Rates

Introductory hour

The first hour spent working for a new client is given at no charge.

If you are uncertain whether to give us a try, why not contact Owen to discuss your requirements? We won't charge for an initial chat (up to one hour) and if you decide not to proceed any further, you've lost nothing and may have gained some valuable information or insight from our conversation.

For those who know what they are looking for, the first hour could be spent working on your project, as demonstration of our abilities and effectiveness.

Hourly rate

Hourly rate of £25

This flat rate applies across all types of work including consultancy, support, training, research, analysis, documentation, design, development, project management and system administration.

Having a single rate keeps work logs and billing simple, frees us to focus on work not on logging, and frees you to mix-and-match different services on-the-fly, adapting rapidly to your changing needs. You have flexibility to receive work only when you choose, and retain control over spending.

Local visits

45p is charged per mile of travel

We are based in Derby and willing to transport staff and equipment to your location, with the aid of satellite navigation. A journey cost is calculated using a map service such as Google maps, and will be charged for each visit.

Estimating project development costs

We consider fixed-price contracts, if they are well-specified. This is typical for smaller, standardised projects and we can complete those for you quickly.

For large projects where you are providing the design and we are completing the work for a fixed price, the work must be well-defined. We require detailed specification documentation in usable form, with mock-ups of visual appearance and behaviour. If you do not have this, we can produce it for you or help you to complete it.

We will make recommendations, with understanding of possible consequences of design decisions, implementation strategy, costs, complexity, compatibility, future proofing, stability, maintainability and change management. If there are numerous features, these will be prioritised and may be split into distinct phases of development that could be estimated and bidded for separately.

We can design in-house from scratch or based on your designs, providing a number of options that you can choose from, or maybe all we need to do is tidy up a few details. We can then write formal requirements specification documentation with mock-ups of appearance and behaviour. You should read and consider this documentation very carefully, making any additions and changes until you are fully satisfied, before signing to confirm it.

Once we are sure what is required for the project, we are ready to work on the implementation design document. We may build a proof-of-concept prototype with reusable code. When we have finalised the implementation plan, we can calculate schedule and cost estimates. With these, we are happy to put forward a cost-effective fixed price bid, to implement your project, with the option of maintainence and updates being inclusive in the cost.

If you choose another contractor to carry out the implementation, they have our requirements and design documents to work from, reducing risk, complexity and costs. To assist you in your dealings with the project implementor, we offer project management, evaluatation of completed work and final quality assurance.

Service package - monthly or annual

For clients who could benefit from regular work from us, we offer a service package, tailored to your particular needs, for a regular monthly or annual fee. This is suitable for services such as remote system administration, website updates, maintenance, consulting, support and training. This helps you to budget and leaves your staff or family free to call whenever they need help, without needing permission. It will save you money if you use the service regularly. The package is flexible and we adjust it as your needs change, to include more or less services and to match your usage.

The service package is not available for software or website development work.

Saving your telephone charges

We will happily return your call to any land-line or mobile, to save your telephone charges.

We provide a local-rate number 0845 468 8324. This is free to call from any BT telephone landline. From a mobile, Virgin Media landline and some others, it is cheaper to call 0560 156 6123.

Contact Owen to discuss your requirements.