It boils down to who wants to take on the risk, you or the client. In all my years, I have never worked on a project that didn't change in scope (smaller or larger) ... even my own. It's almost inevitable in fixed price that one of the participants always ends up unhappy.
After having run a services business for many years and experiencing the issues with fixed price, I am definitely in the hourly rate camp. As for the argument that it punishes the speedy, well it's up to you to sell an appropriate rate that you are happy with. That way you can't lose no matter what the client requests or changes and it keeps your personal PM part of the job to a minimum. I can hear the "what about AAs/CRs" already but we all know it's a hassle going back all the time asking for more money if the project is changing a lot.
It's much easier to take each new decided feature, say yes and charge for the time it takes.
"Time is money" and that's how you should charge for it.
Comments
It boils down to who wants to take on the risk, you or the client. In all my years, I have never worked on a project that didn't change in scope (smaller or larger) ... even my own. It's almost inevitable in fixed price that one of the participants always ends up unhappy.
After having run a services business for many years and experiencing the issues with fixed price, I am definitely in the hourly rate camp. As for the argument that it punishes the speedy, well it's up to you to sell an appropriate rate that you are happy with. That way you can't lose no matter what the client requests or changes and it keeps your personal PM part of the job to a minimum. I can hear the "what about AAs/CRs" already but we all know it's a hassle going back all the time asking for more money if the project is changing a lot.
It's much easier to take each new decided feature, say yes and charge for the time it takes.
"Time is money" and that's how you should charge for it.