PIAF Setup & Consulting

[wardmundy]

Thought this project might be of interest to some of you needing a little weekend beer money.

 

[blanchae]

Just for interest sake, for contractors who do this work: Do you think that $250 max is a fair price for this amount of configuration? How much time would you estimate to do something like this?

 

[rg00dman]

I have done a few of these set-ups now and I normally charge about £500 ($785)that's based on 4 hours consultancy time to get everything they want documented and agreed with 4 hours set-up and testing, which normally breaks down into 2 hours set-up and 2 hours on site and then I offer a weeks free support up to 2 hours remote only.

But I can not stress enough how important it is to get what your going to set-up agreed before hand otherwise jobs like this can eat away at your life as they tend to be the most demanding clients

 

[atsak]

Just for interest sake, for contractors who do this work: Do you think that $250 max is a fair price for this amount of configuration? How much time would you estimate to do something like this?

I'd be at $600 for this, including documentation, extensions, testing, assistance with initial voicemail, templates on the phones etc.

It is hard to get the whole thing done in less than a day and capture everything needed.

 

[Hyksos]

Interesting, atsak and the rest of you who put pbx in production, would it change something if skype/google was out of the picture?

I'm also looking for information about stuff like that since as an IT consultant we can't spread ourselves too thin. The more you know about something the more you know what you don't know and what a trustworthy expert consultant would bring to the table

So atsak 600$, it's your base fee or you would adjust that if google and skype are left out?

I think if we talk for real.. it comes down to an hourly rate. When a client ask me something I know I'm good at, whatever it is, I mentally calculate how much time it's going to take and spit out a packaged price or I tell the client how much time it will take and then charge him by the hour.

If dealing with somebody that will see you as a partner and not a provider, no yelling, no complaints, experience with IT (stuff can go wrong), no calls after 5pm, patience, installs with plan B so that emergencies and never *real* emergencies etc. what do you charge per hour to consult with an IT guy who wants and value your experience just like he values his own in other domains? 600$ for a defined setup doesn't answer that question?

If the deal is you set stuff up from your place and you don't deal with any final clients, you sell me your time and expertise tech to tech, how much do you charge?

I wouldn't argue for a fixed price package, if I know I'm dealing with an expert, it would be how much do you charge an hour and how much time this list of stuff is going to take. Then if I want some more stuff, I make a list you tell me how much time I say go, etc.

Packaged prices are for people who think they can make easy money by doing it quickly and doing a lot by the hour or for clients who want to know in advance how much it will cost without risking the fact that the tech might not know it enough and end up working on it way too long, in this case the tech screws himself and his final hourly rate goes down. (What I want to avoid so I'm never a customer with risk but more a partner with who you always end up valued, even if something went wrong, you explain, I understand and you get paid for that time too)

If I'm secure enough about your expertise and reputation and have no desire to obtain a fixed price not to risk paying too much when it's fast to do and also not underpaying you when the implementation goes bad a bit and you end up working more hours and diminishing your pay.
Goal being you always feel OK and valued and I never wonder if you charged 600$ for 2 hours of work. (long term trust is the deal here and you wanting to work with me since you never get screwed either)

I guess it all comes down to trust but what are your feeling about that. Do you see problems in my thinking?

interesting stuff... i think

 

[atsak]

Skype and GoogleVoice don't go into production for me except on occasion (I helped ecase here with his setup initially for gvoice). Not reliable enough generally. I will turn it on for people if they ask, but they never have. Mind you the PBX / Telecom stuff is just something I do for existing clients.

You're correct in thinking I would generally charge an hourly rate. There's too many things people "think of" when I'm on site to quote a daily rate per se; but my estimates are about 5 - 6 hours work which I would explain would get done for $600.

On Site rates these days for IT (I am primarily a Windows and Network Admin, PBX's are a handy thing for my clients, and I use PIAF because it's so hands off and I don't have a lot of Linux experience) are $125/hr; I'm in the Toronto Canada area. If I send a Jr tech who works for me, its $80/hr, and if I do it from wherever I'm sitting it's $50/hr, at my convenience. IN the area where I work on site rates range from $90/hr to $195/hr, according to my clients.

I don't really worry too much about partner vs customer relationship you point out; I do see my clients as partners, but it ultimately comes down to what I can make doing something else for someone else, so the rate is the rate.

I have been doing this a while now; I don't overestimate my time; in other words I've never done two hours work for $600. I do underestimate on time, but it's because of unknown issues (for example, one time I had a customer with REALLY crappy analog lines and it took me HOURS to tune them; that was not included in my estimate). As you point out I explain, and they either OK or not. They always OK.

Anyway, that's the way I think of these things in the role of the consultant. Another role I have for one client is as a Director and Manager of IT where I select providers for services, so I sit on both sides of the fence and find taking these approaches are fair for everyone.

 

[dad311]

I'd be at $600 for this, including documentation, extensions, testing, assistance with initial voicemail, templates on the phones etc.

It is hard to get the whole thing done in less than a day and capture everything needed.

I agree, I would also be around the $600.00 mark. I also toss in 30 days of support for updating/changing call flow if needed.