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Re: How can clients expect quotes without giving me any information?
Subject:Re: How can clients expect quotes without giving me any information? From:"Jeanne A. E. DeVoto" <jaed -at- jaedworks -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 12 Feb 2002 13:21:34 -0800
At 11:50 AM -0800 2/12/2002, Bonnie Granat wrote:
>Another prospect wants a quote. I have only this to go on:
>
>To give you an idea, the application have maybe 100 programs and process, is
>a Front Desk System for Hospitality Industries.
[...]
>I know the prospect wants to hear positive things, but how can one not
>request more information before making a quote? I feel that 40 hours might
>be a bit low, if it's got 100 features, but I don't know what else to say
>that won't scare him away.
You cannot give a flat-rate quote with this little information. There are
situations where you can provide such a quote (where you have a working
prototype or a complete spec - with the contractual caveat that changes in
the software will mean increases in the cost), but this isn't such a
situation. "Maybe 100 programs and process" is not a spec on which you can
base even a rough quote.
In this situation, I think you're just going to need to bite the bullet and
tell the client that you can't give an estimate without more information,
but you can start work with an agreement on an hourly rate, and the client
can authorize X hours to start. Quoting a fee or number of hours at this
point puts you at serious risk of getting a project that's so much more
involved than you though that you'll end up working for minimum wage or
less.
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