|
|
Posted by Jerry Stuckle on 09/19/07 19:33
Sanders Kaufman wrote:
> So now, these PHP recruiters are calling out of the blue and from
> everywhere. My phone ain't rung like this since the Clinton years.
>
> And there's this one job - sounds tasty. It's like a temp service for
> doctors. Right now, they mail in their billing hours in crayola and on
> cocktail napkins... or something like that.
>
> They want a simple little web-based hours-tracking utility - well,
> simple before they start in with the creepy features... and you KNOW
> there's gonna be feature creep, because it was an agency recruiter that
> called me - and they bill by the hour, rather than the project, right?
>
> So I figure I'll setup something named "DocBilling.int" or somesuch and
> use my current working framework to let them login and log their time,
> and for the doc's bean-counters to be able to view a couple of reports.
>
> Here's the situation:
>
> I think they expect to hire me for an hourly rate, and expect the
> project to be finished sometime in January.
>
> *The problem is that I can build the damn thing in a weekend, but I
> don't want to miss out on all that extra cash.*
>
> Let's say I'm getting $10/hr - and man, it's sooo much more than that! -
> but let's say. If I do it the way they expect it to be done, I can milk
> the contract for what - 8x40hr weeks - that's $3k plus. But if I do it
> in a 16 hr weekend - I don't even get $200.
>
> I was thinking that, when I talk to them next, I should suggest a
> project-based, rather than hourly-based, rate - and estimate at the high
> end. But I've never done that before through a recruiter, and I don't
> know how it'll go over. I just know I've *always* had problems with
> hourly recruiter jobs.
>
> Any suggs?
First of all, if you're going to do it project based, ensure you have a
solid set of *detailed* requirements up front. This includes page
layouts, data to be collected, what will be done with the data, etc.
IOW, everything you need to build the site the way they *say* they want
it. And charge an hourly rate for building the design document.
Estimate your time/labor based on that. Since you've never done project
estimating before, your estimate will be low - the final project will
probably take 2 to 3 times the amount of time you estimate.
Figure a rate for the project based on the your estimate plus the fudge
factor.
Include in your contract procedures for changes. If they say something
is not right, compare it to the design document. If it does not match
the design document, they pay an hourly rate for the changes. If it
does match the design document, you absorb the time. If the design
document doesn't cover that part, either it is an additional item they
didn't request previously (and therefore subject to hourly rate), or the
design document was incomplete (in which case you need to negotiate with
them - probably at a reduced rate).
--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================
Navigation:
[Reply to this message]
|