TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Estimating Work (was Price Range for User Manual) From:Beth Agnew <bagnew -at- INSYSTEMS -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 24 Jul 1997 16:43:52 -0400
Another thing you might want to do is break the job down into deliverables, or milestones, and establish a schedule (which includes a schedule of payments). An example would be Research, (1 person) 2 weeks, $X; first draft, 11 days, $X; Review by client, 3 days; Final draft, ... and so on.
Your client is going to want to see your progress, and you would like to get paid for some work before you complete the whole thing, wouldn't you? You might have more than one review, you may have many drafts (and if you work for the government... nah, I'd better not get into that!), and you may need to renegotiate price if they decide halfway through that they want twice the work. Sometimes clients don't know what they want until they see what you deliver, and that ain't it. It's not because you've made a boo-boo, it's because some of them are not good at expressing their needs/wants/expectations. This is especially true if the company has not let many contracts to outsiders before.
--Beth
Beth Agnew
Senior Technical Writer, InSystems Technologies Inc. mailto:bagnew -at- insystems -dot- com Tel: (905) 513-1400 ext. 280
Fax: (905) 513-1419
Visit us at: http://www.insystems.com
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
