How Is Custom Software Priced?

Developers Perspective• Developer will keep track of the hours

spent working on your project.• Developers will bill you for those

hours based on the agreed upon rate and bill you for as many hours as possible.

• Developers has no motivation to work quickly or efficiently.

Hourly Billing

Client’s PerspectiveClient’s want to keep the billed hours limited to save money on the overall cost of the project. Flaws• It puts you and the developer at odds with

each other. • Developers may end up earning less from the

project.• Many potential clients just look at the hourly

rate when determining the developer they are going to use.

Hourly Billing

Benefits of Hourly Billing• Easy to understand• A common billing method most businesses are familiar with.

• Projects often take longer than expected which can lead to unexpectedly high costs with hourly billing.

• Relies on the developer to accurately record their hours.• No incentive for the developer to work quickly or efficiently.

Drawbacks of Hourly Billing

• Most profitable for the developer and least beneficial to the client.• It will generally be charged for non-coding related items such as phone

calls, status updates, responding to e-mails, etc; at the coding hourly price point.

• It requires a large deposit upfront based on the estimated overall project cost.

Drawbacks of Hourly Billing

• Your developer will quote a price for the total project based on the requirements you provide them.

• Any additional changes outside of what was originally agreed to is considered "out of scope".

• It won’t be able to include any changes without renegotiating the cost of the project.

• Often not appropriate for complex, hard-to-estimate projects or software development that will continue for extended periods of time.

Fixed Price Billing

• No unexpected costs or fees.• More akin to buying a product, where you know the exact cost

beforehand.

Benefits of Fixed Price Billing

• Limited flexibility – changes might require a renegotiation midway through the project.

• Developers may be unwilling to add additional features.

• Can lead to poor quality work as last-minute features are rushed.

Drawbacks of Fixed Price Billing

• As a client or a developer, one of the best options is weekly billing.

• You and the developer both have the same goal; to create a great custom application quickly and efficiently.

• Most developers won’t charge you extra if a certain feature runs over into the following week

Weekly Billing

• It does not have the same tendency to result in unexpected costs.

• You know exactly how much your development project will cost each week and you have a good estimate of how many weeks your project will take.

• Allows you to start your project without having to come up with a huge deposit.

Weekly Billing

• It does not have the same tendency to result in unexpected costs.• Greater flexibility• Ability to add additional features along the way• Less chance of unexpected costs so you can budget accordingly• No large upfront deposits• Developers don’t have to waste time recording hours• Non-coding related tasks are included in the weekly rate

Benefits of Weekly Billing

1. Managing one or more business processes using Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Access and have outgrown this setup.

2. Using a variety of software tools that don’t “talk” to each other.3. Staff is unable to do higher level work because they’re stuck doing

tasks manually which could be automated, especially tasks that involve entering the same information in multiple places or using multiple software tools.

4. One or more of their current business processes take too long, are too tedious or are otherwise “painful” to deal with, yet have to be done frequently.

Our Best Custom Software Clients are Business Owners Experiencing at Least 3 of the Following Problems:

5. Unable to find off-the-shelf software that fits how they do business.6. Looking for ways to streamline their business to give them a

competitive advantage and/or to make their business more valuable for an eventual sale.

7. Frustrated with their current software because its too hard to use or lacks critical features.

8. Want to systemize and streamline how they do business, making delivering services to their customers more predictable and consistent.

9. Looking to launch a startup web application and need technical help to take their concept from idea to working code

Our Best Custom Software Clients are Business Owners Experiencing at Least 3 of the Following Problems:

✓ Sells complex products or services.✓ Has numerous or complex processes necessary for delivering

products or services to your customers.✓ Has at least $1M/year in revenue or the potential to reach this

level in the near-term.✓ Is looking for a way to differentiate themselves from competitors.✓ Has a budget to invest in a custom software solution.✓ Believes a custom software solution could solve key problems in

their business...or at least wants to consider this as an option.

We Can Help If Your Company...