If you’re considering becoming our client, one of your key concerns is bound to be how much exactly we would charge you, and why. The pricing section on our home page suggests ranges for how much our typical projects end up costing, but as each project is different, these ranges are quite broad. This blog post describes our standard approach to pricing, and how we would arrive at our project proposal to you.

Understanding the scope and timeline

First, we would focus on understanding your vision, and then we’d get to the nitty-gritty. This means thinking through what specific functionality is needed to make it happen. Do you need notifications? Video streaming? Payments and invoicing? Google Maps integration? Each feature takes time to build, so it is important to develop a shared understanding of what the app should do.

Note that you don’t need a comprehensive list of features to get in touch with us. We are really good at turning even a vague vision into a concrete and reasonable product plan, so don’t be shy!

Apart from the scope, another important factor is the timeline you have in mind. Of course, "as soon as possible" is the usual answer, but if you are fine with us taking 3 – 6 months, instead of needing results after 2, we can be more flexible with the price.

Breaking down the scope into tasks

There are usually several tasks implied in the scope of any software product. These are things that need to be done before we can actually start creating the functionality specific to your app - building the app’s navigation structure, setting up and deploying the online server and database, and later on publishing in the App Stores.

Our quote will list these foundational tasks together with the tasks involved in building the specific functionality for your app.

Next to each task we will include our estimate for how long we expect them to take. We will give you a holistic estimate that combines all work related to the task: starting with design, through implementation, up to final testing.

Estimating development time for each task

Software estimation is complex, and it is usually impossible to precisely pinpoint how long a task is going to take. For that reason, we estimate on the scale of days, not hours, so that we can be reasonably confident and accurate in our claims.

We come up with estimates for every task we have listed on the quote. The sum of all estimates tells us how many person-days of work are required to complete the project.

Setting the price

We have a standard daily rate that we multiply by the previously calculated amount of work expressed in person-days. If the timeline is particularly short, we use an increased daily rate to ensure we can allocate adequate resources to deliver on time.

This gives us the final price for the project. If it happens not to fit your budget, we are flexible in modifying the scope or timeline of the work to find an arrangement that suits you better.

Agreeing the payment schedule

Most of our clients pay in instalments, with a partial upfront payment, followed by further payments after certain milestones our met.

Each project is different, so we are flexible in agreeing on a schedule that will be compatible with your expectations and cash flow situation. An example payment schedule could look as follows:

• 25% - upfront payment

• 25% - milestone 1: first alpha version with features X, Y and Z completed

• 25% - milestone 2: all features completed and ready for testing

• 25% - milestone 3: project complete, global App Store launch

Maintenance

After the project is finished, most clients ask us to either develop further functionality or maintain the app. If further functionality is needed, we come up with a quote in a similar way.

Maintaining the app includes solving any newly discovered bugs and unexpected behaviours, ensuring device compatibility (e.g. making necessary layout updates in case the new iPhone’s screen looks different) and making trivial updates. We usually charge a flat monthly fee based on 0.5 person-days of work at our standard daily rate.

You can also choose if you would like us to manage server hosting, in which case we would add the hosting costs to the monthly maintenance fee. These costs are calculated by our cloud provider, Amazon Web Services, on a pay-per-usage basis, so they primarily depend on the user traffic in your app.

What if any task takes longer than expected?

In the unlikely event when our estimate is too optimistic, we take the blame and complete the work anyway at no extra cost. It’s our job to properly scope the project, and if we make a mistake, we will never charge you more.

How do I get started?

If you would like to explore how we could help you, or have any questions or feedback on the post, get in touch! You can use our contact form below or email us directly at hello@codeleap.co.uk.