I typically bill hourly
I typically bill hourly. But, I just completed a *fixed bid* development project for the first time in 20+ years.
Result? It took me twice as many hours as I estimated. 🤦♂️
Estimating custom development is hard.
Lessons learned...
1/4
I noticed many fixed bid downsides:
❌ I felt stressed.
❌ I was tempted to cut corners.
❌ I spent hours outlining the precise scope.
❌ We spent a lot of time discussing whether items were within scope.
❌ There were time-consuming blockers I didn't control or expect.
2/4
In the end, the final quality was lower because we both agreed that I would only deliver precisely what was requested.
In my typical contracts, we collaborate daily on what's most important, and we regularly tweak priorities and tasks to address unexpected related issues.
3/4
In summary, I'm not saying fixed billing is bad. I do fixed billing for training because there's a clear scope up front.
But for *custom development*, there are typically too many variables to reliably estimate.
Fixed bids create tricky side-effects.
Estimating is guessing.