26
You are not charging enough: listen to your friends! You should have looked around for jobs similar to what you do and found out how much others were being paid. Don't feel that your work is worth much less because you are a newbie, because the client will take it when you release it to him and earn much, much more.
The client is correct in saying you can'...
11
Your client expects specification document which is nothing more than a list of all features, man hours for each and your hourly price. This can be a usual word document with text only or excel sheet with table and additional calculations like risk or unpredictable events, etc. If you're writing it for the first time, then a normal work doc is OK. You may ...
10
The client is right. You can't raise the cost of a project halfway through; that is unethical. That's probably why clients go away. That is not business at all.
Try find some cost estimation sites and do calculate. Most of those sites have $50 - $75 per hour, and I personally charge $35 to $40 per hour. But for you, I think it is better to start with $20 ...
9
First you need to establish whether you are estimating the project cost or providing a quote. They are different.
An estimate is just that - based on the current scope defined, the amount you estimate it will take in hours to complete which calculates to X amount. In an estimate both parties should understand that the final cost and hours needed for ...
8
Unfortunately, I don't believe such a site exists, and I wouldn't expect it to be accurate either.
If you are working on projects, they are usually a per-project cost, which changes as the scope changes, with every single project. A calculator won't be able to detect this. It also will not be able to measure you skill level, or how much time it will take ...
7
There is no formula for magically determining the number of hours a task will take based on complexity. Rather than agreeing to a fixed price, you might want to break your project into milestones and give an estimate of the number of hours between milestones, and charge hourly.
This is most important especially when you consider the fact that as you finish ...
6
So you told the client it would be 16 hours of effort to complete, and that you need 3 weeks to complete it... What the client hears is "I need 16 hours ... to complete".
This comes down to the client having different expectations than you do. I would counter back with reasons why it's not 16 hours straight:
You didn't get into Freelancing to work 16-hour ...
5
I'm freelancing with mobile apps now. Estimating prices has been far more difficult than the coding itself!
Time estimation
It is possible to estimate time required. Break it into a to do list. Nothing on your list should take more than 4 hours to build. Break it down further. Something like Upload data (?? hours) can be broken down into Prototype sending ...
5
This will borrow my knowledge from this question, because I feel a lot of the knowledge would be the same.
First off, from when I was a freelance web programmer, using PHP and MySQL (I do not do design), a lot of the code was fairly straight forward, even the custom stuff. When I did my research in how to do something, if I could see how it would help ...
5
I do design/development of web sites, mainly WordPress based, and generally estimate a proposal--including client meeting, research and a draft of a contract--to take 4-5 hours of my time. How much I'm willing to go over that time depends on a few elements:
size of project & budget
relationship with prospective client & likelihood of getting the gig
...
5
First of all you need to derive the minimum hourly rate for your location.
Then you need to calculate the time required for doing the things and just multiply it with hourly rate.
Here one thing you need to consider in mind is that you also consider the testing part in the time estimation.
At the beginning try to calculate how much money you need for ...
5
It all boils down to one thing, do you believe in the project?
Accepting equity is always a bet, because so many things can go wrong at every step of the startup way. The moment you accept, you are becoming an active part of the company as opposed to just a contractor, and you have to be ready to push the project ahead with all you can give, because your ...
5
I'll start with an example of how I calculate the pricing for my freelancing projects which perhaps would give you an idea on how it's done, and then I'll add a few points of advice I learned along the way.
How much will this project cost me as a developer?
Whenever I get hired to build a website or design something, I have to consider my expenses for the ...
5
He says that he wants me and his design team to work together and our agreement was only for programming, not for design (he would provide
the flow and images).
This implies a change of project scope.
If he is talking about a single day, then I suggest you consider a separate invoice for your time - apply a discount since some of your time is paid under ...
4
Read other topics here about how to calculate your hourly rate.
At the beginning try to calculate how much money you need for living in 1 month. The divide it to 4 weeks and that is money you have to earn in 1 week. You may further divide it with 40 to get your hourly rate.
