| | First we need to get a general idea about the application development-related needs and wants and technical requirements. From general we will move to the specific details and will put together a short written proposal for the application's development. We do not charge for these initial steps. |
| | We can develop the application so, that bulk of the work is done for a fixed price. |
| | This approach starts with the contract development process part of the Analysis Stage, during which we charge the customer an hourly fee (listed above). During this development stage we put together a comprehensive solution and verify with the customer's employees that different aspects of the devised solution meet their needs and wants. This way, the customer representatives will know exactly what they will get. The application and its functionality will be described in the Users Requirements Statement, which will also contain the fixed price for the rest of the development work. |
| | For the work listed in the Users Requirements Statement we except 50% payment on signing of the Users Requirements Statement, 30% payment on approval of the prototype, and the 20% balance on completion of the project. |
| | Alternatively, we can proceed in a more agile manner, so that we deliver functionality in short iterations. This approach will require more frequent interaction with the customer's representative team throughout the project. In this case, we charge the customer hourly fee throughout the project. |
Honesty and fairness are valued very highly at this company. It is worth a lot to have clear conscience that is derived from knowing that we have performed a good job that really benefits the customer, and that we have received monetary compensation that truly reflects our efforts.
The following charging principles were developed in that spirit.
In a nutshell, we do not charge for initial consultations, for general communication or for self-improvement. We only charge for the actual tasks that qualify as both inevitable and necessary. When attending meetings we charge for both the travel and the meeting time.
Below is a brief elaboration of the above statement.
We do not charge for initial consultations. Everything that has to be done up to the point where both parties agree that they will work together is defined here as an initial consultation. We will start charging after both parties agree that they will work together.
We do not charge for general communication. We do not charge for simply thinking about the project, for general communication, that is, for emails and other correspondence that do not qualify as inevitable and necessary part of the development process, or for doing something else that does not qualify as inevitable and necessary part of the development process.
We do not charge for self-improvement. Very few developers are so experienced that they never ever have to look something up. Sometimes researching an issue can take hours or even days. We do not bill for research other than research that we are actually expected to do as part of the job, or qualifies as both inevitable and necessary part of the development process. Similarly, we do not charge for tasks that were performed only for self-improvement.
We only charge for the actual tasks that qualify as both inevitable and necessary. Most of the development-related tasks are such that they would have to be performed anyway, no matter who performs them. Such tasks qualify as both inevitable and necessary.
At least in theory any kind of human error is possible. So, if we make any mistakes because of incompetence or ignorance then we will do such work over free of charge until it meets the customer's requirements, or we will not charge for that work at all.
Most of the development-related communication can be handled via email and over the phone. However, some people prefer meetings to writing and phone calls. We respect such preferences, but because time is a valuable resource we charge for both the meeting and the travel time when attending meetings.
