Comments on: How do you bill your clients? http://joggink.com/2010/03/how-do-you-bill-your-clients/ Blog of Joggink, home of Jochen Vandendriessche Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:40:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jochen Vandendriessche http://joggink.com/2010/03/how-do-you-bill-your-clients/comment-page-1/#comment-858 Jochen Vandendriessche Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:08:32 +0000 http://blog.joggink.com/?p=291#comment-858 My common sense tells me that fixed-price is a good way of billing, but as I look at other professions, I see that most of them give an estimate and charge you for the time they've spent on your project. E.g my accountant charges me on an hourly base, which I totally understand because if I have a lot of paperwork for him, he will spend more time on it. I think Bart has a good point on that one, because If clients know they pay for the time you spend on their project, they will be less "dictating". Now they now it's a fixed price, so I feel sometimes they sneak in little changes or extra features with excuses as "yeah, I said X but what I meant was Y..." And maybe the "you know, build it, we'll have a look and let you know what to change"-factor of projects will be a bit lower... My common sense tells me that fixed-price is a good way of billing, but as I look at other professions, I see that most of them give an estimate and charge you for the time they’ve spent on your project. E.g my accountant charges me on an hourly base, which I totally understand because if I have a lot of paperwork for him, he will spend more time on it.

I think Bart has a good point on that one, because If clients know they pay for the time you spend on their project, they will be less “dictating”. Now they now it’s a fixed price, so I feel sometimes they sneak in little changes or extra features with excuses as “yeah, I said X but what I meant was Y…” And maybe the “you know, build it, we’ll have a look and let you know what to change”-factor of projects will be a bit lower…

]]> By: Mathias Bynens http://joggink.com/2010/03/how-do-you-bill-your-clients/comment-page-1/#comment-857 Mathias Bynens Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:23:31 +0000 http://blog.joggink.com/?p=291#comment-857 It depends really. I tend to work fixed-price, too; I don't see why my client should pay extra if I miscalculate. However, when the client suddenly requests additional features after the proposal has been approved, common sense dictates that I'll have to charge extra. In those cases, I usually keep track of my extra / non-planned hours, and charge those based on my hour rate — unless the client prefers an additional proposal, of course. It depends really. I tend to work fixed-price, too; I don’t see why my client should pay extra if I miscalculate. However, when the client suddenly requests additional features after the proposal has been approved, common sense dictates that I’ll have to charge extra. In those cases, I usually keep track of my extra / non-planned hours, and charge those based on my hour rate — unless the client prefers an additional proposal, of course.

]]> By: Bart http://joggink.com/2010/03/how-do-you-bill-your-clients/comment-page-1/#comment-856 Bart Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:21:40 +0000 http://blog.joggink.com/?p=291#comment-856 I switched over from a project based price to an hourly fee and I'm so much happier. If you work with a fixed price you have to outline in detail what the scope of the project is. Writing such an offer consumes a lot of time and there will always be details you forget to include which can become subject of discussion with your client later on. By working by the hour you no longer have to limit the number of feedback rounds and if the project grows out of its scope you don't need to renegotiate. It is important to track down in detail what you are working on every hour. When your client has the impression you work to slow you can show him what you've been doing all these hours. It is also important to communicate how much hours you spent (eg. on a daily base) so your client can keep track of the budget. Since I started working by the hour I had less discussions with my clients about the cost of a project. I have the impression that companies who pay by the hour tend to be better clients. Companies who pay a fixed price try to get the maximum out of it. If you are not strong enough to say 'no' then you're spending more hours than estimated. I currently use Freshbooks and Roninapp to track my hours and tasks and to sent invoices. I switched over from a project based price to an hourly fee and I’m so much happier. If you work with a fixed price you have to outline in detail what the scope of the project is. Writing such an offer consumes a lot of time and there will always be details you forget to include which can become subject of discussion with your client later on.

By working by the hour you no longer have to limit the number of feedback rounds and if the project grows out of its scope you don’t need to renegotiate. It is important to track down in detail what you are working on every hour. When your client has the impression you work to slow you can show him what you’ve been doing all these hours. It is also important to communicate how much hours you spent (eg. on a daily base) so your client can keep track of the budget.

Since I started working by the hour I had less discussions with my clients about the cost of a project. I have the impression that companies who pay by the hour tend to be better clients. Companies who pay a fixed price try to get the maximum out of it. If you are not strong enough to say ‘no’ then you’re spending more hours than estimated.

I currently use Freshbooks and Roninapp to track my hours and tasks and to sent invoices.

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