I love programming and I have been working on my skills by and by [SIZE=1](seeing that the sponsor business has become a dangerous endeavor of late)[/SIZE]. This is finally paying off because recently I landed a kasmall job. My question to the village devs is this, how do you price your software, in this case, a web app?
For the initial jobs it is simple. Just assume that you are a service as a software company. Calculate by how many similar contracts do you think you can land for they year. Then calculate how much you would earn monthly as a salary and use that to prorate the sum to charge based on the contract length of this project.
E.g. If you were employed using your current skillset at 100k per month. That sucks s up to 1.2m per year.
Now if this job is a 3 month long contract and you think you can do 3 such jobs a year. This means you will effectively have worked for 9 months in the year. Now do 1.2m/9 which means you should bill at around 134,000 per month which means you quote to the client 134000x3=402,000
I used 100,000 since it is a simple number. Factor in your scale whether high or low.
Beware. Do not underquote. You may find yourself on an external maintainance contract or a client that pays late or defaults in payment. Rule of the thumb as a contractor. Try to have 6 months of income upfront in case of any misfortunes e.g. unpaying client, lack of jobs, unending system specifications and modifications.
Make sure you have a binding contract as well as a CLEARLY outlined specifications sheet outlining all the specifications that you have agreed to build in a clear cut and concise manner not ambiguous statements. It should have timelines for delivery of the phases of the project as well as the payment schedule. Do not start work without this.
If you’re building a web app, your pricing model will be based on the scope of the web app (complexity wise) as well the earning potential you want to gain out of it. Both go hand it hand either way. You’ll find most devs price their projects depending on the number of hours incurred while working on it or rather having a one-off fee where they charge an upfront fee with a deposit for the project or a milestone-based pricing where certain milestones in the project are billed accordingly.
If you’re working on a very big project, safest way to go is to use a milestone based approach of billing your client. Itemise progress milestones in the web app project proposal and once achieved, you bill the client. There are good free online invoicing tools to help do this. Also cash flow won’t be an issue for you since you’ll be earning something during the entire course of the project. As @grandpa mentioned, all of these arrangements need to be clearly documented in Terms of Reference contract which you and your client are party to. For smaller projects you may use the 50% deposit approach and get the remainder at the end of the project.
I judge per the client, i have sold from 15k to 500k the same crap just edited a few things, but it’s easier once you build a portfolio , remember to create a well written contract because when it comes to software and websites there is alot of feature creep with clients , it will start out as a POS and end up an ERP , you have to be firm on features not mentioned when costing.
Make sure you get a 50% or atleast 30% downpayment / commitment fee , there are alot of “asswholes” out there who will waste alot of your time.
Pretty much easy after your first sale goes thru. You kinda learn fast how to edit code quick and make some bucks. Insist on a 50% deposit upfront to cover your expenses, especially if you are going develop onsite.
Ensure that on the contract you include annual maintenance contract fees to be paid annualy, like 30% of initial sale price. If you have many clients using your system by Nov-Dec cheques start rolling in unajua kameiva ile mbaya , kuserereka top gear. Other support issues done online via TeamViewer wanalipa wewe na Mpesa.
PS.
Some clients will ferk you up though in multiple ways, curb that by installing a licence that expires after some time. Give the client a licence code for say 6 months, then it expires and locks him out forcing him to call you to get another one. Mpesa pap.
My two cents. Software Dev a journey, no one has a blueprint for success especially self-taught jambas. But we do know how to make money on these streets.
This reply is long overdue. This has been the trend since Thursday
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Yeah, it makes life easier. I have been using codeigniter but I am slowly moving away from PHP. I want to start using python frameworks, either flask or django. Python is the in thing nowadays I think