Application Development Costs - Need Advice

Hi,

I am developing an Excel-based modelling and costing tool for a civil engineering firm and am having some difficultly in setting a price for the work.

Strictly speaking I am not a programmer (I'm really a research scientist) but I have a lot of knowledge in this particular area and a good knowledge of Excel/VBA and so have been asked, as an external consultant, to develop a spreadsheet for this company.

Problem is I don't really know what the going rate for spreadsheet application development is. I estimate it will take between 4-6 weeks to complete the application and have so far been offered £1,500 (US$2,700) for it.

Does this sound reasonable? I think it doesn't sound like a lot considering the amount of money some programers seem to charge. I've been told that £40 an hour for a programmer is not unusual and so this would work out at about £1,500 a week, or in my case 4-6 weeks would be £6000-9000 (£11,000-$16,000). But the company I have been contracted by are adament that £1,500 is the most they are willing to pay.

Does anyone have any advice? Should I ask for more? What would you people charge to develop and Excel app. that would take 4-6 weeks to complete?

Cheers
-Rob

Well, that does sound resonable, as you don't really have a degree in programming(or am I incorrect?). It would also depend on what the program is going to do exactly. Do you have a basic idea on what's going to happen in the program? What will the programming language be?

You could explain to them that programmers would usually get much more, and, per hour even, but I think that there are many eager programmers out there that would do it for even a quarter or a 10th of that price, so if I were you, I'd take it(But that's just me).

If you want them to use you again, then I'd go with whatever you think is right. While some clients may be willing to pay more, these seem to want to pay that amount. You could also draw up a contract and agree to work for those conditions. If anything else came up, you would renegotiate the terms and conditions.

Cheers for the replies.

I posted this in an Excel forum and one of the guys there said I should be charging in the region of $10,000 for this!

I wish......... :p