Excel Application Development Costs - Need Advice

Hi,

I am developing an Excel-based modelling and costing tool for a civil engineering firm and am having some difficultly in setting a price for the work.

Strictly speaking I am not a programmer (I'm really a research scientist) but I have a lot of knowledge in this particular area and a good knowledge of Excel/VBA and so have been asked, as an external consultant, to develop a spreadsheet for this company.

Problem is I don't really know what the going rate for spreadsheet application development is. I estimate it will take between 4-6 weeks to complete the application and have so far been offered £1,500 (US$2,700) for it.

Does this sound reasonable? I think it doesn't sound like a lot considering the amount of money some programers seem to charge. I've been told that £40 an hour for a programmer is not unusual and so this would work out at about £1,500 a week, or in my case 4-6 weeks would be £6000-9000 (£11,000-$16,000). But the company I have been contracted by are adament that £1,500 is the most they are willing to pay.

Does anyone have any advice? Should I ask for more? What would you people charge to develop and Excel app. that would take 4-6 weeks to complete?

Cheers
-Rob

Pricing is a difficult issue, balancing the fair value of your
work versus the legitimate budget concerns of your client.
US$2,700 for a project that will take 4-6 weeks (I'm assuming
full time work) is very low. I would charge somewhere in the
neighborhood of US$10,000 for such a project.



--
Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP - Excel
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com




"TheRobsterUK"
<TheRobsterUK.1q2bag_1117821907.892@excelforum-nospam.com> wrote
in message
news:TheRobsterUK.1q2bag_1117821907.892@excelforum-nospam.com...
>
> Hi,
>
> I am developing an Excel-based modelling and costing tool for a
> civil
> engineering firm and am having some difficultly in setting a
> price for
> the work.
>
> Strictly speaking I am not a programmer (I'm really a research
> scientist) but I have a lot of knowledge in this particular
> area and a
> good knowledge of Excel/VBA and so have been asked, as an
> external
> consultant, to develop a spreadsheet for this company.
>
> Problem is I don't really know what the going rate for
> spreadsheet
> application development is. I estimate it will take between 4-6
> weeks
> to complete the application and have so far been offered £1,500
> (US$2,700) for it.
>
> Does this sound reasonable? I think it doesn't sound like a lot
> considering the amount of money some programers seem to charge.
> I've
> been told that £40 an hour for a programmer is not unusual and
> so this
> would work out at about £1,500 a week, or in my case 4-6 weeks
> would be
> £6000-9000 (£11,000-$16,000). But the company I have been
> contracted by
> are adament that £1,500 is the most they are willing to pay.
>
> Does anyone have any advice? Should I ask for more? What would
> you
> people charge to develop and Excel app. that would take 4-6
> weeks to
> complete?
>
> Cheers
> -Rob
>
>
> --
> TheRobsterUK
>
>
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Thanks for the reply. Looks like I should hold out for more money.

Begginning to wish I'd gone into programming instead of engineering. You lot must be raking it in!

-Rob