Thanks again, Martin, for your information and advice. I really appreciate it.
--Ben. On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 9:32 PM, Martin Redington < [email protected]> wrote: > The hourly rate is pretty variable, depending on your locality, experience, > and various other factors. > > As this is contract work, and you have no a) guarantee of work or b) > benefits, it's likely to be higher than the equivalent full-time salary pro > rata. > > Here in the UK, in London, for a seasoned developer, somewhere in the 40-70 > pounds per hour is probably in the right ballpark. By way of comparison, > flash developers make about 20 - 40 per hour here, and if you don't mind > writing Java in the city (investment banks), you can make 85 an hour and > up. > > In the US, I'd expect something in the region of $100 an hour, although if > you're not in a big metropolis, or lacking in experience, I'd expect it to > be somewhat lower ... > > > > On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 1:45 PM, Ben Liong <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > > Thanks Martin, for the insightful advice. > > > > I'm just starting out with contract work and it looks like the hourly > > rate with an estimated time for completion is the way to go. Do you > > have any advice on how I should go about calculating hourly rate? > > Should I be working backward from what I'm getting for my monthly salary > > > > Ben. > > > > Sent from my iPhone > > > > On 7 May 2010, at 9:42 AM, Martin Redington < > > [email protected] <martin%40mildmanneredindustries.com> > > > wrote: > > > > > If it's a straightforward work-for-hire arrangement (as opposed to > > > white-labeling, or a profit-share, or something), my advice would be > > > to > > > offer them a time estimate, but on anything other than the most > > > trivial > > > jobs, only to work on a time and materials basis (i.e. an hourly > > > rate). > > > > > > With a fixed quote, you're taking all the risk of any over-runs, no > > > matter > > > what the cause of them, and if your payment is dependent on a > > > satisfactory > > > deliverable, you're vulnerable if the client start behaving > > > unreasonably for > > > whatever reason, or if you decide that you need to fire them. > > > > > > On an hourly rate, and a reasoned estimate and project plan, you can > > > demonstrate to the client that you're making the expected progress > > > (hopefully), and if things go awry for whatever reason, you can each > > > cut > > > your losses, with you getting paid for your time spent so far, and the > > > client keeping the code that you've written for them. > > > > > > If at some point the spec changes, or they decide that they'd like > > > you to > > > spend time polishing some particular feature, then you can estimate > > > the > > > additional time required, and they can see straight away how much it > > > will > > > cost. > > > > > > One other tip: don't be tempted to drop your prices or underestimate > > > the job > > > to win the business. If the client can't pay your rate (assuming > > > it's not > > > unreasonable), or doesn't really have enough money for what they want, > > > you'll be better off just to let it go. > > > > > > > > > > > > On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 2:10 AM, Ben Liong <[email protected] > <benliong%40gmail.com>> > > wrote: > > > > > >> > > >> > > >> Hi, > > >> > > >> I recently received a request-for-quotation from a company to develop > > >> a set of mac / ipad games (educational purposes). I'm curious if you > > >> guys have any advice in terms of pricing of tailor made project / > > >> software. What kinds of things should I take into consideration when > > >> determining s price? Are time-to-implement and value of my time the > > >> only factor here? > > >> > > >> Thanks in advance. > > >> > > >> Regards, > > >> Ben Liong. > > >> > > >> Share and enjoy. > > >> Sent from my iPhone > > >> > > >> > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > > http://www.mildmanneredindustries.com/ > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > > > > > > > MacSB email guidelines: http://tinyurl.com/2g55d6 > > > Use MacSB-Talk for off topic messages: > > http://groups.google.com/group/macsb-talk > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > http://www.mildmanneredindustries.com/ > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > ------------------------------------ > > MacSB email guidelines: http://tinyurl.com/2g55d6 > Use MacSB-Talk for off topic messages: > http://groups.google.com/group/macsb-talk > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
