Unless you have been freelancing for a while, you could easily look over a few aspects of estimating a client project that could hurt you if you forget. So besides just the time it takes you to complete the project, what are some other things student freelancers should keep in mind the next time they go to write up an estimate for a client?
Client Involvement
Throughout the “getting to know you” phase of the potential client project, how much was the client involved? There are several signals that could clue you in to how involved the client will be during the project after they hire you. For instance, how many meetings have you had with this potential client? Or how many phone conversations have you had so far? Do you feel like you have had to talk to them many times to get information? This could be a clue as to how involved they will be once they hire you.
Another clue that you can watch for is how many and what kind of questions did they ask you? Did they tend to ask you more questions than they gave you information about their project? Did they seem like they were very “hands-on” and wanting to be overly-involved? Or did they give you info as needed and seemed to trust you and your knowledge?
If the client seems to be overly involved at the beginning of the project (or in this case, before the project even gets off the ground), chances are they will be overly involved after they hire you too. This often translates into more of your time needed to work with the client than with others in the past with similar projects. You may find yourself on the phone more often, emailing them more often than anticipated, even having more than necessary meetings to discuss the project. If your client is showing signs of over involvement, then you may want to add a few extra hours to your estimate to cover your time involved in working with them (be it meetings, phone calls, or emails).
Admin work
What I call “admin work” is the work that you have to do that is more on the business end of things. Invoicing, putting together estimates and proposals, getting the contract in order, handling email, having phone calls with the client, etc. are all administrative tasks that are often forgotten or not considered part of the project. Not sure about you but just getting a project going requires at least three hours of my time, maybe even more. Between estimating the cost of the project, getting the invoice together, prepping the contract, and sending it to them alone is a couple of hours, not counting the hour-long phone conversation or several days back and forth emailing to get client specifics.
For admin work, I often include a set amount of hours in the project that it often takes me to handle these admin tasks. Then, depending on other aspects of the project that may be needed (extensive project planning), I will add more to it to help make up for the time it will take for me to “run the project.” If you don’t include this time, then you could be working for free for a couple of hours or even more on projects, and who wants to work for free?
Potential for future business
Now, I have to admit, this is a new thing I evaluate when estimating new projects. How well will this project bring me future business? There are several things to consider here: Could the client become a repeat client? Does the client have the potential to share your name with others? Does the project give you a great portfolio piece? Is the project in a field you want to gain more business in?
Evaluating these factors and others related can help you determine how well the project could bring you future business. As for how it can affect your estimate, that is a bit more in the grey area. You can’t really charge an additional set of hours or any measurable difference to the estimate. How you make the impact on the estimate is up to you. If I think a project could bring me great potential for future business, I will maybe lower the estimate a little bit (maybe give them the admin time for free) or maybe not even impact the estimate at all. I may just go out of my way to try to land the project in other ways by either putting together a stellar proposal packet or offer great customer service and make them my top priority.
With these things considered, what are things do you consider when estimating your projects?