Client wants a fixed quote for some features. Typically this is a "phase 2" after we have already done a fixed quote with delivery, and trust has been built.
They sent an email with a paragraph on each feature/change they want. I send some follow up questions. They send some answers and add a couple more features. Their tech person chimes in with a few more comments. I send a quote itemising the features. They ask how much if we change one of the features in a certain way. They say not to worry about the first feature we talked about. They start adding screenshots to the email threads to describe specific features.
This is perhaps the only part of the business that I find tiresome in terms of admin. It's quite hard work getting all the email threads together, keeping track of the comments, making sure I have enough details to quote, etc.
What's a better way?
Obviously the idea of Github Issues occurs, but it would be a tough sell getting a client to write a separate issue for every possible scope item, and having "business" discussions in the Github Issues feels icky somehow. (I don't think my client contacts nor I would particularly like my fees to be visible to other developers who might be involved.)
I have tried using a spreadsheet, where each row is a feature, and each column is a round of discussion on the feature. Which sort of works, but lacks formatting, and it's hard to incorporate screencaps.
These quotes are generally in the $5-15k range. Usually it's a codebase I built from scratch but will be handing over to their team to manage/maintain.
Would love to hear any tools/techniques that have worked for you.
You could then attach an SOW contract to the ticket and update the contract as the client’s needs evolve.
The simple reason is many larger firms simply will not pay their scheduled final installment for a fixed price contract, lawsuits are tax deductible for large firms, and so you should adjust your initial service pricing to offset this phenomena.
Note many mid-sized companies will simply never allow customer specific development time, as it exposes more risk the longer it persists.
Seriously, whatever deal you think you signed is often wishful BS once the incentive to pay is gone.
Fixed quotes work for well defined scope and mitigated unknowns. When things aren't static, when there are too many unknowns, risk (in giving a fixed price) increase, often significantly. I've seen plenty of solo-ists and agencies give the client the price they wanted and then go well into to red trying to deliver.
An alternative is to be heavy-handed in your estimate. Eye it up and 2x it, or 3x it.