Day Rates

There are two methods we use for work:
- Fixed Price Projects (preferred)
- Day Rates

Fixed Price Projects

Building a website is similar to building a house. Make the plan, execute the plan, done! When people come up with their website idea it's often a general outline, which takes discussion and back and forth to create a website scope, which can then be quoted and developed. A proper scope clearly defines the outcome which protects both parties: the developer who knows what they need to build, and the client who knows what they will be receiving. Naturally if both parties aren't imagining the same end goal the project is doomed to fail before it's even started.

Planning

To turn your concept into a solid house plan you engage a draftsman (for simplicity let's skip architects!). This plan takes time and involves financial investment irregardless of whether or not the house is eventually built. This plan document explains the functionality, and for some projects wireframes will be made so you can visually see how customers will use the website. The planning documents of course can be taken to and used by any website developer.

Development

Once you have your plan it can then be quoted and built! For larger projects it will involve a contract which will use the plan as the agreed scope of work, and the quote will be to complete these tasks.

Fixed price projects are the best approach, however you need a clearly defined scope which takes time to develop, and in some cases is impossible (for example a site with 30 plugins which breaks when updated in multiple areas. It also means constantly managing what "is or isn't in scope", and overall this can hinder the project because not-optimal choices are made because simply because the easy method is in scope vs the best option which involves additional work.

Enter: Day Rates

Even from "napkin notes" an experienced developer will have a general idea of how long a project will take. Providing a range of days the project will take and working by the day can be the best way to complete projects that either don't have a quantifiable amount of effort, or when the scope is broad and you'd rather get moving than plan out all the details first. Working by the day also gives the flexibility to add or remove features along the way as the amount of time can be extended - though keeping in mind other bookings as it's often not possible to add days without notice. This way "everything is in scope" it will just extend the amount of days required and puts the focus on producing a good result than the budget.

Day rates also work well for things that simply aren't fixed price quotable - for example: site is crashing and need it stable, and isolate the issue and fix it. Website was hacked and is broken in many places. We know the best case and worst case work involved in fixing these issues, where this particular site fits on the scale we don't know until it's started, or in some cases until it's almost solved. This way everyone is covered whether it turns out to be simple or complicated, rather than needing to quote 'worst case scenario' for safety.