How to bill a project, for example: A Drupal CMS Website.

[DevLib]

Hi Guys

I have 5 years professional programming experience with a 2 year Diploma in Programming and I decided its time I need to make it on my own(get self employed).

The technical part of the whole operation is not to hard for me. But I never really managed a project or the billing that goes with a project(The project manager normally handled it).

I decided after some calculation my time is worth R 300 a hour. But a client normally wants a total or at least a estimate.

So taking the above into consideration I worked out the following example:

I decided for a drupal cms website I will charge R 3000(This buys 10 hours of my time). This includes the following:

- Setup of Drupal
- Installing a WYSIWYG editor
- Modifying a theme for example adding company logo, etc.
- Creating pages of static content the client gave me.

I normally ask for a company logo, theme or colour schema to find a nice free theme for the clients on the internet. If they don't want to pay extra for a designer(My designer asks R 2000).

But I'm starting to think I need to put a limit on the amount of initial pages I will setup on the website. For example say the price includes 5 pages and for every extra page it will cost R 300 (1 hour).

Also how much must I charge for maintenance? I know there normally is not a lot of maintenance, but I must check if drupal is up to date and if not I must upgrade it and make sure the website is still functioning. I'm thinking to ask R 150 a month(It buy's 30 minutes of my time).

Any extra input you guys can give. Am I over priced or under priced?

Cheers,

 

[davemc]

Phone some of your competitors, pretend to be a potential client and ask them.

 

[Peon]

What Dave said. Ask them to give a full quote. Damm do I love phoning competitors and playing as if im a client......

 

[ACloete]

What Dave said. Ask them to give a full quote. Damm do I love phoning competitors and playing as if im a client......

Oh, is that what you guys are doing.


Devlib, I think the time benchmark is about right. Do a calculation on what a project like this would take you. Do this simply for a pet project of yours, like let's say i.e. a plumbing company. Set up a drupal website for a fictional company and measure the time you take. Add to this time some allowances. And then built a quote based on this. You'll see that customers like to waste your time making you wait for crucial information. That's an issue you need to address and you need to clarify that they will have to pay extra for this. Don't underestimate information gathering and rework; and built this into your project plan that will form the base for your quote and proposal.
Oh yes, an be cautious to whom you give out quotes and proposals. Let the words of the other respondents be a warning to you?



(The website you can sell, rent out or use as an example for customers)

 

[guest2013-1]

Oh, is that what you guys are doing.


Devlib, I think the time benchmark is about right. Do a calculation on what a project like this would take you. Do this simply for a pet project of yours, like let's say i.e. a plumbing company. Set up a drupal website for a fictional company and measure the time you take. Add to this time some allowances. And then built a quote based on this. You'll see that customers like to waste your time making you wait for crucial information. That's an issue you need to address and you need to clarify that they will have to pay extra for this. Don't underestimate information gathering and rework; and built this into your project plan that will form the base for your quote and proposal.
Oh yes, an be cautious to whom you give out quotes and proposals. Let the words of the other respondents be a warning to you?



(The website you can sell, rent out or use as an example for customers)

I'm sure he's already got this under the knee 6 months down the line...

 

[ACloete]

I'm sure he's already got this under the knee 6 months down the line...

I'm sure he's going to tell us.

 

[dequadin]

R300 per hour, is that what you guys charge?

Quick calculation (rate * hours/day * days/month):
300 *8.5 * 21.67 = 55252.5

 

[Mars]

R300 per hour, is that what you guys charge?

Quick calculation (rate * hours/day * days/month):
300 *8.5 * 21.67 = 55252.5

That's assuming you have no overheads, and work a full day everyday.
In reality you will probably only get half that. Which imo is a bit low.

 

[Mars]

Oh, is that what you guys are doing.

why does it make you sick? Ok it is a bit off pissing to work out a full quote just to benchmark someone else's work, but its part of every business. In fact its part of the procedure in making up a decent business plan.

Its all about balancing real value, perceived value, and market related value.

 

[ACloete]

why does it make you sick? Ok it is a bit off pissing to work out a full quote just to benchmark someone else's work, but its part of every business. In fact its part of the procedure in making up a decent business plan.

Its all about balancing real value, perceived value, and market related value.

Of course the good salesman knows how to sift out those that are only checking for prices as well. There are some things one can check before handing out a quote.

 

[Peon]

See the point is not to make a fool of the other guy, but rather to see what fools he is making of his clients.

I've heard to most amazing things that aren't possible, but are told to everyday persons who are none the wiser. One of the less than admirable facets of smaller companies is that many have taken the lead of larger ones. Coming to price and ripping customers off. Suppose its rife in SA....

 

[ACloete]

...
I've heard to most amazing things that aren't possible, but are told to everyday persons who are none the wiser. One of the less than admirable facets of smaller companies is that many have taken the lead of larger ones. Coming to price and ripping customers off. Suppose its rife in SA....

Guess that works both ways.
And it's a Gizmo of multicultural societies, too.