I was asked not to give out specific prices, but I'll briefly discuss my bizarre pricing strategy which you can add your own prices to.
First... When discussing pricing with a client, I almost NEVER discuss my hourly rates. The hourly rates we charge are a "base" from which we calculate the total price of a project for a user. We ALWAYS quote prices based on the finished project.
Therefore, it is CRITICAL that you have a complete understanding of a project when dealing with a client and that you put EVERYTHING in writing. I always start off with an outline based on my initial discussion with the client. From that I can give the client a "general quote", from which they can make a decision on whether or not to look elsewhere. If they accept the "general quote", then I sit down with them and flesh out all aspects of the project and I provide them with the final quote. The final quote is always solid and never goes up because we don't start any projects without knowing every single aspect of the project. And I build in time for anything which might be fluid (for example, I always start with 2.5 hours design time for a new site plus .5 hours for "back and forth". Experience tells me that our total average is actually 2 hours, but that extra hour is there in case the customer is being difficult. I do the same thing on any other part of the project where significant customer input is required.
Before we do ANY work, we get a signed contract from the customer. That contract includes a "project schedule" which not only gives them (and us) a timeline, but it also gives us both a reference point to the project scope. This is important in case they come back later and want to change something. We have a project list we can point to when we tell them it's going to cost extra.
The contract itself does list our "base" hourly rates. So it's at that time they find out what those rates are, but by that time, they have already approved the total amount of the contract, so they won't go into shock.
Which brings me to the important issue of discounts. As I mentioned above, our hourly rates are "base rates" from which we calculate the cost of a job. However, using those numbers straight typically ends up with costs that are way too high. So, we discount the final total to the customer.
So, let's say that a project ends up being $2,500 and we know that the price is probably $500 too high. We will present it to the customer as such:
Project Price $2,500
Contract Discount $250 (given to all customers who sign a contract, which is silly since
we make all customers sign a contract, but it's impressive)
10% discount for pre-payment $225 (if they pre-pay the whole contract up front)
$475 off the project price is close enough.
Sometimes we offer a 20% discount for pre-payment, depending on the total cost of the project.
I should also mention that if we "significantly" beat a project schedule (I've seriously over-estimated the project time), we will give the client a further discount on their final bill. This is to show them that we're not greedy and they should spend all future money with us. <smile>
One very important thing I want to touch on is that we have "financed" projects in the past and we're 50/50 on that working. If a project is $2,000 or more and we know it's a serious financial burden, we may offer to spread the payments out over 6 months or a year for an additional 10% to 20% financing charge. We still require 1/3rd up front, but the remainder of the project will be spread out over the specified period.
On the plus side, it's money you know you'll be collecting on a regular basis and it might get a customer to say "yes" that would definitely have said "no". However, of the 4 clients we've done this with, 2 of them have constantly had problems keeping up their payments. And we had to shut the web site down of one customer before they caught up on their back invoices.
Since my wife is the one who has to chase down delinquent payments, she's vetoed any future financing of clients. Although, she may make an exception for "credit card" billing. If the client is going to write checks to make their payments, then "just say no".
--Dave
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