Fixed vs flexible pricing trilogy: Part 2

The main reason to go for a fixed price project is that the client knows how much the project will cost. We understand that. When we go into a restaurant, we can see the menu, see the prices and know what we’re ordering and how much it would cost. We’d also argue that this is the only reason to go for a fixed price project. Inherent to a fixed price quote are however a series of not so obvious but far more dangerous problems that go with it.

To work to a fixed price, we need to know, up front, what exactly is to be included in the project. The point at which we would typically be putting a price on the project is after perhaps 1 or 2 meetings with the potential client. Based on those short meetings we have to have fully thought through the clients business goals and objectives for the site, an adequate amount of visual design time, the user experience and the technical functionality of the CMS. On top of these core stages of the website creation process we also have to work through many other considerations:

• SEO, copywriting and content strategy
• mobile device interactivity
• photography and video work
• timeframes and staged launches
• cross browser testing (and the dreaded battle against Internet Explorer)
• the collaboration and co-ordination of various subcontractors that all have their part to play in the project
• the collection and input of dozens of pages of content
• setting up the development environments and hosting accounts for where the site will ultimately be hosted

…to name just the stuff that comes to mind right now!

That is a lot to have to know up front and be willing to put a price on. More to the point, it’s a lot of unknowns. The advantage of using a good web designer is that they at least are aware of all this stuff. The majority of these things, most clients hadn’t even considered. They just wanted a website, something that will look nice and bring in sales.

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