NYCPHP Meetup

[tedd]

At 3:21 PM -0400 4/2/11, Kristina Anderson wrote:
>$100 an hour is great but in many cases, you're not even approaching 
>40 hours or even 20 hours a week in billings.  Any programmer should 
>be good enough with math to see that consistent billing of 40 hours 
>per week and less time spent on marketing is the key to greater 
>monthly income.
>
>Kristina

That's exactly right.

Most of my projects are done a "cost for project" basis.

Often I figure out how much time the project will take me and then I 
provide the client with a "project cost", which usually looks like a 
better deal for them because I *do* charge $100 per hour.

For example, I'm current working on a project that if I spent all my 
time (100%) working on it I probably could have it done in two weeks. 
That would be $8K at $100 per hour.

However, in this case (which is more often than not) I determined 
that the client can't be ready in that length of time -- they simply 
don't have the graphics, text, and money. So, I provide a quote 
saying I can finish the project within two months at cost of $10k. 
That gives them time to get things together and gives me room to fit 
their project in to my schedule.

If they come back and negotiate, then I have $2k of wiggle room. 
However most of the time, clients jump at the "project cost" for they 
feel that two months is much longer than 100 hours so they are 
getting something additional. Realize that often it perception and 
flexibility that you sell, not programming. In any event, the 
arrangement presents a win-win situation -- and that's what you want.

So, when the client has the money, I take 50% up-front and the 
remainder when the project is finished. It sounds reasonable to the 
client and works most of the time for me.

Now, what I *also* do in these cases is to stay with the client until 
they get what they want. This conduct will provide me with favor, 
which results in more work from both the client and their friends. 
Word of mouth means a lot!

Sometimes, this means spending up to 50% more time than expected 
without billing for extras. However, at some point, the client should 
come to a realization what the scope of the project was at the 
beginning and what it turned into. Most clients realize what "feature 
creep" is and you can come to a reasonable solution as to how to deal 
with it.

If you run into an unreasonable client (rare), then it's best to take 
whatever was outstanding and walk away -- don't do the court thing. 
As for an unreasonable example, I had one client who offered to pay 
me $50 *per week* until the project was finished as he kept adding 
things as if this project was a software buffet. I walked and left 
the remaining 50% payment plus the 150% effort on the table. In this 
case, I made $33 per hour on a failed project. Not good, but not so 
bad either.

The bottom line is to determine what the client wants and work their 
needs to your advantage. It may sound like you're taking advantage of 
them, but clients seldom understand and often underestimate what you 
do and that is taking advantage of you. In the end, work the system 
to provide quality service for reasonable pay.

Cheers,

tedd


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