liamloveslearning Posted April 12, 2010 Share Posted April 12, 2010 Hi everyone A client of mine has asked me to break down a quote so he can see where the price has come from, My quote is based on the hours involved not each section of the website, how would you guys break it down? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cags Posted April 12, 2010 Share Posted April 12, 2010 Well if the quote is based on projected time scales, then you need to explain which aspects/areas are predicted to take what approximate amount of time. For example you could say. Database Design / Implementation 4 hours. Overall Site Layout 8 hours. News CRUD 5 hours. Porting of Old Content 8 hours. Making lots of changes because you can't make your mind up 100 hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zq29 Posted April 12, 2010 Share Posted April 12, 2010 By modules of functionality? You must have attributed these hours to doing something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trq Posted April 12, 2010 Share Posted April 12, 2010 My quote is based on the hours involved not each section of the website, how would you guys break it down? How did you come to the hours involved without breaking it down in the first place? Sounds like guesswork to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnoTheDev Posted April 12, 2010 Share Posted April 12, 2010 A client of mine has asked me to break down a quote so he can see where the price has come from, My quote is based on the hours involved not each section of the website, how would you guys break it down? One would have assumed that you have sent a detailed specification to your client for the complete functionality of their project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jax2 Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 What I would personally like to know is how to quote something in the first place WITHOUT guessing. Perhaps I am relatively rare in the fact that I never really know how long something is going to take me until I get working on it, see what is involved and then do it. When I'm done, that's how many hours it took. I may need to occasionally seek help with someone that is giving me problems, but I don't charge that part to the client ... if I don't know how something works, that's my problem, not theirs, but again, until I'm actually in there, doing the work, I have no idea how long it will take me. Is there a good way to go about guessing? Take a recent job I did for example... The company wanted me to "fix problems" they were having with the website's admin backend, and add a few features. Well, I had to go through the entire code, change this around, test it, if it works, change the rest of the admin section around to suit the first change ...etc. Ended up being more than 10 hours of work, but it could have just as easily taken me 3 or 4 if some of the problems weren't as bad as they were. So, back to the original question, how do you know what to quote someone?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trq Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 So, back to the original question, how do you know what to quote someone? Get very specific details about what the client's objectives are, then come up with very specific estimates for each of those objectives. It gets harder when clients are talking about an existing site becuase you don't really know what your in for. I generally assume the worst in these situations and quote accordingly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ignace Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 Quoting is simply guesswork, you can't tell someone it will take you x hours because it won't take you x hours, it will take you x + y hours where y is the number of hours your client suddenly realizes also they are gifted with a brain and (for the short span it will remain active) abuse it in various ways reducing you to a mouse cursor controlled by the client. So, if you told them it will take x hours they honestly believe it will remain x hours regardless of how many changes they propose. So a few pointers when you next time talk to your client: 1. http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell 2. "never talk to an idiot, he'll drag you down to his level and beat you with experience." PS it's not always like that of course but it happens once in a while Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnoTheDev Posted April 13, 2010 Share Posted April 13, 2010 The company wanted me to "fix problems" they were having with the website's admin backend For that type of work we would have quoted an hourly rate as opposed to a set price. Project prices are literaly for new projects, not fixes or modifications to existing systems (for us anyway). It is purely guesswork on the number of hours it will take so we quote an estimated number of hours and warn the client that it could take longer if there are any unforseen issues. So we may quote the client an estimated 4 hours with the potential of it being upto 7 hours. If you quote for 1 hour and it ends up taking you 3 hours then the client will not like you charging for the extra work if you have not warned them in advance and you will probably end up taking the hit. On another note, always agree a spec before you start any work whether it be a new project or modifications. Get the client to sign it so they know exactly what you are doing. Always keep any email correspondence that you have with clients. It is often the case that you will do what they ask for and they turn round and say they asked for something different. If they change their mind after agreeing a spec then you should charge for additional work. Make sure it is in your contract that this is the way you operate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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