to do this and we bill them at double their asking price. Another trick we've found that helps in winning proposals is making sure that we deliver within 24hours business days or not from the last meeting we're decide we're 'on the same page' or (hehe.. I love this jargon its funny) 'seeing eye to eye'. please reply, I think we can all learn somthing by how eachother approaches this. at the very least maybe we can start fixing our rates! ;) ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bUrFMa.bV0Kx9 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
