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Subject:Re: hourly versus flat fee From:Mary Choy <mchoy -at- SIRIUS -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 8 Jul 1999 08:19:42 -0700
Donald:
I *never* do flat fee projects. I did a short project completely offsite. I
live in SF, the client was in NYC. He flew out on business, and gave me an
overview of the beta of their software product. He left me the CD. I wrote a
functional spec that described in detail how the software worked, and added
in bullets that described bugs and feature enhancement suggestions. The
contract was hourly, but with a "maximum not-to-exceed" amount. I made sure
we set that max-cap very high, and explained to him it was extremely
unlikely I'd come anywhere near it.
That's the closest I would ever come to a flat fee. Also, I'd add in a
comment in the contract about "reassessing" the deliverable, its timeframe,
and $$ if I come within 75% of that amount.
horror story: colleague took a flat fee contract at $10,000 for an online
help system. she's been working till midnite for the past month. her hourly
is working out to be like $20 bucks or something. NIGHtMARe!!
cheers,
/m.
Mary Choy, Technical Writer
mchoy -at- sirius -dot- com
phone 415.876.4418, cell 415.860.5679
-----Original Message-----
From: Donald Le Vie
Has anybody (contractors specifically) tried quoting flat fees for projects
worked on and completed off site? I do that with my "moonlighting projects"
and clients seem to be happy with that alternative. What kinds of success or
horror stories does anyone have quoting flat fees vs. quoting hourly rates?
