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The real problem with billing by the hour is that you have an inherent conflict of interest: economically, you want to bill as many hours as you can without los

The real problem with billing by the hour is that you have an inherent conflict of interest: economically, you want to bill as many hours as you can without losing work from the client. Ethically (and, usually, mentally), you want to get work done at the optimal combination of quality and speed. The usual answer given is "raise your hourly rate then", but that presents other business challenges in terms of getting the contract and justifying it to beancounters squinting over every invoice. I don't know enough about developers and per-hour billing, but in my view, consultants need to move away from this model to more transparent models that directly reflect what they can bring to the client.

mcantelon 15y ago
>I don't know enough about developers and per-hour billing, but in my view, consultants need to move away from this model to more transparent models that directly reflect what they can bring to the client. Developers are often being paid to do things they've never done before and, as such, it's hard to do anything but bill hourly. Offering a fixed rate and having to eat hours to meet it isn't fun.
- andywood 15y ago
  I've found charging a fixed fee for an agreed upon deliverable to be so utterly BS-free, that it's worth dealing with the smaller problems. The clients love it, because it takes a lot of the risk and possibility that they might be getting shafted out of the equation. I love it because I don't have to justify how I spend the time. I've found the best solution on my end is simply to first try to estimate a little pessimistically, and then to charge enough that I'll feel fine even if the project takes me a couple days longer than I thought. If a totally unexpected pitfall appears, a reasonable client will be open to renegotiating. It's so worth it just to avoid the not-so-goodwill that seems to accompany hourly billing so often.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
  - dstorrs 15y ago
    Fixed fee saves you from some issues and throws you square into the middle of others. Specifically, it means you now need a far more detailed requirements doc BEFORE you can start working (safely, anyway), and you need to manage changes much more carefully because they are coming directly out of your pocket. Plus, as an hourly guy, I never cared when the customer wasted my time, e.g. with over-attended phone meetings that take unnecessarily long because everyone needs to have their say. It didn't matter, because I was paid for it.
  - mark_l_watson 15y ago
    I used to offer fixed price options but stopped doing that. I charge precisely for my time worked (love Desktop Task Timer, BTW). I am lucky in the sense that almost all of my customers are themselves very good techies, and when I work remotely we use Skype calls and instant messaging throughout the day: lots of communication and brain-storming. Since I live in a remote area and my local friends are non-technical, these calls tend to be fun for me. Most of my customers don't even bother asking for time estimates. Bottom line: I get a lot of pleasure working and helping people and my customers at least seem like they don't mind paying me.

mcantelon 15y ago

>I don't know enough about developers and per-hour billing, but in my view, consultants need to move away from this model to more transparent models that directly reflect what they can bring to the client. Developers are often being paid to do things they've never done before and, as such, it's hard to do anything but bill hourly. Offering a fixed rate and having to eat hours to meet it isn't fun.

andywood 15y ago
I've found charging a fixed fee for an agreed upon deliverable to be so utterly BS-free, that it's worth dealing with the smaller problems. The clients love it, because it takes a lot of the risk and possibility that they might be getting shafted out of the equation. I love it because I don't have to justify how I spend the time. I've found the best solution on my end is simply to first try to estimate a little pessimistically, and then to charge enough that I'll feel fine even if the project takes me a couple days longer than I thought. If a totally unexpected pitfall appears, a reasonable client will be open to renegotiating. It's so worth it just to avoid the not-so-goodwill that seems to accompany hourly billing so often.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- dstorrs 15y ago
  Fixed fee saves you from some issues and throws you square into the middle of others. Specifically, it means you now need a far more detailed requirements doc BEFORE you can start working (safely, anyway), and you need to manage changes much more carefully because they are coming directly out of your pocket. Plus, as an hourly guy, I never cared when the customer wasted my time, e.g. with over-attended phone meetings that take unnecessarily long because everyone needs to have their say. It didn't matter, because I was paid for it.
- mark_l_watson 15y ago
  I used to offer fixed price options but stopped doing that. I charge precisely for my time worked (love Desktop Task Timer, BTW). I am lucky in the sense that almost all of my customers are themselves very good techies, and when I work remotely we use Skype calls and instant messaging throughout the day: lots of communication and brain-storming. Since I live in a remote area and my local friends are non-technical, these calls tend to be fun for me. Most of my customers don't even bother asking for time estimates. Bottom line: I get a lot of pleasure working and helping people and my customers at least seem like they don't mind paying me.