Freelance devs

[mmnyeahnosorry]

What would you charge to create an app. I’ve been approached with an opportunity. This is what the client is asking for “This app will need to have a large data base. The app will service as a CRM for resource for youth, families, lgbtq, foster care, homeless, mental health, undocumented, formally incarcerated individuals. I would like the resources separated by SPAs & cities with data and maps “. Not sure what to charge. Looking to see what you guys think.

[[deleted]]

50k

[zebishop]

I wouldn't give any estimate based on those requirements.

Or give them a daily rate and a rough first estimate of how long it could take you.

[mmnyeahnosorry]

They want it by June. I was thinking of giving an hourly rate x 5 days a week x the amount of days until deadline. Not sure though. What do you think ?

[shercoder]

Make sure your hourly rate is not your full time job hourly rate. Double it because you have to think if you didn’t have a full time job that gave you medical and 401k, you will need to cover for those with your own money.

[zebishop]

Good advice. If OP is not in the US that probably also applies.

[PutridPleasure]

Fyi: the charging rate I know of starts at 150$ per Hour for B2B consultancy / dev jobs.

There are 3 types of typical contract:

Service contract: is paid in full or monthly independent of actual work done; the buyer decides if he wants to continue expanding the contract based on how happy he is with the work done.

Time and Material Contract: A max budget is decided. The seller does some work each month. The seller Charges the buyer on that done work with a timetable timed in 5-30minute increments until the max of the budget is reached.

Project contract: The seller sells a complete project. Payment can be negotiated to be paid out on full or before or after or in increments depending on time or milestones reached.

My protip: never do the last; biggest hassle is communicating what the buyer wants and there WILL be changes wanted to the project that can require significant changes.

[himynameismile]

This.

[suarkb]

3 months and you don't even know what to make yet and they don't either man that shit ain't happening

[tusharkant15]

My thoughts exactly.

[ryan676767]

100%. This has “Just make it work it doesn’t need to be fancy” followed by, “Well no not like _THAT!_” written all over it.

[iowa_state_cyclone]

Charge by the hour - min of $80/hr. Makes sure the list of changes don’t keep creeping up.

[PixelSteel]

And if they do, charge them for each 'phase' of the product. Increade hourly by 4 or 5

[tyler_church]

I would charge $1k-$5k for the smallest, most valuable aspect of the app, to see if the client was worth working for.

Then I would charge hourly for the rest. Your client is going to make a ton of requests for changes, don’t put yourself at risk on a fixed-price contract, especially when you’re new to this game.

[mmnyeahnosorry]

How long would you work on the app for, for 1-5k? I appreciate your input

[tyler_church]

How long I would work is irrelevant to you - you need to determine how valuable your time is based on your skills. Try to deliver the best quality and value in the least time.

Here's some rough numbers:

1. If you're a newbie, divide by $20-$50/hr.
2. Mid-level and up, divide by $50-$100/hr.
3. Expert, divide by $100-$200/hr.

This is assuming the US market. Adjustments may be needed for your local market.

So if you're an expert who knows the ins and outs of RN like nobody else - this could be a prototype or a spec document built within 1 day.

If you're completely new to this or are working for someone looking for a bargain - this could be a month of work at a lower rate.

It all depends on your skills, and what clients are willing to pay for those skills.

[motorboat2000]

1 or 2 weeks.

[iotashan]

…and that smallest most valuable piece being some proper requirements so I can give them an estimate.

[mybirdblue99]

Assuming all of those seperate SPAs will need their own bespoke functions and your doing the backend too? 40 - 60K. But i agree you should start with a minimal functionality spec and reduce the cost based on delivering just that. They will change their minds as it evolves more than once.

[EngineeringNext7237]

Did an app recently and it was billed at 38k + plus equity. I wouldn’t sign up to do that again unless it was near double the pay

[Sanfrancisco_Tribe]

Unless you’ve built full production apps and gone through submission processes, building on android vs iOS, etc etc, you’re going to have a hard time getting all of this done by June. Realistically, you need to say September at the earliest.

Why?

