Software Development Quotation

paulocon

Hi all,

Have been approached to develop a software application using PHP/MYSql. Just wondering if anyone knows what the hourly/daily rate is for PHP?

Also, anyone have any good links for sample software dev. quotations?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Regards.

rsynnott

paulocon wrote:

Hi all,

Have been approached to develop a software application using PHP/MYSql. Just wondering if anyone knows what the hourly/daily rate is for PHP?

I was unaware that there was an official one.

paulocon

very true.

Just doing up a quotation and trying to decide on a rate that's competitive..

DublinWriter

paulocon wrote:

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Contracting roles for that kind of work in Ireland averages at between €200 and €300 per day (based on an eight-hour day).

If you're dealing directly with the client, and not through an agency, you can quote for a fixed price for the job and you could end up with a little more money. However that approach may be dangerous if it turns into the 'project from Hell', etc.

Muineach

yea be very careful of jobs for a fixed price, unless you know the full spec and if warn them if they make any change etc. that the fixed price has to be renegoitated.

In the past for vb (6) i've gotten about 50e an hour, ahem tax free and told them if you want official its that price plus 42% (10 hours 1 saturday :P).

Then for some crappy it work, small office few pc's with spyware etc to clean them charged 65e an hour again tax free or plus 42%.

So its there for the taking, plus can depend on experience I've gotten 6 years experiance programmin from vb6 to all .net and bit of java and lots of mssql/oracle etc and can get 65/70e per hour for odd jobs.

But be careful on speccing the jobs gl.

rsynnott

Muineach wrote:

In the past for vb (6) i've gotten about 50e an hour, ahem tax free and told them if you want official its that price plus 42% (10 hours 1 saturday :P).
.

Careful, you're live on THE INTERNET.

paulocon

Thanks all for that.

Think it's best to quote per hour alright unless you are VERY sure of the scope of the project. Also, client is more likely to 'add' features when you've just priced for the job..

Again, thanks for the help on this. Very much appreciated.

rsynnott

paulocon wrote:

Thanks all for that.

Think it's best to quote per hour alright unless you are VERY sure of the scope of the project. Also, client is more likely to 'add' features when you've just priced for the job..

Again, thanks for the help on this. Very much appreciated.

Oh, yes, absolutely; go for a flat fee and you'll be adding features for life.

homeOwner

Muineach wrote:

In the past for vb (6) i've gotten about 50e an hour, ahem tax free and told them if you want official its that price plus 42% (10 hours 1 saturday :P).

Then for some crappy it work, small office few pc's with spyware etc to clean them charged 65e an hour again tax free or plus 42%.

What do you mean tax free? I assume you are not employed by the company you did this work for i.e. you were working as an independent contractor, in which case its no concern of the company whether or not you are paying tax because they would not be stopping tax on your fee - they simply pay for services. I am not trying to be smart - I just dont understand the relevance of tax as to how much you charge as a daily rate.

Gegerty

50e an hour for a VB app? Why would anyone pay that?? You can get excellent service for 300e a day, only an idiot would pay 50e an hour unless of course they only want your service for a few hours.

Charging a daily rate is fine, if customer wants extra stuff put in then they will have to agree to a new deadline and price, otherwise they don't get it. I can see how it would be an issue if you don't get them to sign an agreement on the spec.....but I suppose you must already know that if you're worth 50e an hour! :rolleyes:

paulocon

homeOwner wrote:

What do you mean tax free? I assume you are not employed by the company you did this work for i.e. you were working as an independent contractor, in which case its no concern of the company whether or not you are paying tax because they would not be stopping tax on your fee - they simply pay for services. I am not trying to be smart - I just dont understand the relevance of tax as to how much you charge as a daily rate.

I would assume by tax free, Munieach means cash-in-hand.

Zaph0d

A quote could include:
A functional spec detailing all features you are to implement.
Clear list of items that are out of the scope of the project.
The deliverables for the project (documents, CDs, installation etc)
Dates for all deliverables
Milestones: analysis, design, code complete, zero bugs found, go-live...
Deployment plan including backout plan (Plan B!)
Roles and responsibilities during the project
hardware and software platforms to be used.
Software licences required
Test environment - who pays
Procedures for change requests to the spec during development.
Support agreement post deployment
Procedure to follow if project is delayed when it is your fault and when it is your client's fault.
What happens if you are sick, can someone go in your place?
Expenses?
Work from home or in the client's office?
The cost.
All inclusive cost or time and materials?
The payment terms (staged payments, immediate, 30 day, 60 day)
The method of payment (cheque, bank transfer)


Beware anyone unwilling to discuss the last two items. These people may be unwilling to pay you later.

At first sight this list may look like overkill, but it really only takes a couple of hours to put together.

If you prefer, you can always learn the hard way what happens when any of these items occur and you have not agreed in advance what should happen.

Don't start the project until the document is signed.

If you're just quoting for a project against other contenders then you may be worried that you will waste time preparing this document and lose the bid. You minimise this risk by listening to your client better than the other contenders and including a detailed understanding of his requirements in the functional spec.

Duckjob

rsynnott wrote:

Oh, yes, absolutely; go for a flat fee and you'll be adding features for life.

Why would anyone do this? Doesn't make any sense to me. Just provide a very specific document at the outset detailing what the software will do and how much it will cost, in the one document. Make it clear in the document that the stated cost relates directly to the functionality specified therein. Therefore, if the functionality changes, so must the cost. Simple.

Most companies like the comfort of seeing some results of development work as early as possible, and if they realise that their features will delay seeing those results, they will be more open the suggestion of phased development. So an effective way to avoid feature creep is when new features are brought up, you promote the idea of getting 'Phase 1' up and running first, and that the new features can be part of a 'Phase 2'. You can then analyse and quote for 2nd and subsequent phases separately.