

Ask HN: How much detail do you provide in quotes to clients?  - tnorthcutt

When charging a fixed amount to a client for a project, how much detail do you provide? We've been quoting projects based on estimated hours for each part of the project and including those numbers in the proposal, but I'm wondering if that's best.
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steveattard
I think that clients vary in their preferences. I would usually have a very
granular template (i.e. broken down into little chunks), and I would directly
ask the prospect, "What level of detail would you prefer in this quote?" Then
I would adjust the quote accordingly, because I think you will find that more
detail is not always better for some clients that prefer to pay lump sums, but
the opposite will also apply.

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tnorthcutt
Do you see any strong patterns in terms of different kinds of clients
preferring certain levels of detail?

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steveattard
No strong patterns, but some characteristics.

Situations where you're more likely to get by with a block quote: Established
trust, where you have high credibility with the prospect, when you have been
referred to them from a trusted source, or where they are already a client of
yours.

Where you probably will require a more granular quote: If your proposal/quote
will be passed on to other people in the company, needs to be approved by a
board or higher management, and if the prospect is known to be tight with
their money. Also quotes above a certain amount usually need to be granulated,
for me this was anything over $5K.

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tnorthcutt
Thanks, that's very helpful.

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dmboyd
Its either hours times rate (which sucks imho, because it creates a perverse
incentive for laziness) or you go value billing and have a set of agile steps
with dollars and time expectations. Its easier to relate to and easier to bill
if you have specific steps, rather than trying to productize a service.

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tnorthcutt
Do you know of any good resources for getting started with value billing,
especially for web design/development? We mainly build websites for
small/medium sized businesses, and I anticipate needing to do a lot of
education/selling on a possibly unfamiliar pricing system. I'm aware of this
book aimed at consultants: [http://www.amazon.com/Value-Based-Fees-Ultimate-
Consultant-P...](http://www.amazon.com/Value-Based-Fees-Ultimate-Consultant-
Pfeiffer/dp/0470275847) but I'm not sure how well that will apply to my
situation.

