A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned?
When does “a penny saved” become “a buck & a half lost?”
I was scanning some local classifieds the other day, and came across an ad from someone looking for some pretty solid web development skills for a “simple project.”
The ad clearly stated that he would pay exactly $10/hr., because everyone who works for him “makes $10/hr. NO EXCEPTIONS!”
Seeing that made me chuckle, and recall a story from a few years ago, when someone asked me to do a “simple project” for $10/hr.
I (naturally) declined, thinking to myself that was less than my Dad paid me to mow the lawn when I was a kid, and that was longer ago than I’d care to remember.
Some time later, I ran into the guy again, and asked him how it worked-out. He said, “Well, it doesn’t look as good as your samples, and there are some bugs, but at least I didn’t have to pay a king’s ransom.”
“I’m glad it worked out,” I said. “How long did it take him?
He proudly said, “He had the whole thing done in about 100 hours.”
“So, you paid $1,000?,” and he acknowledged, as if he were boasting.
At my rate, I had been estimating that I’d complete the project in a fraction of that time, and would cost the man much less.
“A penny saved is a penny earned?”
Always be sure to compare bids on a completed project price, and don’t focus on an hourly rate. That’s totally irrelevant if the low bidder is less skilled, and will take much longer to complete the job.