Pricing for custom software services

The cost of a particular development project is determined by how much time it will take which is directly related to the complexity of the project. I anticipate that the average short-term project will take 2 to 5 days and I am aiming to make a job of this size affordable for individuals.

Rates: I am charging a standard daily rate of $50.00 (U.S.). I consider a "work day" equivalent to six hours of time spent actually working on your project. In order to cover the costs of time spent in drawing up a requirements list for each project and delivering the results, the minimum fee for any project requiring less than one day's work will be $50. After the first day, I will only charge a proportional percentage of the daily rate for any partial day's work.

Estimates: So that you can judge whether or not you can afford these services, I always will try to give you the best estimate that I can for the number of hours and total cost of your project. The accuracy of the estimate will rely on having a clear idea before development begins of exactly what features you want to be developed. Of course, if I complete the work in less time than my estimate, you will only be charged for the actual time spent on the project. I am currently considering what policies will be fair to everyone if the time needed to complete a project will be significantly longer than the estimate.

How long will a project take? Typical examples of a short project (1 to 5 days) might be adding a new opcode to Csound, writing a simple command-line utility for pre-processing a textual computer music score, or compiling a binary for an existing program that already runs on your platform. A request for a user-friendly graphical interface to a simple utility or for a major new feature in an existing program is likely to be a medium-length project (2 to 4 weeks). Some classes of projects, such as implementing a complex personal compositional algorithm or porting an open-source program to your operating system, will vary greatly in the time needed to complete them depending on the details.

Just email me for an estimate or for more information about pricing.

Long term or commercial work: If you or an institution for which you work is interested in contracting me for a more lengthy project (one month or more), I would be happy to negotiate with you on a price for the entire project. Please note however that all rates and fees on this page are for open-source development projects only. My rates for commercial or proprietary work will be different.

My standard daily rate is $50.

Ask me for an estimate of how long your project will take.