Hello everyone,

I've had my own software development business for about 3 years, and I've come to the conclusion that I'm ripping myself off. Since I work off-site, I give my clients a flat rate. For example, if I estimate that a job will take me 24 hours to complete, I will charge the client $75.00 x 24 hours. The problem is that these jobs rarely ever conform to the original time estimate. Communication is often very bad on the clients end, since they are either slow in answering my questions or send me incomplete or inaccurate descriptions of what they really want. A 24 hour job could end up not being completed for a month because of these communication issues. I've wasted a lot of time redoing applications, because I did not have the correct information to start with.

Since I try to foster a good relationship with my clients, I would hate to tell them that I have to charge them more money because they did not communicate their specifications accurately enough or in a timely manner. Given all of this, I'm thinking that my rate is not high enough or I'm not estimating enough time from the beginning. Considering human nature, It will probably always be an ongoing battle to get the information I need from clients. I guess this is called consulting .

Ok, here is my question: A potential client recently asked me for a quote and time estimate for building a database application which tracks the location of machine parts in a plant. The client also wants the database to keep a schedule of when parts will be sent off-site for repairs, and track their location. A sophisticated calendar interface is required by the client. In addition, the system will need to track which machines produced which products. No doubt, I will need gather much information about their operation before I build this.

Finally, here is the question: What should I quote this client as far as a price, and how long should I estimate that it will take? I was going to quote approximately $3000.00 for 40 hours worth of work, which includes consulting, development, testing, implementation, and training. However, my partner thinks that I continually keep under quoting the price and under estimating the time for projects such as this. My dilemna is that I don't know if I'm charging too little or too much (I've lost a few prospects). Granted, if I knew exactly what a client wanted before I began programming, I could probably build this within a couple of days. But, that rarely happens. In the past I've lost quite a few prospects, and I'm not really sure if this has to due with sounding too cheap or too expensive. Is it my rate that is off, or do I not estimate enough hours?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated....:)

Thanks,

Dave