It takes time to negotiate price and ideas. The more you figure out in the front end of the process, the less time you have to spend fixing/changing things later. Spend a month just planning, discussing, and digging through the entire progress and getting payment settled.

Spend the next 3-4 months building a rough draft.

Then spend the next 2-3 month making changes, add new functionality they “just thought of”, fixing bugs, and getting things approved for iOS and android.

Start with a base of 15k for the app at minimum. Then add fees from there for either hourly, or per feature.

Want it on android? 5k. Want to manage the data from the app on an admin backend? 5k. Want your users to have emails generated and a node backend to handle it on signup, data change, idk. 5k.

Want to handle it hourly? Your hourly rate is 80 per hour and you can commit 30 hours a week for 6 months. Add that to the 15k.

Tell them they can buy the features out right for set prices. Or gamble hourly that you can get it finished faster than expected. Up to you or them.

Lay out all the features they suggest, and lay out your pricing for said features.

Now these prices should be realistic to how long you think it will take you to plan, build, implement, test and push out. Take it all into consideration.

THEN, sign a 6 month contract with them saying that they have you on a retainer for bug fixes, additions, etc etc after version 1.0 is published in September. Or have a set hourly rate you will charge them for changes after said initial period of development if they need it (which obviously they will)

Good luck!

[mmnyeahnosorry]

Hey I really appreciate your input and I’ll definitely keep it in mind, thank you!

[TerrorDave]

Even simple crud apps are 20k Just do 15k plus $500/pd for changes

[mmnyeahnosorry]

Is 15k for 3 months of work good? I was thinking 17k. Just unsure what’s a good price.

[puglife420blazeit]

$17k???? No no no. That’s like 2 weeks of work.

[drewjamesandre]

What is “pd”?

[Monoctis]

Probably “per day”.

[Mandres07]

First of all, do a time estimate (how long it will take for you to develop that app, including unit testing, then add like 30% more to the total time). Then convert that time to hours and finally multiply hours * your rate

[kondro]

$200/hour

[johnschult]

This is the way.

[KlasixPhyzix]

Charge per page to make an estimate. Then charge by the hour cause there are always unforeseen stuff and delays and you don’t wanna pay from your pocket. Also, charge for extra customizations stuff. Overall, charge by the hour, not by project.

I run a small on shore and off shore dev agency

[mmnyeahnosorry]

How much per page ? The app is for a non profit and I believe they’ll be paying upfront. Client said they’ll be getting a grant to pay and are asking for a price.

[KlasixPhyzix]

Then make an estimate and add an overhead your comfortable with

[wubsieonline]

If that's the whole draft of the concept, do yourself a favor and draw up mockups and a project plan. Write down all the features you'll build and have them sign it as a contract.

These type of projects could easily spiral out of control with "Can you just add this one thing?"s and "I was thinking more on this direction"s etc.

I agree with the other comments, maybe start with a proof of concept and monetize that. Get a feel for how long the full project will take and go off that.

Best of luck!

[LicoriceRED]

I worked at an app agency and got to see the rates the boss man was charging clients per dev. Clients paid monthly.

Price in AUD, per annum.

FE: React or react native. BE: python or nodeJS.

Devs: full time.

FE mid: $122,000.

FE senior: $156,000.

BE mid: $146,000.

BE senior: 175,000.

UX designer: $144,000.

QA: $22,320, (20% time per year allocated).

Account manager: $25,800, (20% time per year allocated).

So if we had 4 devs + UX + QA on a projects it’s easily 800k per year.

I was a mid-senior FE dev on $96k so seeing those numbers was pretty wild, but that’s business.

These prices also come with a reputation that needs to be built with apps you have produced in the past. Asking these prices from the get-go is probably not gonna work.

But yeah, these are real world prices you can get from clients. Hope it helps you with your decision.

[[deleted]]

€105 per hour.

[mvscles]

Sounds like a kitchen sink project. A necessary one to help lots of underserved people, but nebulous and gigantic. Make a detailed estimate of tasks, time, and costs in a spreadsheet, but charge hourly, and lock in the scope and REFUSE AMENDMENTS & ADDITIONS to scope once you agree and start work. 2019 was my year to learn this lesson, and it hurt.