Determining your own pay?

02goswej

02goswej

02goswej

Associate
Joined
16 Jul 2010
Posts
518
Location
Reading
So I've been offered a piece of work and they have asked me to set the price - this is new to me as I'm only a student and have never done this before.

The project is a fairy small Software Development project - they want me to develop them a system to some requirements.

The system is very small and is just something to churn some numbers and run some analysis on a few website scripts then output them to a specified format.

Is there any experiences Software Engineers or other Freelancer's out here that can give me some tips on setting a price, a few things to bare in mind is:

  • Experience is the main point of this.
  • I'm a student...
  • Because I'm not yet a qualified professional I would assume a fraction of the price a normal freelancer would ask?

Obviously the price may be based on the time it will take to create the system and that's something I still have to estimate when I get the full requirements.

But if anyone has any ways in which they think are the best to fairly price some contractual work then please by all means share :)
 
As you say, the best way to do this is to scope out the requirements into blocks of work. Then allot hours to each block. Total the hours and multiply by your hourly rate. You will also want to add a 15-20% contingency on top of this for testing and support.

When sending back the quote to your client include the cost per block and the total. This way they can see exactly what you're doing and how much it'll cost them and also it shows you haven't just pulled a random number out of your arse.

As for your rate, it's all up to you and what you think your client will pay. If you're unsure and don't want to scare them ask them if they have a budget in mind for the work. This is a good indicator for the type of client they are. If they say we want a Youtube clone for £500, you know you're best off probably not taking the job.

Realistically how long do you see this project taking?
 
If you choose a fixed price. then the project grows. you need more cash.

So you have to choose an hourly rate. Document the work. Agree a number of hours at the rate. Get them to sign the price for the work, do the work. If they mess you around, complete the agreed work and bill them. If they demand extra stuff, agree another set of requirements at the hourly rate.
 
Spunkey said:
As you say, the best way to do this is to scope out the requirements into blocks of work. Then allot hours to each block. Total the hours and multiply by your hourly rate. You will also want to add a 15-20% contingency on top of this for testing and support.

When sending back the quote to your client include the cost per block and the total. This way they can see exactly what you're doing and how much it'll cost them and also it shows you haven't just pulled a random number out of your arse.

As for your rate, it's all up to you and what you think your client will pay. If you're unsure and don't want to scare them ask them if they have a budget in mind for the work. This is a good indicator for the type of client they are. If they say we want a Youtube clone for £500, you know you're best off probably not taking the job.

Realistically how long do you see this project taking?
Click to expand...

Well I've had a look at the one paragraph requirement they sent me in an email and had a look at the technology I may need to get it running and I believe I can get it done in a week or so - The one paragraph requirements was just to give me a taste of it and then from that I decided to have a meeting with them, I have this tomorrow.

But I have three assignments going at the minute so it could take longer. I will do what you said though and approach this with estimated time for each piece of work.

It sounds like you're trying to tell me to do this like a sprint? And put the tasks into a sprint backlog etc allocating time spent on something and then estimated time left on that piece?
 
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