Stuart McLachlan
stuart at lexacorp.com.pg
Wed Jan 14 07:21:50 CST 2004
On 14 Jan 2004 at 12:10, paul.hartland at fsmail.net wrote: > To all, I’m in the process of thinking about starting up on my own > (part-time at first to see how it goes) as possibly a freelance > Database Developer, I know some of you on this list are self-employed > and just wondered if you would have any advice etc especially with > regards to costing a project etc. Thanks in advance for any help you > can give. Hard to give any relevant advice on how to operate in a different place, but costing is pretty much the same wherever you are. We've had a few discussions about it in the past. Whether you are working on a fixed price project or on a time/materials basis, you need to work out your hourly rate first. If you are looking at trying a fixed price project, you need to estimate the time involved, build in a large "fudge factor" and then make sure that you have the scope *really* well tied down with agreement as to how variations will be costed. As far as hourly rate is concerned, one rule of thumb is to work out your *total* annual requirement including an annual salary, all overheads, superannuation contributions, holiday requirements etc. Then add a percentage on top of that of say 10% profit (after all, you are not in business just to pay yourself wages are you?). Then divide that figure by 1000 to arrive at your hourly rate. At first glance, that may looks a bit much - it's only working 20 hours a week for 50 weeks a year. But when you get down to it, you will realise just how much non-billable time is involved over a year when you are self employed. Just compare the figure that you come up with to the charge out rate which the big boys use for their consultants (not what they are paying them <g>). Odds are you will still come in considerably lower than they are - which gives you a bargaining point when trying to sell your services. -- Lexacorp Ltd http://www.lexacorp.com.pg Information Technology Consultancy, Software Development,System Support.