
Ask HN: Client asked about paying for bug fixes - instanttaylor
I had a client today asked me about why they should be paying for bug fixes when it seems like it should&#x27;ve been written correctly the first time. They were very understanding with the answer that I gave but I&#x27;m curious to know how others have dealt with it in other projects.
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codegeek
Unless you have a detailed requirements document, documented Test plan and a
full Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM), the client cannot really argue
this. A lot of clients will not be able to tell the different between a "bug"
and an "enhancement". If I had a penny for every time a client said "System
does not work. This is an issue".....Well it is not an "issue". It is a
functionality that doesn't exist as per the project scope and now needs to be
implemented as a "Change Request" or "enhancement".

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ProblemFactory
If it's a time-based contract, then testing and bug-fixing is part of the
billable time - it's a normal part of development. The client can decide how
much testing and bug-fixing they want, often there is a point where the
software is considered good enough to stop spending more expense on it.

For fixed-fee contracts, I usually include testing and bug-fixing in the
quoted price, and make sure to include the time spent on that in the
estimates. There has to be a sign-off time limit though (for example 1-2
months), during which the client is supposed to test the software to their
satisfaction and after which newly discovered bugs are not included -
otherwise a project can linger on forever in your schedule.

However with fixed-fee contracts the main difficulty is agreeing on what are
bugs, and what are change requests if the initial plan was not detailed
enough.

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NameNickHN
My answer is always this. If I write a line of code, discover a bug, and fix
it right away, it's part of the normal coding process and covered by the
hourly/daily rate I've quoted the client. What difference does it make that
the bug was found later or by another person?

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AdmiralAsshat
A good response would be, but "If it wasn't in the requirements, it didn't get
coded."

We have to use that response alot when someone asks about a program that
doesn't work the way they expect it to. Did you explicitly say that it needs
to do this in the contract? No? Then it's not a bug, it's an enhancement.

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SEJeff
Charge extra up front to write tests. The client gets higher quality code, and
generally with less fixes needed.

That being said, there will always be issues until we have AI that writes AI
that writes code (with the humans out of the loop).

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smt88
I don't charge for bug fixes and generally try to do high fixed-fee
engagements when possible. Hourly billing is hard to get right.

