NYCPHP Meetup

[Adam Fields]

On Sun, Jun 12, 2005 at 06:46:02PM -0400, Francisco Reyes wrote:
> The way I see it, it's all about risk.

On this, I agree, but I think your black and whites below are too
black and white.

> Hourly rate. The customer takes all the risk.

That depends. Do you have accurate specs and reasonable estimates? In
my experience, the upfront work done to make hourly contracts work
makes for better projects with higher customer satisfaction at the
end. It also results in happier consultants, who don't feel like
they're getting nickel-and-dimed all the time.

If you don't trust your consultant to do the work as efficiently as
possible, don't hire that person.

> Fixed rate. The consultant takes all the risk.

Depends. Again, in my experience, fixed rate bids are often heavily
padded, because the consultant assumes they're going to get screwed.

I work almost exclusively hourly, and if I finish something early, I
always bill less than the estimate. Yes, this has happened a few
times, and when it does, it's actually cheaper for the client.

Either way, I get paid for work I actually do.

-- 
				- Adam

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