Quote Help
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- bighappen
Hello i am quoting for a website and have to give a timescale in the quote. I have never done a 'proper' quote before, so i am making it up as i go along. This is what i have so far:
Stage 1 Research - 1 day
Researching website's of the competition and of similar market to evaluate, which route to take.
Stage 2 Design Concepts - 4 days
Producing 3 design concepts for client to choose from.Stage 3 Revision of one chosen design concept - 1/2 day
Revising the chosen concept for appproval of client
Stage 4 Implementation of Website Build - 4 days
Building the website in valid xhtml/css
Am i going in the right direction or totally wrong? any help would be much appreciated
thanks :D
- ********0
Sounds much more professional than enything I would put togethor. If thats the time you reckon it will take then its about right I think.
- kelpie0
add contingency time! very important, what if your Mac unexpectedly explodes or your dog dies? think about it :)
- Engage_London0
or your mac dies and your dog explodes
- kelpie0
exactly engage :)
- trevedda0
Sounds good. You do need to be aware of a few pitfalls. Quoting days and day rates has often meant that clients can negotiate toward the price they want to pay - which can make it hard for you to make any money.
For example, a client wants a logo - medium size start up business with global market. They have money but not loads of it. You quote £1000 for a logo/brand piece of work - probably reasonable for the client. They say - what's your day rate - you say £200 - they say see what you can do with the logo for 1 day. You end up giving them their corporate branding for next to nothing.
Talking from experience here. You need to be aware of day rates and time to do work but also not be too transparent and don't under estimate how long those phone calls/emails/face to face meetings take.
As a small business we're constantly battling this proposal, rate, costs, project budget issue.
I'd add a day or two project management to your estimate!!
- bighappen0
Excellent, thanks for your help folks. sorry i have been slow in replying, been away from the computer,
skt - Normallly i don't try and sound proffesional but the client is looking for funding and i think wants a posh sounding quote!
kelpie and engage - Thanks for the pointers about the contigency time. Do you write it down as contingency time or disguise it in with the other estimates? sadly i don't have a dog :( though at least i won't have to deal with exploding canines.... ;)
Trevedda - I see what you mean about day rates, i was actually going to charge a set fee, I can never cope with noting down all the hours i work, and i can be quite eratic, loads of hours one day then one hour the next.
Do you think it Is it better to take out the number of days and just say 2 weeks for examlpe?
- trevedda0
You need to be able to respond to the "how many days is that then?" question. Giving a number of weeks gets around this some of the way, I guess.
I would break down the costs for yourself but give the client a grand total of £XXXX. Having said that, usually we break down each cost item - but that allows clients to then say - I don't need search so please don't charge me £YYY. That can be tricky but useful if they have a budget. You should also consider adding in at cost items like specified stock photography etc. It makes the proposal look a bit more comprehensive.
You may wish to cover yourself for any "extra revisions" so that if the client wants another round of changes you can legitimately charge them as extra work. You need to add a line stating the limits on changes.
Proposal writing is so difficult - these days I feel like I spend more time writing and justifying a proposal than designing.
- rabattski0
the default nt answer is missing!!!
here it goes:
between $1 and $1,000,000
there ya goes sjembek.
- kelpie0
actually, yeah - what Rab said x2
- bighappen0
"I would break down the costs for yourself but give the client a grand total of £XXXX."
- that seems sensible, i can see them saying i don't want you to reserch our competitors! so i won't pay for that. I guess it is a case of comprimising with them :(
I hadn't thought of the extra cost of stock photography, thanks for pointing that one out."You may wish to cover yourself for any "extra revisions""
- In my terms and conditions i have put something like 'up to three changes is including in the buget any more will be billed by the hour.' - Is it worth pointing that clause out on the estimate sheet, cos i can imagaine people don't actually read the terms and conditions.
Do you point that sort of thing out or let the client read it oand only say when they want loads of changes?
Also sorry for the large amount of questions. i am sure you have lots of work to do so thanks for all the help so far, much appreciated. :)
- bighappen0
the default nt answer is missing!!!
here it goes:
between $1 and $1,000,000
there ya goes sjembek.
rabattski
(May 25 05, 04:45)Hahahah :D
- ********0
I don't neccessarily quote days, I quote project landmarks, with an aprox amount of time estimated. But that's me...
However: Also put in writing a description of the finish product that both you and the client sign off on, any contingencies to that original that add additional time/expense to your work.
E.G. Say the finish product is: a 5 page site with a .php contact form and a flash splash page, photo gallery (whatever...)...Put that in writing along with your quote $500 or whatever...
Then put language in there that specifies additional work done on your part for any Change orders to that (Say client decides on additional flash work, or wants to add two more pages, etc.) state that you will bill that work out at $X per hour. SPECIFY This. You know whatever work the client may ask for hat isn't directly stipulated in the original agreement creates additional charges and at a stated rate. You can quote per hour or a set fee for specific type of work...
Also, if the client wants additional stock photo or a particular typeface, put that in there as well. Depending on the client I usually pass that through at cost, but that's me and I work with small businesses mostly.
My billing is very transparent, but I am very clear about what they are paying for. It also gives them more comfort and understanding to the work and service I am providing top them.
That's all I got at the moment for you...
- bighappen0
hello TheTick, Brilliant that has sorted everything out, now i shall write the quote up properly
cheersThanks again everybody. :D