[thelist] Project Price

[Fred Jones]

I have a unique situation with a client. He wanted a website over a year 
ago and I began it, for a fixed price. After a bit of work, he said he 
would get back to me with a new graphic design. That took him over 6 
months. I then couldn't work on it so we tried to outsource it, three 
times. All three failed.m :(

Finally I felt bad, as he was waiting for a year, and he's also sort of 
a friend, and I said to him I will make time and do it. The project had 
changed, however, and we didn't discuss the new price, because anyway I 
will accept what he wants to pay. He is very trustworthy and honest and 
I know him.

My bill (according to hours worked) is now $4K and he says that he spoke 
to BIG internet companies and they said they would have done his job for 
$2.5K. He preferred to stick with me, but now he doesn't think he should 
pay more than he would have paid with them.

I tried to explain that in the end of the day, he would NOT have paid 
$2.5K with them--he would have paid more. He has a hard time accepting 
that. Can anyone back that up with experience? I know myself that not 
one project of mine actually came out in the end as simple as we thought 
in the beginning, save perhaps a few very small ones.

This is also why I don't (almost never anyhow) work on a fixed price 
basis. See here too, "The Cone of Uncertainty":

http://www.construx.com/Page.aspx?hid=1648

Thanks.