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_gail
Posts: 2876
From: So FL
Status: offline
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Estimate or firm Quote? - 2/17/2003 12:10:10
I give clients a firm quote on a designing a website. My contract clearly states that there will be extra charges for certain additions, changes, etc. so I' m covered on that end.
But suppose a client wants something added to a site that you' re really not sure how long it will take and therefore not able to give quote. How do you handle it?
Do you give an estimate of X number of hours and then tell the client that there may be charges if it takes longer? If so, certainly the client should be asked for a " not to exceed" amount. Or do you give your best shot at the cost, give a firm quote, then eat up the loss if it takes more time than you anticipated?
thanks, gail
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abbeyvet
Posts: 5095
From: Kilkenny Ireland
Status: offline
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RE: Estimate or firm Quote? - 2/17/2003 12:35:22
I often give a mixture of both.
For example if there are easily defined bits that you know what time is involved etc you can be pretty accurate and give an exact quote. Other things are not so simple.
For example, on a recent site I was setting up multiple membership areas and if that was all I could have given a quote there and then, but the client wanted the member database shared with a forum, and also wanted the sign up integrated with WorldPay. I knew those things could be done, it was not clear to me at the time of quoting what complications might arise and what would be involved in solving them So I quoted a best-case/worst-case range for that part.
The same could apply in lots of situations, and I think it is only fair to yourself to allow some leeway and to the client to give them the range. It also helps them to appreciate that not all of this is as strightforward as it might seem.
Aside from this defining and being very clear about scope is still important.
Using the above site as an example again, halfway through the client decided they not only wanted members integrated into the forum, but wanted it so that certain categories of member would have exclusive access to certain parts of the forum. Well that changed a lot of things - it was outside the scope of the original quote and so a new price for that part of the job was agreed, again a range.
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Katherine
:: InKK Design :: InKK Domains
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