New Contract

[jbatt]

Hi

I work full time, however in my spare time I do contract work.

I have been asked to complete this job. Only problem is, I do not know how much I should charge or what the going rate is.

The goals are

Install Active Directory on two servers.
One of the domain controllers needs to be a fax server
One terminal services server needs setting up
One web server needs setting up
One RAS server needs setting up. This allows users to connect in and work on the terminal services system
5 new windows xp pro pc's need to be setup and added to the domain
No real group policies are needed

Then I have planning on top of this.

Thanks

James

[tim123]

this looks to me like a routine sys admin task.

I would guess 20 quid an hour for a such a task.

HTH

tim

[Underscore2]

about 5 days work at £1k per day.

[malvolio]

plus reasonable expenses...

Actually the smart / professional way is to work out how long it will take, add 30% for contingency and quote a single fixed price for the whole thing based on a sensilbe hourly rate (and £20 - £25 is about there). Then if it takes less time becuase you're good at what you do, you're on the plus side. And more likely to get repeat business.

[boredsenseless]

And of course since you can feasibly make a loss based on overuns etc then you are more favourable in the IR35 arena

[jbatt]

Thankyou

Hi

Thankyou very much for the replies.

The hardest part of this job is asking for money. Makes me feel a bit awkward (spelling)

I am a system admin with 10 years experience in this world.

1,000 pounds per day seems to be very expensive. Is that the real going rate?.

Thanks again

James

[Tramline]

Hi

Thankyou very much for the replies.

The hardest part of this job is asking for money. Makes me feel a bit awkward (spelling)

I am a system admin with 10 years experience in this world.

1,000 pounds per day seems to be very expensive. Is that the real going rate?.

Thanks again

James

I think you'll find underscore is taking the p**s, but not maliciously!!

I think £350 per day is more reasonable, say £400 to include expenses.

[ratewhore]

I think £1000 was referring more to consultancy rates than contractor rates and you should look at this piece of work as consultancy. Having said that, I would agree that a grand is too high as well. I have different direct rates dependent on the scale of customer and piece of work so theres never a right answer.

[n5gooner]

my company do this type of work, we charge £45 plus VAT per hour. We would give a gestimate, or say 1 person, 7 hours per day, 4/5 days work. Give this in a quote, and ask for 50% deposit, once deposit is received book the work in. bill the client. If then the client does not pay with in your payment terms (30days) start charging them % on the remaining balance.

[thunderlizard]

It looks like you've agreed on a fixed set of tasks so you shouldn't really be charging by the day, unless there's a risk that the work is more complicated than it looks. Even then, better to quote a fixed price and revise it early on if there turn out to be complications.

Obviously you'll work your price out depending on how long you think it will take. Consensus here is average 6 days, and you'd probably want say £700/d, so how's about £4200? This should undercut the likes of IBM comfortably, but any more and the customer could save by shopping around.