Just for the sake of having a differing opinion in the conversation, here's my take. I don't claim to be "right", and your mileage may vary.
I ran a web app consulting shop for about 7 years. About 5 of those years we focused almost exclusively on Django consulting. We tried per-project billing, and we tried hourly. And eventually we settled on hourly with caveats: 1 - we would give an estimate first. 2 - before we went past the estimate, we would contact the client and give an update and request permission to work hours past the estimate. Hourly billing is friendly to a ***reality*** of all projects - scope creep. If scope creeps and the developer goes past the number of hours on the project, the relationship has changed. Now you aren't my friend, you're the guy I hate getting emails from. Because extra requests from you are requests from free work. And now we're in a tug-of-war, where you are requesting features you think are perfectly reasonable and in scope, and I'm telling you those features are out of scope or I'm doing more free work begrudgingly. I much prefer BRUTALLY small iterations, billed hourly. (ie, we're not talking an iteration to 1.0. We're talking an iteration that is "you can log in", then an iteration that is "list your dishwashers, but nothing is clickable yet", etc.) Anyway - take it or leave it - but for my money I like hourly arrangements from both sides of the coin. Cheers, Chris -- Chris Pitzer p. 503 425 9444 t. @chrispitzer w. http://lofiart.com On Fri, Sep 12, 2014 at 12:06 PM, Rich Shepard <[email protected]> wrote: > On Fri, 12 Sep 2014, John Hampton wrote: > > I am looking for a python contractor for help in building an intranet site >> for my employer [1]. Ideally, I'd like to find a local independent >> contractor, though I'm open to recommendations for software shops to >> contact. Also, I have no clue what the current average hourly rate is >> among web devs is. >> > > John, > > I'm not interested in applying for the job, but offer a suggestion for > your serious consideration: buy the project for a flat fee, not an hourly > rate. > > Two major problems with hourly billing: > > 1.) The buyer really does not know what the necessary expertise is worth > per hour. If you did you could probably develop the project yourself. But, > you want expertise you do not have in-house. Also, price does not equal > quality. Lowest bid too frequently means unacceptable quality. > > 2.) Your contractor is in competition with you. He (or she) knows what is > involved in developing your project but there are always glitches, problems > that take longer than expected to resolve, and so on. So the contractor is > in a bind: does he bill you for all those hours and have you complain about > the cost, or does he eat the time and short-change himself? > > When you negotiate a fixed fee for the project it is based on specific > objectives of what will be delivered and when (both of you should target > long and deliver early). You both agree on the price so you know up front > how much you're investing and the contractor is satisfied with that amount. > Then you both have aligned goals: get the project done correctly as quickly > as is consistent with the required quality, regardless of the time and > effort involved. > > Define the specific end-point; e.g., delivery of a working prototype for > everyone to try. After that, changes and tweaks can be done on a > time-and-expense basis. > > Years ago I changed to flat rate project costs and my clients really like > it. I don't worry if I end up working for less than minimum wages since I > agreed the amount was acceptable to me and my clients paid the budgeted > amount without worry that I'd treat them as a cash cow to be milked dry. > > Also, offer to pay 1/3rd of the total up front, and the final two thirds > at agreed check points. A problem with selling services is that they cannot > be repossessed once delivered. Pre-payment sets an ethical, moral, and > honesty obligation on your contractor and assures you that his attention is > focused on your needs. > > Good luck, > > Rich > > -- > Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D. > Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. | Troutdale, OR 97060 USA > www.appl-ecosys.com Voice: 503-667-4517 Fax: 503-667-8863 > > _______________________________________________ > Portland mailing list > [email protected] > https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/portland > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://mail.python.org/pipermail/portland/attachments/20140912/ae5ad279/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ Portland mailing list [email protected] https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/portland
