Hourly rate for Access development?

[Jen]

I've been asked to help a former employer do work on some Access databases
that were set up by another (different) former employee. I've seen the
databases and I know in general what needs to be done with them: some basic
programming, some form/report redesign, etc., but no major rebuilds of the
database.

What would be a "normal" hourly rate to charge for this kind of work? I'll
be doing it in my spare time, so I want to ensure I don't undercharge since
it will eat up some of my "me time". The work will be paid by the hour and on
an as needed basis over several weeks.

I am in the Pacific Northwest, if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance for any advice or resources you can provide.
Jen

 

[Ron Corbin]

Although I am not a programer, I do some side work from time to time. Here is
how I decide what to charge.

Keep in mind that you have allready decided what your time is worth through
your regular job. You are selling your time for so much an hour. I rarely
charge less than what I get per hour at my full time job. Why should I? I
will add to the bill if the job is more of a chalange or involves extra
effort (short deadline etc). I will discount my rate for jobs that are extra
easy or I know the cost is a hardship for the person. What ever you do, DO
NOT do it for free once and expect to get paid the next time you work for
that person.

If the job will take a large amount of your free time then adjjust the rate
accordingly. I have also been known to discount for the good old non-taxable
cash payment as oposed to a traceable (taxable) check.

Also make sure your customer FULLY understands what is covered as for a
warenty and what will be considered a new project.

Good luck and I hope you do well.

Ron

 

[Jerry Whittle]

I usually charge between $65 and $80 for part time Access work that I mostly
do at home. This is for 1099 work where I have to pay all the taxes on the
money. I also do some occasional work for a consulting firm as an employee.
My cut is $45 an hour there. This is for the St. Louis area.

Be very sure to iron out if you are working as a part time employee for that
company or are going to get a 1099 at the end of the year. Also if you are a
1099 and make enough money, you need to make quarterly estimated tax payments
to avoid a nasty penalty when you file taxes. I think that it's around $6,000
when things start kicking in.

 

[Dave F]

The Access developers I know in the NYC area get between $85 and $100 per hour.

But I'm an Excel guy so don't rely on this too much.

Dave

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

Access developers in the United States typically receive from $50 to $200
per hour with most of them charging around $100 to $150. Developers in other
countries have higher or lower rates depending upon their economies.

 

[George Nicholson]

I need a new agent.

Access developers in the United States typically receive from $50 to $200
per hour with most of them charging around $100 to $150. Developers in
other countries have higher or lower rates depending upon their economies.
--
Arvin Meyer, MCP, MVP
http://www.datastrat.com
http://www.mvps.org/access
http://www.accessmvp.com

 

[Larry Linson]

I need a new agent.

Possibly so, if you have strong disagreement with the numbers Arvin quotes.
I would point out that he is talking about "paying work" -- I know he does a
lot of "pro-bono" work for which he even pays his own expenses (thus, a
negative hourly rate, but often a high satisfaction quotient).

I would extend his ranges in both directions ... low end and high end. And,
you have to consider "retail" (direct-to-client) and "wholesale"
(subcontractor to or employee of another) rates -- retail is often 100% or
higher markup over the wholesale.

The highest markups, and the highest rates, are by the huge enterprises
whose name alone can get them in the door at deep-pocket customers.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

 

[David W. Fenton]

Access developers in the United States typically receive from $50
to $200 per hour with most of them charging around $100 to $150.

Those numbers seem to me to be about 3 years out of date.

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per David W. Fenton:

Those numbers seem to me to be about 3 years out of date.

Do you think they sb higher or lower?

In my locale, I went through a period where all developer rates were dropping -
apparently as offshore enterprises competed and the big contract outfits hired
people from abroad for cheap.

 

[David W. Fenton]

Per David W. Fenton:

Do you think they sb higher or lower?

Lower. I've experienced a great deal of downward pressure on all my
rates in the last several years, since the bottom fell out in early
2003.

In my locale, I went through a period where all developer rates
were dropping - apparently as offshore enterprises competed and
the big contract outfits hired people from abroad for cheap.

I don't know what's to blame, but I get clients telling me they
could hire some kind for $25/hour. I explain to them that it would
take the kid 4X as long to do the same work, and that it would be
broken and unusable when completed. This basically takes care of the
issue, but it does tend to keep coming up.

