[thelist] How to estimate a job

[Franz Maruna]

Yeah, you have to be very very specific in your statement of work on what
you're building.. since its an app, and not something creative based, you
should be able to get away with a clear SOW (statement of work).. make it
read like a court order. "The system will take reservations. The system will
process credit card orders." etc... make sure there's nuthin in there that
could be subjective at all cause you're going to use this list to say "I'm
done" after a month when the fixed fee is all gone...

I agree with whoever else said double your best estimate.. doubling may go
down if you do the same type of job a few times, but even the old cats
typically double estimates on gigs that are new to them...

see if you can do a not to exceed rather than a fixed bid. This makes you
feel more like a car mechanic and less like a burger shop... you can even do
a shared risk bid where hours beyond your estimate are half price, and hours
under your estimate you give a half refund on... anything you can think up
that keeps a specific value on each hour you work will make your life much
simpler come hand off time...

dont forget to include time for testing, training, and delivery.. they're a
time suck...

good luck.
-frz



----- Original Message -----
From: "Jay Blanchard" <jay.blanchard at niicommunications.com>
To: <thelist at lists.evolt.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2002 10:44 AM
Subject: RE: [thelist] How to estimate a job


> [snip]
> Anyhow, does anyone have any good advice?  The client has provided a
fairly
> detailed project description which he calls "preliminary specs for the
> project."  I can certainly take a guess as to what it will take me, but I
> also sort of expect the client to have additions and modifications etc.
etc.
> as soon as he sees an alpha version.
> [/snip]
>
> Estimate (yourTime X yourDollars) X 1.35 = Total Price
> Additions & Modifications are extra, this should be spelled out ahead of
> time.
>
> HTH!
>
> Jay
>
>
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