I'm a freelance web developer and one of the hardest things for me is correctly estimating the time and money it's going to cost a potential client for his particular project. I generally come up with an hourly figure based on the difficulty and technologies used, and then multiply that by the number of hours each component may take to complete.
Then i total the dollars and come up with a price estimate. I take the total number of hours and figure out how much time it will take. This seems like such a primitive way of coming up with estimates, though. Anyone have any tried-and-true methods they like to use?
And what are the opinions out there on contracts? I generally deal with people I know or subcontract for a reputable consulting company, so I haven't had the pleasure yet of being 'burned' by a customer. What kind of contracts do you use to protect yourself? Do you have them professional written?
What kind of process do you use in dealing with customers? I use the following:
1) Meet with potential client, get preliminary data on project
2) Analyze requirements given by client
3) Write up user requirements document along with estimate.
4) Meet again with client, propose estimate along with user requirements. Client may either accept, deny, or counteroffer. Bargaining takes place.
5) If client accepts, they sign document saying that these user requirements will be fulfilled for the specified amount. Anything more than that will be charged accordingly.
6) Work begins
What do you think?
Then i total the dollars and come up with a price estimate. I take the total number of hours and figure out how much time it will take. This seems like such a primitive way of coming up with estimates, though. Anyone have any tried-and-true methods they like to use?
And what are the opinions out there on contracts? I generally deal with people I know or subcontract for a reputable consulting company, so I haven't had the pleasure yet of being 'burned' by a customer. What kind of contracts do you use to protect yourself? Do you have them professional written?
What kind of process do you use in dealing with customers? I use the following:
1) Meet with potential client, get preliminary data on project
2) Analyze requirements given by client
3) Write up user requirements document along with estimate.
4) Meet again with client, propose estimate along with user requirements. Client may either accept, deny, or counteroffer. Bargaining takes place.
5) If client accepts, they sign document saying that these user requirements will be fulfilled for the specified amount. Anything more than that will be charged accordingly.
6) Work begins
What do you think?
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