It's quite common for developers to charge clients for tech support, service
contracts and onsite visits. Just look at FileMaker itself. I think they
give you one free call and then it's on the clock. If you've been able to
call him up frequently, anytime and get a quick answer to your question then
I'd say you're getting a deal. Try doing that with a lawyer or doctor.

As for his hourly rate it really depends on how long he takes to get
something done, doesn't it?

Bill

"Mike Sampieri" <xkmorgan6xx4 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

It depends what you mean by 'tech support'. I always fix my bugs for
free, and I may do quicky things for free (add a field to a layout,
change a value list) for my larger customers, etc. I do quickly respond
to issues, and generally no charge for meetings, calls, etc., depending
on the nature of the meeting.

Free project management is a big one. While you may not fully
understand what that means, I can tell you that about 20% of the time
spent on each of my projects is due to project management -- it is time
NOT spent doing actual work in FileMaker. These are things for which
the developer gets no personal benefit from, but without which a
successful development cannot happen. This includes meetings and phone
calls, working with my developers to make sure things are right,
testing, creating estimates for the client, documenting lists of
requirements, researching third-party solutions, creating fields lists
and screenshots and other planning documents that are primarily for the
client's review/satisfaction/approval, constant communications (phone,
email) during the project between me and the client.

As for the hourly rate, it's all relative. You can hire someone at $100
who does good work, but may take a little longer than the $175 guy. The
end result is the same.

If you are being charged $175 an hour, you have either hired one of the
best FileMaker developers in the country, or you really deserve to be
getting a *a lot* of freebies. To put it into perspective, I live in
Los Angeles, a city where there is high demand for FM developers and all
of us are extremely busy right now. There are two or fewer FM
developers in the area charging $175, 2-3 more charging $150, and the
majority of other very good developers charging about $125...plus a slew
of people charging $100 or less.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Howard Schlossberg (818) 883-2846
FM Pro Solutions Los Angeles, California

FileMaker 7 Certified Developer
Associate Member, FileMaker Solutions Alliance

I make it very clear up front. Support and Development are two
different things. Support is my maintaining something I have already
developed for you. If I did my job, it should work. Development are
things you want added after the fact. I can't tell you how I almost
went to the poor house before I made the clear distinction between the
two.

Thanks
JC

In article <11nvngaftgnbn42 (AT) corp (DOT) supernews.com>,
howard (AT) antispahm (DOT) fmprosolutions.com says...

Not only is it relative, but its disconnected from any real metric. The
fact that he's more expensive doesn't automatically imply he's faster OR
better, it might simply mean that he's better known, busier, or perhaps
that he'd like to be less busy, or maybe, to be cynical, he just wants a
new car.

Granted he might be better known and busy because he's very good... or
perhaps he's just better at marketing himself or well established.

Then there is the issue that maybe you don't need the 'smartest' guy -
maybe you aren't running the most complicated database in the world -
maybe your are paying the top developer top dollar to complete tasks
that any filemaker professional would have no trouble doing. Just as you
can hire a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer with 10 years experience
with a resume that includes half the fortune 500 to clean out spyware on
your desktops... the fact of the matter is that 'nerds on wheels' can do
the same job in the same amount of time for a fraction of the price.

In any case, he sounds like he's familiar with the product/project and
that pretty much gaurantees that if you replace him you will face
considerable 'ramp up time' before the new guy is able to work on it
with the same efficiency.

Also, if you need a lot done on an ongoing basis, you might want to
consider bringing someone in-house.

So... sure: he might be charging more than he's worth, he might be more
"developer" than is actually needed... but then again, maybe he's the
best guy for the job... there's no way to tell based simply on his
hourly rate.

BTW...

"Mike Sampieri" <xkmorgan6xx4 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

{...}

Wouldn't you know?

Bill

Mike,

It seems like he gives a lot for the extra fees. I would make a quick
spreadsheet and evaluate how much time he spends in planning, project
management (does he deal with your support staff re servers etc.) and
tech support. The fact is that if he is always available means that he
may be turning down other large contracts so that he can spend time on
yours. I have not had contractors who give that much time "off the
clock" so you might have a really good thing going.

50 hours development with conventional developer + 8 hours planning +
15 hours tech support (all @120/hour) = 8760.00

50 hours development @ 175/hour = 8750.00

There is always some room to negotiate too.

Simon
---
http://www.simonmetz.com/project_management/

I am the original poster - thank you all for your input, it's been
really helpful!

-Mike