Hot take: flat rate saved my bacon on a web dev project last month | Hourly vs Flat Rate - Freelance Forum - The Community for Independent Professionals
Hot take: flat rate saved my bacon on a web dev project last month
I was helping a buddy in Portland redo his bakery site, quoted him $1200 flat because I thought it would be easy. Then he kept adding features like a custom cake builder and a delivery map, and I spent close to 45 hours on it. At my normal $50 an hour, that would've been $2250, so I basically worked for free. But here's the thing - he was so happy with the result that he referred me to two other local shops, and I landed a $3000 contract from one of them. So maybe flat rate ain't always bad if the client is connected. Has anyone else had a flat fee job open doors like that?
Flat rate is basically gambling but with CSS instead of poker chips. You rolled the dice on that one and somehow walked away with a full house instead of a broke hand. The referral payoff is real but man, that 45 hour grind for $1200 must've felt like eating stale bread for a week. Sounds like you turned a loss into a win though, which is better than most of us manage.