[consulting] Gouging Stupid Clients

[Eric Tucker]

-- Eric Tucker Semperex, LLC eric at semperex.com direct +1 (512) 879-9322 cell +1 (713) 550-3055 fax +1 (512) 366-9312 Austin, Texas ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Eric Tucker" <eric at semperex.com>
> To: "A list for Drupal consultants and Drupal service/hosting
> providers" <consulting at drupal.org>
> Sent: Saturday, February 25, 2012 5:37:42 PM
> Subject: Re: [consulting] Gouging Stupid Clients
> ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Alex Pavlovic" <alex.pavlovic at taskforce-1.com>
> > To: consulting at drupal.org
> > Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2012 11:21:14 AM
> > Subject: Re: [consulting] Gouging Stupid Clients
> > Hi Jamie,
> > You must be very good with estimating large and complex projects if
> > you can give fixed quotes like that. What if the project
> > goes over your estimated budget? Do you re-negotiate it or simply do
> > the work for free? We found that for large projects it
> > is normally best to work with client on an hourly basis, so it's
> > fair
> > to both parties and ensures precise billing is done. There
> > is lot of unknowns when dealing with large and complex projects.
> > Requirements may also change during the development
> > phase which furthmore complicates the fixed price approach. However
> > a
> > rough quote or price estimate can be given to the
> > client so they understand what the ballpark figure may look like
> > before you start the work.
> If the project is large and complex, you may not be able to give a
> fixed quote right off the bat. Some clients may be amenable to a bit
> of "front-end" work to determine the scope/requirements. Work closely
> with the client to agree on requirements while bringing plenty of your
> own ideas to the table, and write a requirements document which
> becomes your deliverable. Charge hourly for this phase. Once the
> requirements are well specified and well agreed on, you will have a
> better idea of what the rest of the project will entail ... putting
> you in a better position to come up with a fixed price for the
> remainder of the work.
> Furthermore, this can be turned around and used to form a more
> detailed RFP. If your client chooses to use it as a RFP, you may even
> go into competitive bidding against others. Whether or not you win,
> you have been paid your initial fee, and the client is not entirely
> empty handed as they do have a deliverable that takes some of the
> guesswork out of later stages.
> Not all clients will go for this, and your client will need to be at a
> certain level of sophistication to appreciate the approach. Also, you
> will need to be able to deliver a solid set of requirements. A client
> you have done a smaller project successfully for or if your name comes
> by way of a trusted referral may be more amenable to such an approach.
> Eric
You can also expand the initial hourly-billed phase to include some prototyping of key components and wireframes of much of the project so that this is hands on enough to work out the trouble-spots and where requirements are likely to change. 
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