Giving Source Files to Clients
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- 26 Responses
- echolock
What is everyone's view on doing this? Should you charge and how much should be charged? What percentage?
- blaw0
start with what it would cost for them to rebuild them and work from there.
- QuincyArcher0
depends upon what it is.
my company has developed code we've sold to other companies.
usually costs them an arm and a leg.
- scarabin0
i never do it
but i am interested in what kind of pricing it would go for
is there a formula?
- toastie0
source files for what?
- jevad0
by source files do you mean the .fla's and .psd's?
- fusionpixel0
im pretty sure that is what he/she means
- unfittoprint0
sure, I give the fla's.
it's the .as I care about.
- echolock0
Unfit, is that a joke?
Yes, I am speaking of PSD files, FLA files, even PHP files and so on. I think there should be a charge of atleast 50% of the contract.
- beagle0
fuck that, raise the bling and charge them mofos.
- unfittoprint0
no.
- tomkat0
I heard something about 200-300% of the regular price.
consider how much money they save by not needing to contract you again
- jpea0
nice idea unfit.
just another reason for external .as files.. nice
- lazyazz0
What the hell, upon paying of the full amount of money due the source files are own by the client, he pays for that work !!
- scarabin0
um, no
just the product
- unfittoprint0
if you starting working with AS2.0 only you'll understand.
you're constructing a central library that will affect, in most cases, all of your web development.
it's the core of your site's mechanics.... the fla's will hold [and only if necessary] the graphical assets and code intiation.
mostly empty. hardly useful for another web developer.
so, the importance lies in the code, perfected by each work you've done.
- RevoltOne0
It's all about whats in the contract...if you're doing "work for hire" then what you produce for a company is owned by them. No if ands or buts about it.
If there is no contract and you want to keep your bridges intact then be cool and dont "bend em and bang em" to hard!
- echolock0
So, in essence, Unfit, you're saying that you don't give out your source code at all? If giving them the FLA's would be of little use, why give them anything at all?
Lazyazz, if you buy a painting, just because you now own that product, does not mean that you can then go and turn it into lithographs and sell those legally.
- echolock0
RevoltOne, you have to ask, "Why would they want these?". The answer is so they can both update the files and not hire you to do so. You lose money by doing that, unless you're not in design for the money of course but because you like "being really nice" to people.
Does Adobe give out their source code after you buy Photoshop so you can add to it and never buy from them again?
- RevoltOne0
echo,
read: Work for hire.I'm guessing you have never signed a contract, and/ or you have no idea what the legal ramifications of those words mean.
- ribit0
As a client (when we can afford it) the issue that came up for us is that we want to find someone locally (London) to do further graphics work for us (both us and the designer we hired for bizcards and flyers and CD artwork have moved cities/countries since we started working with them), so what do they charge us for the master artwork if we none of us considered that in the beginning? Seems that they should have laid all these things out for us in the first place (what they deliver, options, prices etc)...we're just the dumb clients after all...