PCB Design Pricing

M

MarkW

Guest
Hi to all:

I know this question has been posted before, but i can't find
reference to it. Having been laid off from my company, I am
going to do freelance PCB and circuit design. The question
I have for any of the group that does this is, how do you set your
pricing?

I have seen pricing quoted by pin count and by the hour. I know many
variables have to be taken into account for quoting jobs.

I am fairly good at estimating how long it will take to do a design.

What I would like to hear is how other people do their quoting and a
rough pricing guide I could give to potential customers.

Thanks in advance



woky1@yahoo.com
 
MarkW wrote:
Hi to all:

I know this question has been posted before, but i can't find
reference to it. Having been laid off from my company, I am
going to do freelance PCB and circuit design. The question
I have for any of the group that does this is, how do you set your
pricing?

I have seen pricing quoted by pin count and by the hour. I know many
variables have to be taken into account for quoting jobs.

I am fairly good at estimating how long it will take to do a design.

What I would like to hear is how other people do their quoting and a
rough pricing guide I could give to potential customers.

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
In my opinion... one should price by the job. It makes for a more
professional approach. Most companies want a bottom line figure. Pricing
this way makes the client company more likely to offer the contract
becsue he knows what it will cost him, although, it makes for more risk
if you under estimate the amount of work involved.

Ahmmm..Pricing...don't charge less then at least twice what it would
cost the company in man hours costs to have an employee do it in house,
unless your presentably living in the local seaman's mission...

Kevin Aylward
salesEXTRACT@anasoft.co.uk
http://www.anasoft.co.uk
SuperSpice, a very affordable Mixed-Mode
Windows Simulator with Schematic Capture,
Waveform Display, FFT's and Filter Design.
 
Hi Kevin:


On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 06:54:13 +0100, "Kevin Aylward"
<kevin@anasoft.co.uk> wrote:

MarkW wrote:
Hi to all:

I know this question has been posted before, but i can't find
reference to it. Having been laid off from my company, I am
going to do freelance PCB and circuit design. The question
I have for any of the group that does this is, how do you set your
pricing?

I have seen pricing quoted by pin count and by the hour. I know many
variables have to be taken into account for quoting jobs.

I am fairly good at estimating how long it will take to do a design.

What I would like to hear is how other people do their quoting and a
rough pricing guide I could give to potential customers.

Thanks in advance

In my opinion... one should price by the job. It makes for a more
professional approach. Most companies want a bottom line figure. Pricing
this way makes the client company more likely to offer the contract
becsue he knows what it will cost him, although, it makes for more risk
if you under estimate the amount of work involved.

Ahmmm..Pricing...don't charge less then at least twice what it would
cost the company in man hours costs to have an employee do it in house,
unless your presentably living in the local seaman's mission...

Kevin Aylward
salesEXTRACT@anasoft.co.uk
http://www.anasoft.co.uk
SuperSpice, a very affordable Mixed-Mode
Windows Simulator with Schematic Capture,
Waveform Display, FFT's and Filter Design.

Hi Kevin:
Click to expand...
The costing by the job would seem to make the most sense.
I've heard this from people in other lines of business.
That way the company wouldn't be in for any big surprises.

I didn't think about charging twice the regular employee man hour
cost. I will keep that in mind.


Thank you for the input

Mark
 
MarkW wrote:
Hi Kevin:


On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 06:54:13 +0100, "Kevin Aylward"
kevin@anasoft.co.uk> wrote:

MarkW wrote:
Hi to all:

I know this question has been posted before, but i can't find
reference to it. Having been laid off from my company, I am
going to do freelance PCB and circuit design. The question
I have for any of the group that does this is, how do you set your
pricing?

I have seen pricing quoted by pin count and by the hour. I know many
variables have to be taken into account for quoting jobs.

I am fairly good at estimating how long it will take to do a design.

What I would like to hear is how other people do their quoting and a
rough pricing guide I could give to potential customers.

Thanks in advance

In my opinion... one should price by the job. It makes for a more
professional approach. Most companies want a bottom line figure.
Pricing this way makes the client company more likely to offer the
contract becsue he knows what it will cost him, although, it makes
for more risk if you under estimate the amount of work involved.

