Independant Consultants Hourly Rates
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I was just reading through the thread from the guy looking to know where independent consultants looked for work so he could refer his customers there for a small piece of programming work that frequently comes up with the APP he's selling. I'm an independent consultant and I've been going completely on word of mouth, but thought I'd at least take a look through some of the sites that were suggested. I was shocked at the rates that some of the consultants were quoting. On ODesk.com I saw a few projects where the average rate was <$15. Since I'm generally charging >$80/hr it made me think. So, what is everyone else charging? Are these sites skewing the rates to the low end? Or am just off the top end and lucky to have any work coming in?
In London the average for contractors: (given 7.5hrs in a day) (1.00 GBP = 1.49219 USD) Java/Serverside = £400/day = £53/hr = $79 C# slightly less Finance can go up to £500/650. Media (Web/RIA) 250/300/day Agency's add 20% on top. All of course if you have a job, 4000 lost their jobs in banks this week and now agencies pulling every dirty trick in the book to get references(fake jobs/ demanding references before offers etc.)
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Sounds about right for an independent consultant, at least around these parts. Through an agency, even after their skim $40-50 p/h would be normal (for an experienced dev). Although the market here has turned from redhot to soft in about a month.
Bar fomos edo pariyart gedeem, agreo eo dranem abal edyero eyrem kalm kareore
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I was just reading through the thread from the guy looking to know where independent consultants looked for work so he could refer his customers there for a small piece of programming work that frequently comes up with the APP he's selling. I'm an independent consultant and I've been going completely on word of mouth, but thought I'd at least take a look through some of the sites that were suggested. I was shocked at the rates that some of the consultants were quoting. On ODesk.com I saw a few projects where the average rate was <$15. Since I'm generally charging >$80/hr it made me think. So, what is everyone else charging? Are these sites skewing the rates to the low end? Or am just off the top end and lucky to have any work coming in?
The contracting I'm doing 'on the side' to my day job I charge $50/hour. It's cheap, but I also don't do fixed price contracts, and my hours are limited to 15-20 per week. The terms limit my suitability to certain contract roles, so the low rate compensates. If this were my sole source of income, my rate would be much higher (probably around $125/hour) but my terms would be more flexible.
Software Zen:
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My Company charges for my consulting work about 200 PLN / h. When I read your posts I get feeling that even in Poland rates are quite high. But from that 200 I get less than 40% - thats sad :(
jszczur wrote:
200 I get less than 40%
That's not unusual. In the US, a typical employee receives about 1/3 of the amount charged for their time. Most companies have major expenses for the employee on top of their salary: benefits (insurance, vacation, retirement, etc), taxes, and so on. Those 'charges' can add up to close to what the employee is paid. The company also wants to profit from what they can charge, so that adds in. The mistake a lot of sole proprietors make is not factoring this into their rates. They charge what they want to pay themselves, and then wonder why they are losing money.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
I was just reading through the thread from the guy looking to know where independent consultants looked for work so he could refer his customers there for a small piece of programming work that frequently comes up with the APP he's selling. I'm an independent consultant and I've been going completely on word of mouth, but thought I'd at least take a look through some of the sites that were suggested. I was shocked at the rates that some of the consultants were quoting. On ODesk.com I saw a few projects where the average rate was <$15. Since I'm generally charging >$80/hr it made me think. So, what is everyone else charging? Are these sites skewing the rates to the low end? Or am just off the top end and lucky to have any work coming in?
In Ireland the company I used to work for would charge about 750 euro per day for development work, increasing to a max of 900 per day if we didn't know the client/hadn't come to an arrangement with them. However for things like website development we would charge a lower rate of about 450 per day and then farm the work itself out to contractor sites like elance and get the work done for 1/2 that amount. We found those sites useful only if the work was fully detailed in a specification document and of a relatively easy nature. Anything that got too technical or involved more then a week of coding we did inhouse, as then the outsourcing cost us more then it saved us.
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My Company charges for my consulting work about 200 PLN / h. When I read your posts I get feeling that even in Poland rates are quite high. But from that 200 I get less than 40% - thats sad :(
folks' it totally depends' upon nature of work and skill set which you have... includes your years of exp. also its very subjective term in general... but yes location wise it differ ... can some one suggest me from where i can pick up project for free lancning too ...
