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I am one more voice of someone who has had good luck with fixed price tasks,
though in an interdepartmental, corporate environment.
There is really special skill involved in being able to a) clearly define
the task, so that you don't get requirements creep that causes it to be
unprofitable and b) estimating the task based on the expenses you expect
(based on hourly rate and a reasonable estimate of hours), plus a little
overage for the eventual things you forgot about.
It is a risk, but when you are able to do the work with LESS effort than you
expected, or you can find a way to make the way you DO the work more
efficient, it can really pay off.
Once I created an Excel spreadsheet that could, with about an hour or two of
data entry, do work that someone who had done the task before me had taken
two to three days to do. I could lower the rate (halve it, even!) for the
work, the customer thought that was great, and I still make a decent profit
on the job because because a 24-hour task was now only taking maybe 4 on a
bad day. The task was still worth as much to the customer, so the lower
rate was a bonus to them, the extra profit was a bonus to me, and everyone
was exceedingly happy!
Some tasks, though, you know are going to be a nightmare, with changes in
scope, last minute fussing around, and these are NOT good candidates. Over
time, I think you get a sense of where it's a reasonable risk and where it's
not.
