iOS For the Free-lance Developers - how do you determine what to charge?

[chrisesposito]

A question for the free-lance developers here on this board:

I do SW development for a living (30+ years experience), but that's a regular salaried day job rather than something I get paid for by the job or task completed.

I've been approached by some people to do some iphone app development for them. The first app is quite straightforward to build, and if that goes well then there is a second larger project to take on.

How did you structure the agreement / contract?
How did you figure out what the fee would be? Hourly? a fixed amount?

I could use my effective hourly rate from my day job as an hourly rate, possibly along with a cap on the max amount, but I have no idea if this is a common / reasonable practice or not.

Any other suggestions gratefully accepted.

Chris

 

[Jeremy1026]

I charge hourly. Usually in the $50-$75/hr range depending on the complexity of the project. I give my clients a time frame and price per hour to give them a total cost quote.

 

[Delirium39]

Generally, you should be charging your normal hourly wage + the extra self employment taxes you'll have to pay + health/benefit costs + a little extra to cover that you don't have a steady income. Think of it like you don't have your day job, and charge at least what you'd need to equal everything your employer is currently giving you for free. If I were going to charge per hour, I'd probably ask for at least double my day job's hourly rate.

 

[firewood]

About double your day job hourly income rate (especially if you value your free time). And I hear about hourly rates over $100/hr in the big metro areas for developers with experience.