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If I get a question a few times, I try to post it here: if you're trying out contracting in 2021, the pricing model that worked best for me wasn't per-project or per-hour, it was per-week.
(small thread if it's helpful)
(small thread if it's helpful)
Per-hour didn't work for me because I had to explain every minute of time, and some things like "understanding your giant system" are hard to capture for bigger clients
Per-project didn't work because it's so hard to estimate engineering projects accurately before you dive in
Per-project didn't work because it's so hard to estimate engineering projects accurately before you dive in
Per-week was nice because I had a decent queue. My estimates weren't usually massively off by weeks, and if they were, I could say "this will probably take me 3 weeks. If it ends up taking more, I am first-come-first serve so if you don't reserve week 4 it's up for grabs"
It was also easier to estimate when I was ready to transition to the next project, and no big deal if people did need a "bonus week". It also left it up to them and their budget if they wanted to just take on the last bits of work themselves. (rare, but it happens)
I did not pioneer this, and I learned it from the wonderful @tinysubversions who was kind enough to share his pricing model with me when I felt a little lost. Thank you Darius!!!
Please hit me up with any questions in this thread if you need advice, I'll try my best to answer them all. Contracting can be freeing but hard to navigate at first.
Also shout out to @danmall for open sourcing Superfriendly's contract you can fork: http://agreement.superfriend.ly/
Also shout out to @danmall for open sourcing Superfriendly's contract you can fork: http://agreement.superfriend.ly/
