NYCPHP Meetup

[Josh McCormack]

Be very, very careful when you encounter small business owners who don't 
really understand what's involved in programming. If there's any way in 
the world you can do it, charge by the hour. They will call you about 
everything, expect everything to be done fast, change their mind 
constantly, and think they're doing you a big favor.

If they think your quote was way out of bounds this might be a sign to 
move on. Delivering pizzas or making coffee at Starbucks could end up 
being more profitable and less ulcer inducing in the end.

Josh


Brian Kaney wrote:

> It is really hard to tell without reading a specification or proposal. 
> There is quite a range out there from a $1k to $100k-plus.  Consider if
> you need to hire a designer that could cost upward of $5k.  How much
> back-end integration and automation is required for instance, etc...but
> this brings up a topic we deal with every day.
> 
> One thing that drives me crazy about some small/mid business owners is
> their cost expectation.  A SMB owner can purchase an entire
> office-productivity suite for less than $500.  An accounting system for
> $300.  So when they need integrated and custom work, it is a pretty big
> leap for them to drop multi-$k for a project.  
> 
> It really comes down to setting expectations as early as possible (so
> you don't waste hours researching and deploying).  In the initial
> meeting with the client, I've found just asking for their budget is very
> useful.
> 
> - Brian
> 
> 
> On Wed, 2004-08-11 at 10:34, Joseph Crawford Jr. wrote: 
> 
>>Guys i have put in a quote for a site similar to
>> 
>>http://www.novica.com/
>> 
>>and the person said the quote was way too much, my quote was $25,000
>>for the entire site to be done that is tax free for them, meaning i am
>>paying my own taxes.  Thier site included a ton of statistic features
>>and quickbooks report integration etc...
>> 
>>Do you guys think i quoted high or low?
>> 
>>Joe Crawford Jr.
>>
>>______________________________________________________________________
>>_______________________________________________
>>New York PHP Talk
>>Supporting AMP Technology (Apache/MySQL/PHP)
>>http://lists.nyphp.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
>>http://www.newyorkphp.org
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> New York PHP Talk
> Supporting AMP Technology (Apache/MySQL/PHP)
> http://lists.nyphp.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
> http://www.newyorkphp.org
>