So, this morning I was reading an article by Eric Nagel (via Steve Poland) about how to estimate the cost of a consulting gig for a client.  Mr. Nagel recommends figuring out about how much time you think it will take, then doubling it and providing that as a quote.  I used to do that, but fell out of favor of it because I think you’re prone to scare away clients by giving them quotes that, for the most part, are considerably larger than the final bill.

I, instead, use a 3-number quote, where I quote the minimum time it will take (no way I’m getting it done faster than this), the maximum time it will take (no way it will take longer than this, and even if it does, I won’t bill you for more than this), and then the projected time (I usually end up coming in within 10% of this number) (more…)