Rate for freelance dev work

Solarion

Solarion

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How do you freelance guys do your rates? Hourly or Daily?

Is R500 a day fair? Reason I ask is I've been approached to put a C# winform app together and not sure about what to charge here in SA. I've only ever done freelance in the UK.

TIA :)
 
Solarion said:
How do you freelance guys do your rates? Hourly or Daily?

Is R500 a day fair? Reason I ask is I've been approached to put a C# winform app together and not sure about what to charge here in SA. I've only ever done freelance in the UK.

TIA :)
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R500 an hour maybe. Is this what you meant?
 
crackersa said:
Isn’t that a bit on the low side for an experienced dev? 10 years ago, a company I worked for charged clients r550/hr for a mid level dev.
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If you charge too much freelance then the client may be inclined to go to a software house rather.
 
crackersa said:
Isn’t that a bit on the low side for an experienced dev? 10 years ago, a company I worked for charged clients r550/hr for a mid level dev.
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It depends on the type of experience and the job. R500/day sounds crazy low: ~R125k/y as full time employment. R500/h is more reasonable at ~R1m/y, given that one isn't likely to be full time employed.
 
cguy said:
It depends on the type of experience and the job. R500/day sounds crazy low: ~R125k/y as full time employment. R500/h is more reasonable at ~R1m/y, given that one isn't likely to be full time employed.
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^^^
R500 a day is ridiculous.
 
What is the quoted total hours that you gave the guy for his software?R500 /day is a laugh.R500/hour is a good start depending on how complex the app is.
 
I used to charge about 750/hr. But I'd rather chew glass than do freelance again.
 
If you go full freelance you need to be charging 3-4x as much as what you "need" per hour, simply because of the downtime between finding clients, finalising contracts, getting sign-off etc.

For a once off project you can go lower though.
 
What value will the customer derive from using the application? If it just displays pretty colours, then R500 per hour is probably on the high side. If it makes them more profitable and efficient, then R500 per hour is at the low end. But then it gets into the territory where specialists/software houses might get involved.
 
Ascertain the potential for a retainer; fixed monthly income for maintenance, ... contract could be a consideration for initial cost offset; secondly as [MENTION=210533]kripstoe[/MENTION] implied both the circumstance and scope should be a determinant, you could easily lose a potential long term client if you strictly highball the daily rate.

...if however you are being contracted in by a large development / contracting house, then a higher rate tends to apply. I.e. you're just another resource.
 
I try to avoid hourly rates and hone in on a percentage of the value added to the client - helps both parties to define their expectations better. Force the client to define the monetary value of the software to them - will it save them x Rands or bring in an extra x Rands in profit per year? If they believe the software will make them an extra R500k profit, do you think it's fair or makes sense to charge R500/day (R10k) for a month's work? If the project will take time but the client works out it will only make them R10k - is there even any point in the project?

Often the client hasn't even thought this through and it forces a process where they do work out the actual monetary benefit, which leads to much better outcomes. It also frees you from the tyranny of time based billing. You could argue for 10% of a project worth R500k to the client with an additional percentage if it is successful - you get R50k for the work which will probably allow you to hire help or acquire better resources and ultimately produce a better product. It's a win-win - you get a comfortable fee but are incentivised to produce the result without obsessing over hours, the client has a predictable expense and is forced to focus on what will make them money.

This tends to meet a lot of resistance in SA but does work if you persist.

And, if you must, R500 per day is far too low - more like per hour.
 
Is it possible to charge X per hour for minor technical issues..

..and then for something larger like an additional feature or major upgrade, to rather not charge per hour but for the actual job itself?

Or do you guys just charge a flat rate per hour no matter what it is?
 
Solarion said:
Is it possible to charge X per hour for minor technical issues..

..and then for something larger like an additional feature or major upgrade, to rather not charge per hour but for the actual job itself?

Or do you guys just charge a flat rate per hour no matter what it is?
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I normally charge a flat rate for everything just to keep it simple.

One bit of advice is to always charge a decent / highish rate , never undersell yourself. If a client wants work done cheap, you’re probably better off without them.
 
Sheesh bro for R500 p day , I would outsource to you and pay you R1000 a day. You are selling yourself cheap.
 
FatBoySlim said:
Sheesh bro for R500 p day , I would outsource to you and pay you R1000 a day. You are selling yourself cheap.
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I have upped it, not a hell of a lot but certainly not R500/day :p
 
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scud said:
I normally charge a flat rate for everything just to keep it simple.

One bit of advice is to always charge a decent / highish rate , never undersell yourself. If a client wants work done cheap, you’re probably better off without them.
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Thanks, good advice!! :)
 
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