The year is 2088, and I still haven’t figured out whether to bill per hour or project.

Help...
Please...
No?
Okay 👌

Per line of code of course

@deadlyRants in that case, someone call Forbes. They left me off the list. 😂😂

2018 right? Or did I oversleep? A few years ago I worked at a consultancy that did both. Per hour by default but for certain clients who agreed not to deviate from specifications per project was still profitable

Yeah you can bill however you want for each project. I typically bill per project because my clients are scared of hourly. I usually guess how many hours it’ll take, and then generate a project estimate and catch that deposit.

Sometimes things change throughout the project depending on how many revisions we make, etc. I just keep the client updated and if they start running out of budget then they need to start making decisions.

Honestly though, I’ve always done both. It really depends on the client, and their budgets.

Not a freelancer myself. But I think it might be a good idea to bill in phases. Estimate how much time you'll need per phase. If the first phase is done, make the client pay before you start the next phase. This way, you won't ever find yourself in a situation where you delivered a whole project, then realize you got a shit client who won't pay. Also, you can revise your previous estimations because of course, after phase 1,the client will realize he wants a few things slightly differently than originally asked. It's a win win :)

Freelancer here!

I usually either bill by the day, or set a fixed price for the whole project.

Cons for time based billing
- The client wants the project to go as fast as possible, you don't.
- The client is uncertain how much he will have to pay in the end.
- You can only work so many hours in a month, so your income has a hard limit.

Pros for time based billing
- Security for you, even if the specs change and everything takes longer
- Easier for you, since you don't have to calculate beforehand.

Cons for project based billing
- The specs and the scope have to be frozen and cannot be changed without further negotiation.
- If you miscalculated, you are out of luck.

Pros for project based billing
- You can ask for more money. If you build something that will save the client 100,000 dollars per year, they will happily pay 20,000 dollars for it, no matter how long you spent building it (this is called value based billing)
- you don't have to track your work hours (except for maybe checking your own calculations.

Per hour. Because Clients' demands change every single fucking day. Especially when working with friends change into your business mode when talking about business. I've learned things the hard way.

It generally depends on the client and what they are asking of you. I would say if it’s an on going project then bill hourly.

If it’s a small project or your client is strict on budget then I would charge per project.