Geoff Chappell - Software Analyst
Look around this website. There are nearly 2,000 pages here. Many show a long history of knowing my areas of interest in Windows better than anyone else who has published on them, of correcting what Microsoft what writes, and of documenting what Microsoft doesn’t. You will rarely see anywhere such a commitment to precision and reliability. Get this working for you.
This schedule applies from 1st April 2011. All fees are denominated in U.S. dollars.
If you don’t like these rates, take them merely as a guide and make me an offer. I have always been open to working at much reduced rates, and even for free, if you present a very interesting problem or if you compromise on intellectual-property rights, e.g., by letting me publish results to my own website (after a time, perhaps) or by agreeing to put my name to anything you publish from the work.
To get your consultation under way, write to consult@geoffchappell.com.
The standard rate for casual work is $330 per hour. A minimum of one hour applies. After that, time is counted in decimal parts of hours.
Time spent on incidentals such as unpacking and repacking, and making telephone calls to arrange shipment is time spent on your behalf and is billable. This time can almost always be reduced more economically for you and less frustratingly for both of us by careful organisation from your side.
Work that would usually count as casual can be obtained for $300 per hour if you purchase 40 or more hours in advance.
The rate for larger reports and projects is $2,200 daily and $10,000 weekly, based on 8-hour days and 5-day weeks. Partial days and weeks are billed as whole, as your penalty should you leave me to twiddle my thumbs.
Please note that although I respond quickly to commercial problems, especially for emergencies, my ability to schedule whole days, let alone weeks, is sometimes limited. The longer the term, the more you should expect a delay before I can arrange your work around other work.
I will try to quote a price for a well-specified self-contained problem. I will not engage in refining your specification as part of a quote. I will not accept responsibility for time that depends on other people, e.g., to gather information or agree on interfaces.
Experience has shown me that problems are often brought to me only because they have already shown a capacity to surprise even the brightest of programmers. It is rarely sensible to estimate to within a factor of two. More typical is that I can be no less vague than to estimate whether your work will take a few hours, a few days or a few weeks.
Payment is due 14 days from invoicing. Payment is to be transferred telegraphically in U.S. dollars at the sender’s expense. I may require part-payment in advance of starting any work.