And this is the MIN hourly rate only IF you work 40 hours a week. Many ...
4
Well you covered most of it.
During the research phase when the client is not sure whether he will start the project or not, you will not be able to avoid couple of free hours of work. that's just the way for both of you to realize whether you can finish the project and for the client if he has money for it. If it takes more than a couple of hours that ...
4
You're a victim of scope creep. It's not uncommon, it happens to many, including yours truly.
Possibly the ideal way to head it off before it happens is to create a mutually-agreed upon list of features for the current project or iteration, and set it in stone. Add requests for additional features or changes to a list and revisit that at a later point. ...
4
I set aside a portion of each day for "business development." I also have some standard packages priced already so I can turn rough estimates around quickly.
Having standard boilerplate you can paste into an email is also helpful and saves time in the initial project negotiations.
4
Let me start by saying that I'm not a web designer but a web developer, so I don't have that much experience building pretty frontends like these.
With my limited knowledge, I take into account my ignorance and lack of experience, I would not claim to be able to do it in less than 40 hours.
120 does not sound crazy, maybe if I sat down and started building ...
4
While the answers provided effectively address the bulk of your question, I wanted to address your last statement:
"I really don't want to lose this client since it looks like an excellent long term opportunity."
Be very careful with this thought process. While it may sound logical to take on a project in the hopes for a 'long term opportunity,' remember ...
3
Why running away from outsourcing the design phase? This is something I do all the time, as well as 90% of other freelancers.
Pros:
- you have more time for coding
- a client will get professional design
- you can earn some extra for taking percentage on the design (don't need to if you don't want to)
- you keep the client and tell him you're capable of ...
3
15 years as an independent consultant (IT), and 99% of the time I bill hourly.
I hate to go against your 'no hourly' constraint, but if it's a short wireframe project with no scope but expected duration of 3 weeks, aren't you trying to determine 'how much of my time will it take to complete the wireframe deliverables within the timeline'?
Of course, ...
3
1. Decide the quote based on the job, and amount of work-hour it would take. Even-though you are not working per hour basis.
Things to remember :
- You can start with a lower rates if you expect to get more work from
the same client in the future.
- Consider market rates,if you are a starter it is better to start at
reasonable/cheaper rate.
- ...
3
I recommend you build your own calculator. You know your skill level, and you know what resources/modules you have available to you. Set an hourly rate (at least for your calculator) and then estimate each project in terms of hours. Add 10-15% for unforseen bugs and nonsense. You could put it together in Excel or other similar app fairly easily - or find ...
3
Estimates/quotes take top priority here. Any delay in returning a bid/quote can instantly result in losing the project.
I have yet to find a day where I could not spend some time writing up an estimate. Even if it took a couple days, I can work it in with what I currently have ongoing. Face it, no one schedules every day wall to wall. It's often very ...
3
Estimate more, charge less in the end. The customer will thank you and think you're amazing!
First off, why do you need to break it down so much? That to me is a sign of a customer not trusting you... Which can turn it into a toxic relationship. Do your estimate yourself, and deliver a final price, based on projects that size and magnitude. Do not let the ...
3
Well, if it was indeed clearly understood by the client that you provided an estimate, then yes, it's okay to open a discussion with the client about additional time. Ideally, you should do this as soon as you are getting close to the original estimate. You can then negotiate with the client as to what may be needed to cover the additional time required.
If ...
3
Customarily you do not charge interest. If you finance the purchase(s) that's on your shoulders, not the clients. In addition, you should be able to pay off any balance when you receive payment from the client. So markup due to covering costs would cover your interest in the interim.
It is customary to markup expenses about 20%. That means you aren't ...
3
I think the technical term for what you're doing is called a, "feasibility study."
And it's not unusual to do this.
Your expertise and analysis is valuable. The client should respect your approach if you have any chance of being seriously considered for the job.
There's certainly value in the document. At the least, if he doesn't use you for the ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible