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Subject:Re: Contracting moral dilemma From:Linda Castellani <castle -at- CRL -dot- COM> Date:Mon, 10 Feb 1997 13:13:56 -0800
On Mon, 10 Feb 1997, Fabien Vais wrote:
> David had only received an
> initial deposit for the job. I only said that he should (or at least I
> would) adjust the estimate and tell the client that after careful
> examination of the material, the job would not take as long as expected
> (nothing to do with the difficulty or complexity...) and that because fewer
> hours would be spent on it, the estimated number of hours (and total
> "estimated" amount of money) would be reduced appropriately.
>
Ah, now that you've clarified David's situation a bit, I'd like
to respond.
First, if David has received only an initial deposit for the job,
then it seems one of his options would be to only bill for the amount of
time it actually takes, behaving as if the fixed-bid amount were actually
a not-to-exceed amount, which may be how the client actually sees it, in
fact. So David billing him for the actual hours would be entirely
appropriate.
However, I must add my voice to all the others who said, "Do not
do or say a thing about the bid, the estimate, or the depth and
complexity of the job until you have a better idea of how it will
actually play out." This early in the game there are far too many
variables that might not come into play until later, like not receiving
software or reviews in a usable or timely fashion, that will more than
make up for what he perceives as a lot less work that he originally
estimated.
Good luck.
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