Regards, Hemant
< do the imposible and go home early >
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My Company charges for my consulting work about 200 PLN / h. When I read your posts I get feeling that even in Poland rates are quite high. But from that 200 I get less than 40% - thats sad :(
I too looked into those sites after seeing the other discussion. I am sure experience and whether the developer is in college etc... has lot to do with the rates. There will be many reasons. I personally did my very first contract with a client for a rate of $20/hr. That is very low considering i was dealing with them directly. But it was my first commercial client project and i needed to get my feet wet. The other end of it though was i own the software. They leased it from me for a one time fee of $1000.00 and the $20/hr is to make changes to it. And should i ever decide to not continue with the changes for them in the future, they have the option to buy the full rights to it for about $4000.00. So even though the rate is low the overall investment is very high. But i am considering bidding on some of these small jobs. The money to me is not a big deal. I enjoy programming which is the most important part. I guess it is a matter of perspective. With the economy we all have to adjust anyway. And it may be that some are pricing themselves out of the water. Depends on what you offer i guess and what the client wants. There are a lot more developers out there now than years ago. A lot of factors i guess. Jeff - www.srsoft.us
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Well, I think it depends on not just location but the SkillSet you have. I am person working on multi platform at-a-time since many times my project requires it. So Skill is prior and then location. I completely agree that you are charging which should be charged normally by an experience developer. Yea, many people breaking market and hence the job cutting / salary getting low.
Yes, I agree. Furthermore, I work in project for countries like USA or Denmark, and I share a lot of time with developers from those countries, it is such a great experience to work with them, but, I have met some other developers from foreign countries that simply do not have the skills and they are making $100/h while I'm at $10/h, this fact sometimes makes me think about relocation to a more competitive place, but hey, software development isn't just money? right? right? Have a nice day.
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I was just reading through the thread from the guy looking to know where independent consultants looked for work so he could refer his customers there for a small piece of programming work that frequently comes up with the APP he's selling. I'm an independent consultant and I've been going completely on word of mouth, but thought I'd at least take a look through some of the sites that were suggested. I was shocked at the rates that some of the consultants were quoting. On ODesk.com I saw a few projects where the average rate was <$15. Since I'm generally charging >$80/hr it made me think. So, what is everyone else charging? Are these sites skewing the rates to the low end? Or am just off the top end and lucky to have any work coming in?
I worked as a consultant in Ohio for a firm. They billed us out at 125-300/hr and we go 20-40. That was before the economic downturn, but I found that I could get 40-60 working on my own. But then the work isn't guaranteed and you have to get your own benefits. But honestly, benefits are are only 100-200/month, so you have to figure that's only the equivalent of maybe 2$/hr. The biggest difference I found between doing it yourself was that you didn't have the firm picking the project and gathering requirements, which can be much better or much worse, depending on the firm/job. And you don't have team members to collaborate with on the work, which is usually not a good thing, but thank god for the internet!
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I was just reading through the thread from the guy looking to know where independent consultants looked for work so he could refer his customers there for a small piece of programming work that frequently comes up with the APP he's selling. I'm an independent consultant and I've been going completely on word of mouth, but thought I'd at least take a look through some of the sites that were suggested. I was shocked at the rates that some of the consultants were quoting. On ODesk.com I saw a few projects where the average rate was <$15. Since I'm generally charging >$80/hr it made me think. So, what is everyone else charging? Are these sites skewing the rates to the low end? Or am just off the top end and lucky to have any work coming in?
An "independent" contractor has to charge at least $80 per hour in the US. There are too many considerations for being self-employed in the US that make it very difficult to charge any less. Just one big one is the self-employment tax of 12.5%. This is in addition to the personal income tax you pay. If you have a gross income of $100,000, right off the top, you pay the goverment $12,500 in self-employment tax. In addition, self-employed individuals have to pay for their own health insurance. For even small families, this can easily add up to $5,000-$10,000 per year and more as you get older. Suddenly that $100,000 per year is down to $80,000 per year or less and is easily equivalent to a typical decent IT salary in the US. Then you get to pay the usual personal income tax on the leftovers. Self-employed folks also have to buy all their own office equipment like computers, MSDN subscriptions and other software, desks and furniture, office supplies, etc., ... And, nobody pays you to take a vacation or get sick. You also have to consider that it can be very difficult to stay 100% busy all year long. Some years can be really great, others can be really crappy. So even though an individual is making $80 per hour, it may really only result in about $100,000 gross per year on average, as you inevitably go through periods of downtime. If you're charging less than $80 per hour in the US, you might as well just work as an FTE. The $15 per hour guys are the idiots that frequent the forums with ridiculously easy questions and respond with "snd codes plz" in reply to responses. MAC
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I worked as a consultant in Ohio for a firm. They billed us out at 125-300/hr and we go 20-40. That was before the economic downturn, but I found that I could get 40-60 working on my own. But then the work isn't guaranteed and you have to get your own benefits. But honestly, benefits are are only 100-200/month, so you have to figure that's only the equivalent of maybe 2$/hr. The biggest difference I found between doing it yourself was that you didn't have the firm picking the project and gathering requirements, which can be much better or much worse, depending on the firm/job. And you don't have team members to collaborate with on the work, which is usually not a good thing, but thank god for the internet!
