Hi Michael, Michael wrote: > On Mon, 27 Jul 2009 11:46:01 Grant Paton-Simpson wrote: > >> Hi Michael, >> >> As long as the purchaser is willing to pay more up-front then that >> sounds reasonable. With complex systems there is always an element of >> risk - the issue is who carries that risk. One arrangement might be for >> the purchaser to pay a lesser amount up front and pay separately for >> maintenance etc as required. The purchaser gambles that it might not be >> necessary and often they will be correct. But if they want the >> developer to carry that risk then they need to pay for that. And given >> that bug fixing can sometimes take a lot more resource than the original >> feature itself, the extra amount could be quite high. It is unfair, and >> ultimately self-defeating, to expect both a cheap price and for the >> developer to carry all the risk. >> >> >> All the best, Grant >> > > If it comes to the crunch and the case ends up before the small claims court, > the customer will win in these situations. > Which is why there probably needs to be some discussion and agreement before the project is undertaken. > At the end of the day no one outside of this immediate clique cares about > esoteric terms and geek speak. All that counts is "did the customer receive > what a reasonable customer would expect"? > Fair enough. But developers do need to cover themselves. Non-developers often grossly underestimate how much work a small change will require (they also grossly overestimate other changes). > If what a developer has supplied is full of bugs, they should front up and > fix > it at no extra change to the client. Fair enough. And they should charge with that in mind. It is important to explain the issues to the purchaser at the start. They need to understand what cut-price could end up costing them. > Trying to pass the buck goes against the > the legal and ethical expectations in the marketplace, and many industries > are being forced by regulation to become increasingly customer focused - real > estate and construction being 2 recent examples. > > I would think in instance of the web development it is better to face up to > reality and self regulate. > But prices will have to stabilise at a rate which makes development sustainable as a business. We've all heard how someone's nephew could hack it up for $500.
Anyway, important debate - thanks for raising it. All the best, Grant > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ NZ PHP Users Group: http://groups.google.com/group/nzphpug To post, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
