Custom script pricing?

[FrostiE]

Hey,

 

Not having been in this situation before I didn't really know where else to ask.

 

I recently wrote a custom PHP and Javascript/AJAX script for a client. Its basically a Project management system that allows all the aspects of a business to be tracked, including weekly production and progress on tasks, deadlines, full multi-user support with different access levels, individual day book/calendar etc.

 

Its about 3400 lines of PHP and just over a 1000 lines of JavaScript. Its done in a user friendly drag-drop style (similar to windows) and obviously includes a design with it.

 

From what I've been looking at, you can be looking at a couple hundred dollars for just a design without coding, so where would I start pricing wise on such a big script?

 

Thanks in advance

[zq29]

How long did it take and how much is your time worth?

[FrostiE]

It took about 5 days of hard work. Because I freelance it wasn't a 9-5 job, but after that.

About how much my time is worth, I don't know what you mean. I assume your talking about qualifications etc.

[Liquid Fire]

You also have to ask yourself what else is out there?  Can your project do every that a free software that is the same as your do?  What is your target group?  To be honest a 3400 PHP/1000 javascript line script is not that big, its a good size but most like their are already application out there that are free(these are some free project tracking tools: bugzilla, mantis, dot project, GForge) and already do what you can and maybe more.  Of coarse a lot of what i am saying is based on you brief description.  It is quite hard to judge who much something is worth without trying it out first, if you can geta demo up that i can test with I would be able to give you are better description.

 

ALso do you plan on continuing the development of this application or just sell what you have as is?

[redbullmarky]

if you did a job that serves the purpose to specification, and the client is happy, then your skills/qualifications are non-important. these only come into play BEFORE getting the job.

 

pick an hourly rate you're happy with. multiply it by the hours you spent on it. happy with the result? there's your figure. do it too cheap and he'll take you for a ride when it comes to future work. too expensive and he'll go elsewhere.

[jcombs_31]

You also have to ask yourself what else is out there?  Can your project do every that a free software that is the same as your do?  What is your target group?  To be honest a 3400 PHP/1000 javascript line script is not that big, its a good size but most like their are already application out there that are free(these are some free project tracking tools: bugzilla, mantis, dot project, GForge) and already do what you can and maybe more.  Of coarse a lot of what i am saying is based on you brief description.  It is quite hard to judge who much something is worth without trying it out first, if you can geta demo up that i can test with I would be able to give you are better description.

 

ALso do you plan on continuing the development of this application or just sell what you have as is?

 

Almost 5000 lines of code is a pretty good size.  I don't know what kind of scripts you write. Your comparison to pre-made scripts has no relevance to his question. 

 

I think redbull said it best.  Figure out an hourly rate for yourself and how much time you spent on it and do the math.  You can make adjustments as needed.

[FrostiE]

Thanks for the reply's. Reason the script is custom is because there is no real alternative that gets the job done.  I've been playing around with hourly rates but it seems pretty high and I dont want to chase away business. Thats why I was hoping to get maybe a rough estimation at how much it should go for. And yeah, he's happy with the script.

[redbullmarky]

i think the moral of the story here is - agree a price up front next time

 

put the price to him anyway, high or not. if he says too high, then you can negotiate. if he says it's fine, you're all good.

[jcombs_31]

agreed, not sure how you even started without a ballpark figure. 

[fenway]

It's silly to count lines of code, or even hours... I've done work in 10 minutes that would take other people 10 hours... doesn't mean it should only be worth 1/60 the price!  I blatantly refuse to work by the hour, everything is project-based, since it has an actual, fixed value to your client and requires (hopefully) a fixed amount of effort from you, regardless of how hard you work per hour or how many open curlies you put on their own line.

 

If it's a very small "tidy script", I've been known to charge upwards of $75/hour just so that the client realizes there's no point in annoying me for small "jobs".

[Barand]

<?php
$str = "This
is
why
it's
nonsense
to 
charge 
per 
line 
of 
code";
$newstr = '';
for ($i = 0, $l = strlen($str); $i < $l; $i++)
{
    if ($str{$i} == "\n")
    {
        $ch = ' ';
    }
    else
    {
        $ch = $str{$i};
    }
    $newstr .= $ch;
}
echo $newstr;
?>

 

That will be 27 guineas. Thank you.

 

And that's being economical. It could easily be padded out to a couple of hundred lines