NYCPHP Meetup

[Kristina Anderson]

On 4/2/2011 2:18 PM, tedd wrote:
> At 3:19 AM -0500 4/2/11, Anthony Papillion wrote:
>> Hmm...good points Kristina and it brought up a few things I'd not
>> considered. Perhaps I need to raise my rates a bit.
>>
>> Anthony
>
> Anthony et al:
>
> Kristina knows her stuff and charges accordingly. I would listen to her.
>
> You will always find clients who say they can find professional 
> developers for much less than what you charge no matter what you 
> charge -- that goes with the territory. You have to understand that 
> you either stand your ground, or comply, but you are the one who has 
> to live with the decision.
>
> I had one client, back when I charged on $50/hour (I now charge 
> $100/hour), say to me "$50 and hour!!! I never paid that much for 
> anything. Would you considering working for $25 per hour?" I replied, 
> "Sure, but it will take me twice as long to get anything done."
>
> The client didn't hire me, but a year later he came back asking me the 
> same question and complaining that he couldn't find a good developer. 
> Some clients learn slow.
>
> Cheers,
>
> tedd
>

Tedd - Thanks, and this is good news!

  What you say about it then "taking twice as long to get it done" is so 
true.  Hourly rates are based on what we negotiate with the client.  
Unless the client is sitting there with a stopwatch clocking your every 
move (a rare situation), there really isn't any realistic way the client 
can be absolutely certain how many hours were spent.  So what it comes 
down to is
(a) what's the client's perception of the work you've done and how long 
it "should" take [this is why it's known that any client who says "oh, 
this should not take more than 4 or 5 hours" is no client we want to have],
(b) how big is the project?  Billing $50 for 200 hours is 10K, billing 
$100 for 5 hours is $500.  Some clients are just not worth dealing with 
when the hassle/payout ratio is examined; and
(c) what are ways you can increase your actual income without giving the 
appearance that you are charging more?  Reusing code, leveraging 
contacts with existing clients to create new business, cutting deals "OK 
I'll give you a break here but next time, please be prepared to pay 
market rates", limiting time wasted on non-billable phone calls, etc.

I know I've learned most of this stuff the hard way and had many 
misadventures over the years.  I've smartened up considerably about who 
I deal with, how I negotiate and what I will tolerate from clients, but 
also learned that sometimes if you do cut someone a deal [within reason 
of course!], they'll never forget it and will be invaluable allies in 
the future.

Kristina