Lately, i’ve been facing a lot of commercial/paid requests for jobs on vBulletin, and as usual, i have to provide the charge fees for each work to be done. I always offer the two ways of doing thing: exclusive work, or releasable work. I’ve always offered the same rates over the last 8 years i’ve been working for vBulletin, so an old client could always come here and witness this… 🙂

Ok so, what’s the deal? There is three levels of charges on the job i do. For the same work, i can apply a different price, depending on the deal we have between you and me:

1- Complete Ownership *(4:1)
For the first situation, you become the complete owner of the product, you can resell it if you wish, but the main difference with the other two is that i will have no right to use the entire product once released to you.

2- Exclusive Work *(2:1)
Being Exclusive work is temporary, that means you have the exclusivity of the work done for one year after the release to you. After that period, i can use the product or parts of it for my personal or commercial uses, and you have no control over it.

3- Non-Exclusive Work *(1:1)
For the non-exclusive work, it’s pretty simple: You pay the product, and i continue to be the entire owner of it, so i can release it at any condition that may be.

For any of these situations, you pay for the work to be done, not for the possibilities that i release it or not. You asked me to do it me because you can not do the work yourself, so you pay me for the job i provide to you, no matter what.

These situations can not be discussed or modified — until i provide a new alternative myself, which never occured in the last 8 years. I do not tollerate whinning on this, so if you are unhappy with the chart, you are welcome to leave and go at vbulletin.org for cheaper coders.

A second note about the charges for jobs. If i accept the budget for a job, that means i will not ask for a higher rate afterward. If i evaluate the job to take longer, it’s up to me to deal with it, not you. If btw, you decide to modify the elements of a product, the final price will be evaluated before the changes are applied, not at the end.

I know how to code, i know if i can do it, i know if i can do it for the budget you provide. If i can not, i tell you right away and for what reasons… then you can decide if i can do part of the job or simply nothing.

I’ve also been a code audit for a lot of projects/products in the last years, so if you need the evaluation of an expert, i can provide an eye on any code. I’m not perfect, and i do not charge a lot for the audits, if it is just for your safety… I, or someone in the vBenhancer.com staff, will crosscheck your products for safety, inserts, exploits, code protocols and even backdoor security breaches… Contact Me for such jobs.

Upfront payment and blue elephants…
I never require more than 10% for an upfront payment, but i always require one. If you want to pay more, it’s up to you if i die and you loose your money.

BTW i will always split the payments in 2 or 3, depending on how many development stages we face. I always provide a first sketch that will require 25% of the whole payment for delivery, then a final payment of the final part after testing and before delivery. I never deliver a final result without being paid first. You can always test the final result on-site, so you can not be fooled, then you pay the final part to receive the result.

I think it covers everything… if you have questions about any rate, charge, payment etc, contact me in a private message.

btw, for an example, i may charge you at 50$/h and do the job in 2 weeks, but i can do the same at 100$/h and the same work being done in 3 days… it all depend on my availability at the office, or the tests i have to do with the code… I always use the « Montgomery Scott » protocol for delivering a product.

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