Randomly selected client quote
I have had a big uplift in the number of enquiries, some of which are promising. Keep up the good work.
Allen Silver, Premier Norwegian Log Cabins, 3 May 2005
I'm a freelance Internet / web developer with a first class degree in Internet Computing and an extensive background in marketing, so I offer an unusual mixture of marketing expertise (so your website will be findable and persuasive) with deep technical knowledge and capability (so your website can do (almost) anything you like .. from taking orders to aiding online meetings).
What that means is I can create for you a website that really works. One that allows people to find you, that's clear and usable when they do, and that's persuasive .. so you get what you want. A website from me will be good for your business or organisation (or just yourself).
I take my professionalism seriously. With me you'll have someone you can trust, who can explain things clearly, who won't claim skills he hasn't got, and who is always acting in your best interest. That way, I hope to keep you as a loyal and eager customer for years to come.
Charging Calculating hourly rates Time slots The queue Ethics and professional membership Cancellation and cessation Credit control Questions
If you're interested in a quick, simple, and cheap website, then I can probably accommodate your needs, just get in touch. Much of what follows here relates to more complex work.
I make a big effort to provide accurate estimates of time and cost and to deliver within those. For complex projects, I use something curiously called COSMIC-FFP, which is a professional method for estimating the size of a proposed project early on and then using my history to come up with an accurate estimate. In other words, for any sizeable project I don't just guess.
We would normally be able to have an initial meeting at your offices that would allow me to work out a rough cost estimate and project outline without you incurring any costs, although I may want you to pick up the transport costs if you're a long way away and a visit is necessary. For large projects that require a detailed requirements analysis the funding requirement can only be a rough estimate until the requirements are fully established and the detailed establishment of those requirements is chargeable.
Once we are agreed (there is an agreement to sign), if I spend time on your project, it's chargeable, in principle. I have a beeper in my office that beeps every fifteen minutes. Whatever I'm doing at that time gets charged for fifteen minutes. So if you ask me to do something that takes ten minutes and the beeper doesn't go off, you get that free :-)
Because computing projects, and especially web projects, tend to follow an iterative path rather than be thoroughly planned from the start and then executed perfectly to schedule, I charge by the hour. So any estimate I create represents my best guess at what might be involved. I don't mean to give the impression that it's not possible to nail down a cost and timeframe, but what tends to happen is clients, as time progresses and they see the site coming together, tend to focus on it and come up with new ideas and things they want doing. If a project is nailed down, those can't be accommodated. But if the client is flexible they often can, so ontime/onschedule delivery is more often down to the client than to anything I've forgotten about or estimated wrongly.
I manage projects so they go through cycles in which the project timings and costs are re-visited and updated, so you get regular updates. You can keep costs down by providing high quality photographs and well written text, and being clear about what you want before work commences. Changes, especially late in the project, can add significantly to the cost. A website can cost anything, literally. I could create for you a website very quickly, very cheaply, while some companies have paid millions of pounds for their sites (not to me, sadly). Have a look around my case studies for the cost of sites I have completed.
Additionally, any costs incurred are recharged. So, for instance, a domain name (eg. mine is johnallsopp.co.uk) and hosting (rental of the computer on which your website resides) is recharged. I don't add any markup. As at 5 December 2006, hosting is about £40 per year, and a .co.uk domain is about £5 per year (but you have to buy two years to start).
I'm not registered for VAT, I invoice monthly with 30 days credit.
I will calculate an hourly rate for your project which is revised annually and is calculated by referring to the going rate for the work. Actually it's based on three things. Firstly, the average hourly rate for the skills I'm using. Secondly, the amount of each skill I'm expecting to use on your project based on analysis of previous similar projects. Thirdly in exceptional circumstances a weighting that raises or lowers my price depending on demand. Currently (from 16 June 2006) this weighting is £0 per hour. The resulting figure is rounded up or down to the nearest £5.
It's a Yorkshire thing to look around for a better deal but, before you do, consider this: I have benchmarked myself against the industry and I know I'm more efficient than average. So you're getting more work than average for a standard price. That's a good deal.
Also consider the amount of information about myself and my practices I'm providing on this site. I have nothing to hide, and you know exactly what you are buying. If others are charging less, there's a reason.
There are cases where your project will require something of me that I'm not experienced in. Technology is always moving forward, there are always new things to learn. My BCS membership requires that I follow codes of ethical practice that, in part, require me to declare any areas in which I'm not fully trained or experienced. Having done that, I clearly can't charge the full rate for those areas. In that case, I apply a proportional scale so that you are charged a fair rate (starting from free-of-charge). In return I get valuable experience.
I divide my week into 4 approximate time slots, 22 hours, 13 hours, 8 hours and 5 hours. These are goal times, not agreed and contracted hours. You may take any single time slot that is free for as long as it is free.
If you would like your project finished "as soon as possible" just let me know and I'm happy to use any additional spare hours to bolster your hours.
For a long while I had more demand than I could supply, but my big projects are coming to an end now so I'm looking for new business and right now, I can start straight away.
In the event that I get into that situation again, I do maintain a queueing system, first come first served.
I'm a member of the British Computer Society and abide by their ethics. I read somewhere that computer company bosses are the second most likely company bosses to go to prison (sadly, I forget who the first was). It's just that technology is so complex it must be easy to persuade someone to buy something they don't need, or to persuade them they've got something they haven't .. and evidently that's commonplace. By contrast, I am a member of the BCS mainly because I want to be bound by the BCS code of conduct. Among other things, it requires me to:
I'm also a member of the Professional Contractors Group and I'm currently setting up Business Link and Club UK Online Platinum membership.
I always work on the basis that you (or I) can end our relationship at any time, assuming you pay for the work done to date. I don't do anything that will lock you into using me for future work, except provide a brilliant service that is.
Invoices are raised monthly and you have 30 days to pay. Most clients pay before 30 days. Thank-you for that. Rarely, a company takes longer to pay, and I am understanding about exceptional circumstances, particularly if I'm being communicated with. However there are systems in place. No work is yours until you've paid for it. I reserve the right to stop work temporarily or permanently on a project if I haven't been paid.
If you'd like to discuss a project please do get in touch, all my details are on my contact page or just email me at john@johnallsopp.co.uk. Personally, I prefer email communications but, knowing that I have that preference lets me know that my clients may have very different preferences, so I like to find out and work the way you prefer .. so we can meet, speak by phone, or whatever you feel most comfortable with.