April 11, 2008 at 9:29 am
This is a two-part question:
1. If you are a consultant, do you normally charge for the time spent preparing an estimate or formal proposal?
2. If you are hiring a consultant, do you expect to be charged for the time required to prepare an estimate or formal proposal?
April 11, 2008 at 4:57 pm
1 - depends. If it is require to scope things out, I probably would. If it's something they've spec'd and given to me, no.
2 - same
It depends if there is work involved, meaning the consultant working with me to figure things out, then yes, there is a charge.
April 12, 2008 at 3:56 pm
I've been a consultant for over 25 years, and I can safely say that this is a negotiable item.
As a consultant I would always like to get paid for doing this work, but some customers will not pay for it. What I am willing to do for free has a lot to do with the risk and the potential return.
In theory we (consultants) have to spread the cost of this free work into the cost of other work that we are actually getting paid for. If there is a low chance (high risk) of us getting that funded job after the assessment, then we will want to get paid for the estimating/assessment work now. On the other hand if we can be pretty sure that will get a contract for the work that we are estimating, then we can afford to give it away and make it up in the actual delivery.
One exception to this is if the estimating/assessment work is very substantial. In this case we may not be able to absorb such a large temporary loss even if we are sure that we will get the full contract later. Consulting companies live hand-to-mouth, with very little buffer between the costs that we are incurring every day and the time that it will take to get paid for today's work.
[font="Times New Roman"]-- RBarryYoung[/font], [font="Times New Roman"] (302)375-0451[/font] blog: MovingSQL.com, Twitter: @RBarryYoung[font="Arial Black"]
Proactive Performance Solutions, Inc. [/font][font="Verdana"] "Performance is our middle name."[/font]
April 14, 2008 at 7:12 am
One more thing to add. I've had contractors that provided a "free estimate" and then if they get the bid, they tacked on an "estimation charge" Not something I've been too happy with and at times I've canceled the job.
April 15, 2008 at 7:39 am
William, I'd agree that its negotiable and I don't like surprises in the final invoice like Steve said. If you're dealing with someone that knows the software business it should be well understood.
It's not like getting an estimate for a new transmission for your car. First you need to know the scope of the project. We usually give a ballpark estimate based on number of screens, etc. Then agree to write the formal spec as a first course of action. Formal spec can have small/large amount of detail depending on the customer and the risk of "failure to meet expectations". If project can go bad for you and customer, its best to define expectations up front and walk away if customer is not going to be happy with the reality of the project.
People with no software experience always look for quick quote, low price, no specs and then buy "based on price" assuming all programmers are equal.
Good luck
April 16, 2008 at 9:38 am
I agree with Steve and Doug on this: A customer does not have to pay for anything that they have not explicitly agreed to pay for ahead of time.
[font="Times New Roman"]-- RBarryYoung[/font], [font="Times New Roman"] (302)375-0451[/font] blog: MovingSQL.com, Twitter: @RBarryYoung[font="Arial Black"]
Proactive Performance Solutions, Inc. [/font][font="Verdana"] "Performance is our middle name."[/font]
April 16, 2008 at 9:42 am
One thing that I should add, If you pay for an estimate or an assesment, then it is yours, not theirs. You can do what you want with it, including shopping it out to other consultants.
If you pay for it, you can also determine what is actually in it and what its form should be (memo, whitepaper, presentation, etc.). Treat it like anything else that you buy/pay for.
[font="Times New Roman"]-- RBarryYoung[/font], [font="Times New Roman"] (302)375-0451[/font] blog: MovingSQL.com, Twitter: @RBarryYoung[font="Arial Black"]
Proactive Performance Solutions, Inc. [/font][font="Verdana"] "Performance is our middle name."[/font]
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