I have a wonderful client that I’ve been working with for over a year.
As per my usual MO, the projects were always fixed price. This means I worked towards obtaining the project’s goal, and never submitted change orders.
As with all my projects, I offer a lifetime bug-free guarantee. This means if my work causes an error, the issue will be resolved quickly and without cost to the client.
Once the last project was completed, they agreed to a monthly support package. This fixed-priced service compliments the guarantee by resolving minor issues that require any kind of change.
In the past month however, the client preferred to change the approach. Instead of a monthly package, they asked me to price each support ticket individually.
One challenge with this approach is each ticket becomes a conversation: was this issue caused by me, or is it new development? Sometimes this is a grey line.
Another challenge is the pricing of each ticket becomes a concern. They have asked why this ticket is so much more than that ticket.
As a result, the administration of support tickets has become a task in itself. I believe this is not beneficial to me or to the client.
The takeaway
Having a simple, cover-all and monthly support package is usually in the best interest of you and your client.