In the past, clients would typically contact me after an online search or a refferal from someone they knew. I’d reply, and before you knew it, we’d be in the midst of a game of email ping-pong. One of the main reason was because most developers didn’t want to publish answers to questions such as hourly rates in fear that the competition would undercut them. To make the process more transparent, I’ve documented some of the most common questions.
How much do you charge?
My hourly rate is £60+VAT. I use time tracking software to keep a tally of time spent which is then invoiced at the end of the month along with any material costs such as license fees.
Can you provide a fixed cost for a project?
All work is billed by the hour, rather than a fixed project cost. I provide estimates prior to starting the project which will give you a budget to plan for.
My budget is fixed, how can we work together?
I can work on a fixed budget, variable scope basis. All feature requests are added to the backlog of tasks in order of importance, I will then work through them fitting in as many as possible within the allocated budget.
Can you work from my premises?
No, I work remotely. Throughout a project I'm available via email, telephone and skype. I can also make myself available for meetings depending on your location.
How do I go about engaging your services
The first step is to make contact with me. I usually respond within 1 working day. The process starts with an informal chat about the project requirements and what you are looking for within a developer. I use this stage to help identify if I’m the right person for the job, in cases where I am not, I'll try my best to provide alternative recommendations.
What types of businesses do you work with?
I work with two main categories of business; creative agencies and companies with a digitally savy marketing team.
My site was built by another company, can you support it?
Yes - Clients decide to move away from their current suppliers for many reasons. I provide ongoing maintenance, development and support for companies should you decide to leave the current company. Part of the on-boarding process will be to find out why the relationship broke down, this is purely to understand whether moving to myself will resolve the core issues (sometimes it won’t, in these cases I will try to make recommendations on the best course of action).
Do you work with any other platforms like Wordpress, Drupal or Magento?
No - I only work with ExpressionEngine, this helps me to specialise and provide a much better service to my customers.
