Trimming the Cost and Leaning out the Project

<p>I did an analysis on a potential client earlier this month. After talking with the owner- I got an idea of not only what he wanted, and why he wanted but had a ballpark I wanted to aim for of $6 K. (I came to this myself and not from his expressed budget).</p>
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<p>I specced out a solution and got a developer estimate on it. In the end, it all came up to $8,255 - which was high- I know, but I figured I'd trim after I hear from the client.</p>
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<p>I put it all in a proposal which outlined the functions, and benefits and value.</p>
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<p>I spoke to the client earlier this week- and he was very disappointed because although he saw the benefits and we were definitely the most professional company- we're also the most expensive (the next expensive being $1500). He said he wanted it to come in under $5K and spread out the payments.</p>
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<p>SO- I told him I'd lean it out a bit- and after doing some thought decided to not touch the designer cost, but attack the cost for build and Content. Switched from a proprietary software solution to an open source, and switched from .NET to PHP and talked to a friend who's could do content massaging for a far lower rate...</p>
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<p>I also found a service that gives leases to companies to pay for goods or services and can cover the cost so I get to pay my freelancers and they (the service) absorbs the payment spread out.</p>
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<p>The end cost: $4,516.</p>
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<p>Feels really good when I do stuff like this. </p>