Ahmmm..Pricing...don't charge less then at least twice what it would
cost the company in man hours costs to have an employee do it in
house, unless your presentably living in the local seaman's
mission...

Kevin Aylward
salesEXTRACT@anasoft.co.uk
http://www.anasoft.co.uk
SuperSpice, a very affordable Mixed-Mode
Windows Simulator with Schematic Capture,
Waveform Display, FFT's and Filter Design.

Hi Kevin:
The costing by the job would seem to make the most sense.
I've heard this from people in other lines of business.
That way the company wouldn't be in for any big surprises.

I didn't think about charging twice the regular employee man hour
cost. I will keep that in mind.


Thank you for the input

Mark
Click to expand...
You might want to have a look at the contract I use
http://www.anasoft.co.uk/contract.doc.
It came, essentially, from another poster, Malcolm Reeves, of
Fullcircuit.

Kevin Aylward
salesEXTRACT@anasoft.co.uk
http://www.anasoft.co.uk
SuperSpice, a very affordable Mixed-Mode
Windows Simulator with Schematic Capture,
Waveform Display, FFT's and Filter Design.
 
Mark,
Sorry to hear about your layoff, many guys here in the US have been
getting the ax, hang in there, consider contracting if you have several
years
of experience.
....Don't get me started on the outsourcing topic.... :)

As far as pricing, do what everyone here suggests, by the job, not the pin.

I can tell you EE's who design things are great guys, but frequently
won't stop "tweeking" and eating up your time. Make sure that
for "X" amount of schematic changes comes "X" amount of extra time charge.
I found you give up a certain amount of "freetime" to keep customers
happy,
be speak up if it gets out of hand. Don't let anyone tell you "..well Joe
Blow on his
freebie CAD software did it for only $100".... tell them to have him do it
and move on to
other customers...as long as your polite and to the point.

Good Luck.

Rich H.
"Kevin Aylward" <kevin@anasoft.co.uk> wrote in message
news:q031b.2650$tS2.1723487@newsfep2-win.server.ntli.net...
MarkW wrote:
Hi Kevin:


On Thu, 21 Aug 2003 06:54:13 +0100, "Kevin Aylward"
kevin@anasoft.co.uk> wrote:

MarkW wrote:
Hi to all:

I know this question has been posted before, but i can't find
reference to it. Having been laid off from my company, I am
going to do freelance PCB and circuit design. The question
I have for any of the group that does this is, how do you set your
pricing?

I have seen pricing quoted by pin count and by the hour. I know many
variables have to be taken into account for quoting jobs.

I am fairly good at estimating how long it will take to do a design.

What I would like to hear is how other people do their quoting and a
rough pricing guide I could give to potential customers.

Thanks in advance

In my opinion... one should price by the job. It makes for a more
professional approach. Most companies want a bottom line figure.
Pricing this way makes the client company more likely to offer the
contract becsue he knows what it will cost him, although, it makes
for more risk if you under estimate the amount of work involved.

Ahmmm..Pricing...don't charge less then at least twice what it would
cost the company in man hours costs to have an employee do it in
house, unless your presentably living in the local seaman's
mission...

Kevin Aylward
salesEXTRACT@anasoft.co.uk
http://www.anasoft.co.uk
SuperSpice, a very affordable Mixed-Mode
Windows Simulator with Schematic Capture,
Waveform Display, FFT's and Filter Design.

Hi Kevin:
The costing by the job would seem to make the most sense.
I've heard this from people in other lines of business.
That way the company wouldn't be in for any big surprises.

I didn't think about charging twice the regular employee man hour
cost. I will keep that in mind.


Thank you for the input

Mark

You might want to have a look at the contract I use
http://www.anasoft.co.uk/contract.doc.
It came, essentially, from another poster, Malcolm Reeves, of
Fullcircuit.

Kevin Aylward
salesEXTRACT@anasoft.co.uk
http://www.anasoft.co.uk
SuperSpice, a very affordable Mixed-Mode
Windows Simulator with Schematic Capture,
Waveform Display, FFT's and Filter Design.
Click to expand...
 
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