Geoff Chappell - Software Analyst
This schedule applies from 1st January 2010 and is valid for one year. All fees are denominated in U.S. dollars. This is simply because the United States is home to nearly all the software companies, consultants and lawyers who have ever approached me seriously with questions to answer commercially. You may notice that my fees have risen significantly (about 10 percent) since the previous schedule. I had held my rates for three years, but since U.S. dollars are not worth what they once were, an increase in rates has become unavoidable. Measured in Australian dollars, even the present fees are much lower than 5-10 years ago.
It is only my opinion, of course, but I regard my rates as reasonable, and even as low, whatever the exchange rate. Please consider that each hour I apply specifically to your problem, whose solution is presumably to your commercial benefit, very likely draws from many more hours of research that I have undertaken entirely speculatively. To some extent, when you consult me about your particular problem, you become a sponsor of my research in general.
Please also be aware that I am not a consultant who pads his hours. Indeed, I very likely want to keep my bill down more than you do, not because I want less money from you, or because I take pride in doing as good a job as your budget allows, but because the fewer hours I work on your problem the sooner I get back to my research. Although I commit 100% to your problem while I work on it, the fact is that no problem you present to me is going to interest me nearly as much as the work I choose for my own research. That I have written well over 1,500 pages for this website as a free resource from my own funds over five years should tell you that I am very much more motivated by intellectual interest than by money.
I am 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.
The standard rate for casual work is $330 per hour. A minimum of one hour applies. After that, time is counted in six-minute increments.
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 20 or more hours in advance.
A discount rate of $275 per hour is available if you establish a reasonable expectation of providing well-organised problems for at least 40 hours per month over six months or more.
The rate for larger reports and projects is $2400 daily and $11,000 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. 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. If a problem looks like taking months, then I am anyway not likely to take it on.
Payment is due one month from invoicing. Payment is to be transferred telegraphically in U.S. dollars at the sender’s expense. Cheques are acceptable only if drawn on an Australian bank. I may require part-payment in advance of starting any work.