DH Templates

How much should I charge to create an Excel document for a business?

A local child care facility has asked me to create three excel templates that will allow them to track various things like meals given to each child and attendance. They have given me a mock up of what the documents should look like. After that I would need to train about 5 employees on how to use the forms. The training should only take an hour and a half at the most. I am struggling with what to charge for the entire project. Most of my fee would be the result of my labor in creating the template. I came up with a flat cost of $300 for everything becuase I feel my time and expertise is worth at least that. However if i am asked for a breakdown of that cost I don't have an answer. Please help me with a formula that will allow me to justify my rate for this project. The particulars of the project include document creation, printing, development of a job aid and training time. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!!

Public Comments

1. How long will it take to create the Excel template? If it's going to take several hours, then $300 seems reasonable. If the document is a fairly simple form with no formulas, macros or pivot tables then I would charge only $50-$100 for creating it and $50/hr for training.
2. $300 is ok if the child care facility is good with its business. As you will be making the excel file on a ready made software like MS EXCEL you can't really charge that much , may be $250 .But you can charge $300 with good reasons , like these: 1. Easy to use interface. 2. Bugs and Error free coding. 3. Have some level of security and protection. 4. Fully tested to comply( days you have tested the software) 5. Future Evaluation ( Add support for future modification) 6. Made by professionals ( if you are MS certified)
3. It depends on the quality and the documentation. Considering the fact that give a course the following formula may be of help: $30,- an hour for development and $50 an hour for training. Remember to let them sign a contract in which they can only use the sheets for themselves and are not the owner of it (otherwise they could sell it to the rest of the child care organisations in the world).