Web development contract

[Undead_Mercenary]

While this isn't set in stone, I talked with my co-op employer about completing one of her web sites while attending college. She isn't sure if she wants me to, but we agreed a contract would be the best way to handle the pay.

Question, neither of us know what would be an ideal pay for the contract. Anyone have any experience with this sort of situation?

[XoR]

Hmm. I would say value is based upon your time spent completing the project. How long do you think it will take you to get 'er done?

[Undead_Mercenary]

Well it will be part-time programming, and hour here and there a day. I think she still wants to do eCommerce for the web site, which I have no clue how to do. Basically, if I was given everything I needed, I could definetly do it within a month, maybe even quicker. However, she is very picky about the way things look and is constantly making me redo things, so that would delay the project lol.

But I'll stick with 1 month.

[XoR]

What I would do Merc is keep track of how many hours you spend physically working. I wouldn't include the time you take researching topics and code, but time you spend actually performing the task at hand. Your time is valuable, and I think it's fair to charge at least $25 per hour worked when starting out. You will be able to charge more as you develop, but I would think that would be a fair fee. Don't tell her $25/hour, as she may become really nitpicky, but keep that rate in your mind when you tally up the total work you put into it.

This is just a suggestion of course

I hope it works out for you bud.

[Archangelus]

Make sure that you either agree on an hourly contract price or that you have the scope completely fleshed out if it is a fixed price contract. If you don't have the scope completely outlined and detailed specs, they have the opportunity to keep coming back to you and asking you for revisions and claiming the work should be covered under the fixed contract.

Just a CYA.....

[Imperil]

What I would do Merc is keep track of how many hours you spend physically working. I wouldn't include the time you take researching topics and code, but time you spend actually performing the task at hand.

I don't mean to bud in and be a pest but I actually disagree with this statement 100% really. I agree with keeping track of how many hours you are working, but realistically development is maybe 10-20% actual programming and the majority is in research, design, planning, testing, etc... so if you only charge for code written (which is the easy part) you are really ripping yourself off.

[Undead_Mercenary]

Honestly, if it helps pay for a month or 2 of rent, I'd be happy. Anyways, thanks for the input guys.

[XoR]

What I would do Merc is keep track of how many hours you spend physically working. I wouldn't include the time you take researching topics and code, but time you spend actually performing the task at hand.

I don't mean to bud in and be a pest but I actually disagree with this statement 100% really. I agree with keeping track of how many hours you are working, but realistically development is maybe 10-20% actual programming and the majority is in research, design, planning, testing, etc... so if you only charge for code written (which is the easy part) you are really ripping yourself off.

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Your not budding in Imperil, I like your imput.

Maybe I misunderstood the scope. I was assuming this is just a "hobby" project for learning, not a professional commercial development endeavor. I pictured Merc and this woman he knows kinda doing this for the sake of gaining experience. I apologize if this was cast as "the real deal", and not casual.

I totally understand what you're saying Imperil, and to be honest, my opinion is only partly analogous ... I work in IT and security, not web programming. So I was speaking in general terms to help Merc out while getting started.