I've been doing lots of discounts for certain clients (pre-paid is a
good way to justify it) and with several clients it's ended up
generating new business where the well had previously been mostly
dry for a couple of years. So, my feeling is definitely that
companies want to cut their programming costs these days.

 

[Al Campagna]

Jen,
Looks like you're getting a lot of replies on this... I'll pipe in too.
My market niche is small businesses where there are no "in-house" resources for
application development. I call my market the "spreadsheet shop", where... because
someone in house happened to know a bit of Excel... every business function has been
developed via unproductive and inconvenient spreadsheet solutions.

My "base" rate is $50/hr.
I operate almost exclusively "remotely", and have done many projects where I have never
even met the client in person. And because of that convenience for me... no travel, no
working on client systems, no "regular" hours, and no "emergency" (must have in 4 days!)
projects, I keep my prices down.
If the client requires any of the above, the rate increases accordingly...

I usually work with the client to break the entire application up into a series of
"small" independent development modules, and I find that an easier, and more accurate
method when providing cost estimates. Clients like that too, because they are only
committing to a small initial project, which they can use to evaluate my performance and
designs, without a major commitment.

And, as ther posters have indicated, economic location is a critical factor. But, like
any product, what you charge is directly realted to what the traffic will bear. Start out
with reasonable rates to encourage business, and hopefully, as your business increases,
adjust upwards accordingly.
--
hth
Al Campagna . Candia Computer Consulting . Candia, NH USA
Microsoft Access MVP
http://home.comcast.net/~cccsolutions

"Find a job that you love, and you'll never work a day in your life."

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

Lower. I've experienced a great deal of downward pressure on all my
rates in the last several years, since the bottom fell out in early
2003.

I agree that there has been downward pressure, but I have not as yet had to
succumb to it. I do occasionally work for lower rates on a wholesale basis,
i.e. for other developers. When someone is looking only for the lowest
price, they're generally not a good client to work for anyway. A client who
tells me that he can get work for $25 or $50 an hour is encouraged to do
just that.

Many years ago, my grandfather told me about pricing: "If you want nice
clean fresh oats, you must be prepared to pay a fair price. If you can be
satisfied with oats that have already been through the horse ... that comes
a little cheaper"

 

[David W. Fenton]

I agree that there has been downward pressure, but I have not as
yet had to succumb to it. I do occasionally work for lower rates
on a wholesale basis, i.e. for other developers. When someone is
looking only for the lowest price, they're generally not a good
client to work for anyway. A client who tells me that he can get
work for $25 or $50 an hour is encouraged to do just that.

I used to get work at $100 an hour in certain situations. I don't
get that work any longer. I've always maintained a wholesale versus
retail price, but the difference between the two is much less than
it once was, with the wholesale staying about the same and the
retail dropping. This has worked out OK, as a lot of my work in the
last couple of years has come through the wholesale, so I'm not
making less money there, but the billings to my own new clients
really do come under downward pressure.

Of course, sometimes it's more important that they pay on time --
it's not much good getting paid $25/hour more if you have to wait 9
months to get it! And that's also one of the things that has been
epedemic in the last 3 or 4 years.

Many years ago, my grandfather told me about pricing: "If you want
nice clean fresh oats, you must be prepared to pay a fair price.
If you can be satisfied with oats that have already been through
the horse ... that comes a little cheaper"

Well, the problem is that the people doing the hiring do not have
the knowledge necessary to figure out whether the more expensive one
is just overprices or if it's worth the price difference.
Fortunately, I have rock-solid references, so mostly I don't have
problems, but lots of people are wanting to spend less money.

 

[punjab_tom]

Access MDB isn't worth a dollar an hour

ADP development is PRICELESS

MDB is a sham; anyone that is still using MDB in the year 2007 should
be fired and then SPIT UPON

-Tom

 

[punjab_tom]

you guys just need to move to SQL Server

MDB is worthless; the reasons it's hard to find someone at the low end
of the market is because Access is _INCREDIBLY_ hard to use.

there's just a whole bunch of _CRAP_ in MDB that is not logical.

usign ADP is a much much better longterm solution.

-Tom

 

[punjab_tom]

btw; is this jen who used to work at BB?

my big brother says 'hi'

and if you want my help with programming.. uh; I charge too much LoL

-Tom