In CA, thru and agency: C# developer = $75/hr agency, $35-47/hr is for the developer SQL db admin = $70/hr agency, 35-40/hr is for the db C/C++ dev = 100/hr agency, 45-65/hr for the developer HP Nonstop developer $120/hr for the agency, $50-65/hr for the developer Oracle developer $120/hr for the agency, $50-65/hr for the developer This is for the developer on a W2 status with the agency. If they go 1099 or Corp to Corp, they can get around 20% more per hour. As a small business owner I start freelancing at $10-15/hour. Then I my skills grew I went to $20-25/hr. Now as my client base grew I was able to drop the low end paying clients and I now can charge $50/hr. I am confident in another 5yrs I will be able to charge $80/hr. But with the economy I decided not to fight for contract and took full-time work for 94K/yr. I looked at odesk.com and decided that the people posting and the people bidding are really low-end clients. Not the kinda contacts I am interested in. But In the end you CHARGE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN FOR YOUR SKILLS. if its $15/hr or $200/hr, get as much as you can.
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In London the average for contractors: (given 7.5hrs in a day) (1.00 GBP = 1.49219 USD) Java/Serverside = £400/day = £53/hr = $79 C# slightly less Finance can go up to £500/650. Media (Web/RIA) 250/300/day Agency's add 20% on top. All of course if you have a job, 4000 lost their jobs in banks this week and now agencies pulling every dirty trick in the book to get references(fake jobs/ demanding references before offers etc.)
In Manchester you can knock £10 ($15) an hour off those numbers, the market is floppy though.
"If you reward everyone, there will not be enough to go around, so you offer a reward to one in order to encourage everyone." Mei Yaochen in the 'Doing Battle' section of Sun Tzu's: Art of War. .
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Guys - I don't know you, I have no understanding of job, or your experience,or your qualifications. But no one is worth more than $60 USD. I lie - if you are working only a few hours for a client you can charge whatever you think will get you by. But people working for extended periods at one site really need to re-value their contribution. I know in australia, and I expect world wide, projects are being outsourced off-shore to the lowest bidder. I can't help but think this is because people are over valueing their skills/experience. Good for you if you jag a $180 contract - but in the long term, it can't be good for the community as a whole.
US$124k/year really should get you a reasonable lifestyle anywhere in the world.....I would hope.
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I was just reading through the thread from the guy looking to know where independent consultants looked for work so he could refer his customers there for a small piece of programming work that frequently comes up with the APP he's selling. I'm an independent consultant and I've been going completely on word of mouth, but thought I'd at least take a look through some of the sites that were suggested. I was shocked at the rates that some of the consultants were quoting. On ODesk.com I saw a few projects where the average rate was <$15. Since I'm generally charging >$80/hr it made me think. So, what is everyone else charging? Are these sites skewing the rates to the low end? Or am just off the top end and lucky to have any work coming in?
If you work on a 1099 not w2, in the US, you must consider Insurance (Med+Den+Life+Vis), and possibly liability, then add to that normal operating expenses, gas, wear and tear, supplies etc and finally profit margin. So if you charge as a 1099 $80/hr you can subtract at least 30% in benefits, minus another 35% for taxes(fed,state etc), then subtract another 20% for necessary on the job expenses (meals, travel, gas etc.) and finally add at least 40% markup for you profit, you can see that even at $80/hr you can't really make it. That's why you need to charge, after considering the location your the job is in and how deep the pockets of your client really are and what the market you will be competing in will bear, a much much higher rates. It's not the contractor overating their services, it's the companies combining (unlike the contractors) to manage the market to their liking). mrMagik3805
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Yes, I agree. Furthermore, I work in project for countries like USA or Denmark, and I share a lot of time with developers from those countries, it is such a great experience to work with them, but, I have met some other developers from foreign countries that simply do not have the skills and they are making $100/h while I'm at $10/h, this fact sometimes makes me think about relocation to a more competitive place, but hey, software development isn't just money? right? right? Have a nice day.
true, even I do
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If you work on a 1099 not w2, in the US, you must consider Insurance (Med+Den+Life+Vis), and possibly liability, then add to that normal operating expenses, gas, wear and tear, supplies etc and finally profit margin. So if you charge as a 1099 $80/hr you can subtract at least 30% in benefits, minus another 35% for taxes(fed,state etc), then subtract another 20% for necessary on the job expenses (meals, travel, gas etc.) and finally add at least 40% markup for you profit, you can see that even at $80/hr you can't really make it. That's why you need to charge, after considering the location your the job is in and how deep the pockets of your client really are and what the market you will be competing in will bear, a much much higher rates. It's not the contractor overating their services, it's the companies combining (unlike the contractors) to manage the market to their liking). mrMagik3805
You took the words directly from my brain. Heck - you probably said it better. I'm charging $100 now, and am ending up with (after everything) about the same as I used to have with my 50$/hour fulltime gig.