RE: [PHP] Pricing for PHP programming???

Ok, I just started my own company and finished work for my first client (shameless plug here: http://www.alamosawinecellars.com). The problem I had wasn't in pricing my work by what it's worth and how much time I put in it, but pricing it in a way that would work for my client. I ended up making roughly $10/hr., maybe less, for the effort, but I ended up with an extra $1000 in the bank. If I wanted to charge more, I would have had to take a walk and look for another client. My price wasn't based on an hourly rate, but on the project and my client's company size and ability to come up with enough to cover my time. The part of the project that took all my time is in a backend admin tool that allows the client to update their pages whenever they need. The data is all stored in a mysql db. Anyways, I have noticed that for some clients, like my first, charging too much will lose them. For other clients, like medium sized companies, charging too little will send them hunting for someone else. Very bizarre environment to work in, but my suggestion is to judge your prices based on the client's perspective. Interview the client and try to get an idea of what they're looking for. Look at what the client thinks they're getting. Use anything you can to find out what the client's price range is and then set your prices in the middle. And also, everything can be negotiated. my 2 cents... johnny p. > -----Original Message----- > From: Siim Einfeldt aka Itpunk [mailto:siim_e@pshg.edu.ee] > Sent: Friday, February 02, 2001 10:23 AM > To: steve@247computing.com; php-general@lists.php.net > Subject: Re: [PHP] Pricing for PHP programming??? > > > > > >As a PHP programmer and COO of a development and consulting shop, the > >emphasis on hourly rate is something that really amazes me. Not all > >programmers are created equal. A lot of clients don't recognize > that. Some > >mistakenly believe that a $120/hr. programmer is 20% more > productive than > a > >$100/hr. programmer. Yet others think that a $200/hr. > programmer must be > >twice as good as a $100/hr. programmer. >