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Estimating time for a project
MeepZero
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I'm trying to get my own business in IT consulting established. And one thing that I keep noticing is clients really would prefer to have a set number of hours cost instead of just quoting an hourly rate. Problem is, since I'm just starting off I don't have a good feel for how many hours a project will take. Any recommendations on how to do this? The kind of projects I'm looking at are things like setting up domains, inventory, backup systems, etc. Its all windows based stuff really. Most of these places I'm working with are pretty small, anywhere from 5 to 30 computers total.
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Everything you listed is stuff that takes a few hours but can go up exponentially based on size of the company, and how old the equipment is.
Setting up a domain should take probably a few hours and then hooking up the computer can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 45 minutes. What's worked for me in the past is quoting time, then doubling it, then offering a discount if they sign up for a tech support package (me being on call for them).
Ideally I want to end up done with this stuff 6 months in and be working with my next client while keeping these guys under some kind of support plan or something. Does this sound like a reasonable amount of time? I really want to make this work for them as they don't have a ton of money and I want to make a great first impression. From what I gather this company has a lot of influence over other similar organizations in the area and they all have a need for a stable IT guy to work with them.
What I need to figure out is is this a reasonable time frame for this kind of stuff, or am I over / undershooting things by quite a bit.
Just make sure when you go in you explain exactly what the quote entails and stick to it. If someone asks you to fix a PC problem that you aren't there to do, explain that you can't do it and you will be more than happy to come back at a later point to fix it. Shit like that eats into your quoted time fast, and they usually don't want to pay you for it.
The adage "The first 90% of a project takes 90% of the time, the last 10% takes the other 90%" applies.
Thats the thing, I don't know enough to qoute them a set amount of time. I was hoping that I could offer them extremely detailed information about how I spend my time and allow for renegotiating the time spent quarterly would give them a bit more power on how to do this. Honestly I have no idea how long its going to take for a lot of these projects, its the kind of stuff that I know I can do, but I just don't have any experience to say how long it will take beyond just running through the bases on stuff. I was aiming at doing the 20 hour a week retainer and lump everything in to that, so if I get side tracked on working on another computer issue then I can document that and go back to working on setting up the domain for example.
"I really want to work with you to find something that works for your company, but I don't know how accurate my estimate will be until I get more comfortable with your system. How about I come in to do X, which I'm estimating will take Y hours, which I will do for a flat rate of $Z. After that, I should have a better idea of what kind of time is required of me and can give you a more accurate hourly quote."
Making that distinction is really going to be key for giving people a set cost, or a set timeframe. If registering a domain, backup system, and so on is a project, then once it is set up, that's that. You are done. Then, if they request more work from you (or if you pitch more work), that is a support contract and can be based on hours or "uptime" or certain criteria.
If you've never done it before, why are you a better choice compared to another contractor who has? You might have to undercut your competition and end up making less for the first contract or two, simply because you're unproven. While Improv's point that you should double the time it takes is fair (although often not the best way to remain competitive), you also should realize that by not knowing, you are at a disadvantage to anyone who *does* know. And even if you theoretically know how to do the work, actually doing it will probably bump into trouble at least the first couple times.
And I would imagine most companies are not interested in paying for you to learn how to complete what's in the contract, so if work ends up taking longer you will probably just have to "eat the difference," vs. going back and saying "so this actually took longer, can you pay me more?"
I'll copy paste a bit of what I have here, each item's descriptions are spoilered into its own section so I can fiddle with it. The times are really just wild guesses, so...any ideas guys?
Organization wide backup solution - Out the gate, would guess around 20 hours to set up without domain involved, if domain is involved then...longer? Dunno
Domain Server - No clue, would guess 80 hours? Setup of just the OS would take no time, but all the configuration, and security perms could take awhile, not to mention setting up other services and stuff too. I really dont know...maybe double the 80 hours?
Email, calendar, and general office exchange - Maybe 20-30 hours?
Comprehensive inventory of all IT systems - 80 Hours...did not double it when I thought up that number, so maybe more?
Expanding firewall /web filtering - I would need to research this stuff heavily and really be careful with it, so maybe 80 hours? ish?
The place has a lab set up where kids can use computers, I need to block them from accessing pron, guns, drugs, social networks, games etc. Open DNS is working pretty well so far, but its company wide, would like to roll out something that I can open up for staff a bit if they need it.
Ethernet rewired - Dunno, would mean I would have to chase all the wiring around the building and figure out wtf is going on, they have one big switch in the "server room" and a bunch of little ones in the lab, so thats not SO bad...maybe 40 hours? did not double...so 80?
Staff / Lab printing - 10 hours...probably
Standardized software load outs - a few hours really, nothing too big