1) How is the price structured?
I can work with you on an hourly, fixed price, or retainer basis—I'm flexible. And although every project is unique and subject to different variables, the ranges below help you get an idea of our customary project pricing. A "project" can include anything needed to support a business year, such as developing software, as well as purchasing needed computer hardware and software, and supporting users.

• Small Projects: $5,000
• Larger Projects: $85,000
• Average Projects: $14,000

2) How much does this really cost?
A favorite question and an important one. I'm not trying to be purposely vague, but it truly depends on what you want to do and how much time it will take to get done. Call me. I'll give you an idea on your project's price range once I know that your project entails. Or, visit my Case Studies page to see if there is a project there that is similar to your needs.

I give all my formal pricing up front in a proposal based on your requirements. Unless you change your mind on the requirements in a major way, the price is the price as we agree to in the proposal. There are no hidden "surprise costs" that appear without your knowledge.

3) What factors affect cost?
As you can imagine, it depends on what you want to do. Below are just a few examples of what could affect a project's cost:

• Quality of existing software code: Before I price any job that requires using existing software code, I review the existing code's quality. How the software code is structured can greatly affect labor time. I've had jobs where the software code was so poorly written that it was actually more cost effective to rebuild the system from scratch.


• Hardware or software purchases: If your systems are old, sometimes it is necessary to purchase new hardware and/or software to ensure a systems' performance (speed) or security. There have been cases where my clients didn't have the proper security in place to protect their data, whether it be back-ups, or secure remote access, or proper user permissions.


• Your Technical Savvy: If you are technically astute and just need me to help get the project done for which you don't have the time, you may be able to do the implementation and/or training yourself. This saves you from having to hire me for that part of the project.

4) Is it better to go hourly or fixed price?
It depends. If you have clearly defined needs that are very black and white and are not subject to changes in scope, a fixed cost is possible. I find most companies are not at that point and their needs evolve as the project progresses.

5) If I hire you at an hourly rate, what assurances do I have that you won't go 10%, 20%, 30% over your estimate?
Most of our projects are billed hourly and we are accustomed to the needed time allotted for portions of work. For example, I know an average QuickBooks integration is 8 days based on prior experience. If we get through the first half day and I realize that something is different than we expected and that it will take a lot more time to complete, then I'll notify you immediately and stop work on it. We can then decide if it is worth continuing.

In my hourly proposals, I state that I only bill for hours used against my estimate. Once we start digging into a project, any changes in scope that we didn't think of initially usually come up quickly.

If I'm working with an existing database, and you want greater assurance that I not go over my proposed time, I can get a copy of your database and spend 4 to 6 hours going over it thoroughly to be certain of the time estimates. In which case, I can likely give you a fixed cost. The down side is that this does add time and cost to the overall project.

We focus very hard on customer retention. My goal with any customer is to make sure that they are happy with our work and feel that it is worth the money that you paid. If for some reason, a project does go over budget, I will work with you to make sure that you feel you're being treated fairly. I've built my reputation upon customer satisfaction.

6) Can the price be divided over time?
Absolutely. What usually happens is we make a list of priority items and we break it down into phases. Additional features trickle in over time based on your needs and budget.

7) Access Project Costs: If starting a new system "from scratch," what's the starting cost for a Microsoft Access project?
If the project is new development (doesn't involve an existing system) the average starting cost for an Access project is about $8,000, where Access is used as a front end to a SQL database. This Access application is different from stand-alone file-based Access databases, which only offer limited performance and flexibility.

Microsoft Access is a rapid application development (RAD) platform for databases. I develop data driven software in many computer languages, and I have yet to find a platform that is faster and easier for database application development. Plus, many developers don't realize its great power for its low cost.

I hear some people say that "Access is slow and doesn't scale." This simply isn't true for small to medium sized companies. I have been called in to fix many database performance problems. With Access, the most common problem is the previous developer's poor design skills. What some developers don't realize is that Access can be used as a standalone database, or, as a "front end" to a larger database, such as Microsoft SQL Server. "Microsoft Access Projects" communicate directly to Microsoft SQL Server. This is a very efficient and secure means of storing data; it's much more efficient that trying to use a file-based Access database by itself. Plus, since Microsoft SQL 2005 Express is free, why not take advantage of it. I have customers with more than 40 simultaneous users, connecting to a server with Access, SQL, Exchange, file sharing, print sharing, and Active Directory installed on the same server. No performance problems.

8) .NET Project Costs: If starting a new system "from scratch," what's the starting cost for a Microsoft .NET project?
If the project is new, the entry point for a new .NET application runs around $14K. This cost would be for a small .NET application. Know that I repair and enhance existing .NET systems too—but those costs would vary based on the scale of your needs and the quality of your existing software code (See Question #3.)

Call me, Ray D'Andrade, at (609) 921-8100 for more information.

9) I will need to justify the cost to my boss (friend, spouse, or co-workers), what's the normal payback on your service?
It's completely different for every project and we can discuss it together. For the majority of stuff I do, it would pay itself off in half a year because it saves time, saves money or increases your revenues.

Sometimes my projects save you from hiring additional employees. Sometimes you work more efficient and can take on larger volumes of work with newly applied technology.

Other times, new features may allow you to drop a vendor that was doing the work for you.

That's what happened at Meyer-Chatfield. Meyer-Chatfield was able to drop an outside service that was manually compiling Excel spreadsheet reports for them for tens of thousands of dollars a month. Visit our Case Study area for more information on Meyer-Chatfield.