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Wanting to know going rates for Drupal consulting
trose - September 28, 2006 - 18:29
I am looking to hire a Drupal consultant and wanted to know what the going hrly rates are for:
Install and configuration of the basic module
Any information you can provide would be much appreciated!
quick one.
Hi Trose,
You can contact Drupal professionals directly to enquire, but, I think you will find that rates will vary. AFAIK there is no set standard fee for an initial installation. I imagine many would do it for free and ask you to make a small donation to Drupal.org for the few minutes of their time it takes to install it.
That's because installation is usually a DIY thing and the Drupal handbooks already have a comprehensive step-by-step installation routine. Or if you prefer video there are a collection of videocasts that includes an overview and a videocast specifically for "how to install Drupal 4.7".
Some hosts actually provide automatic installation of Drupal now...click of a button stuff.
There are a list of "Drupal friendly" hosts in the Drupal hosting section. Again, prices will vary.
Probably the most common stumbling block is getting your Drupal database setup initially. Usually emailing your host is enough to get up and running.
If you wanty to DIY it, have a bash at the installation guide in the handbook and if you get stuck, just do a search on here (Drupal forum) or post a message and a member of the Drupal community should help you out. The Drupal community is pretty good at helping newcomers - just remember to use the search form first before asking a question because it's likely that your question has been asked and answered already.
Cheers
Dub
AFAIK it's actually a felony...
...to discuss consulting rates in public.
Contacting a consulting company to ask them privately what their rates are is fine, but having discussion out in the open where other consultants can view it violates U.S. laws against price-fixing and that kind of thing.
There's more info available here: http://www.hwg.org/resources/faqs/priceFAQ.html
So in short, "it depends" and "go seek out a company to find out what their rates are." :)
...
You know, that's not at all accurate. And neither of us are lawyers. And that is some random web page and several of the link to the site they reference as justification are broken.
The FAQ is applicable for a Trade Organization while people posting on Drupal.org are not members of such. Note;
So saying it is illegal is inaccurate and I am not sure where this latest little buzz came from but it's driving me nuts. It would be better to say 'by policy we discourage posting of price information on Drupal.org because it can be lead to complications'.
It is legal to survey prices for work. It is legal to say a lot of stuff that you as an individual or company charge and how you come up with this.
It is NOT legal to collaborate within an industry or trade group to set prices. Giving the appearance of setting prices can complicate issues so this is often the claim as to why merely discussing such is illegal.
Perhaps someone should come up with a page similar to this breaking down and listing the various considerations about pricing for a Drupal site. (i.e. Information architecture [content organization], content generation [where does it come from, how does it get there], design [theme - simple, complex?], custom modules, maintenance, security updates support, Drupal version updates consulting, etc....).
In any case, drupal.org at this time has no policy preventing this discussion. It has not been raised on the infrastructure list and has not been researched or decided on. Merely spread by word of mouth inconsistently.
-Steven Peck
---------
Test site, always start with a test site.
Drupal Best Practices Guide -|- Black Mountain
I'm not so sure..
Hi Webchick,
That doesn't sound right to me, Webchick.
I don't live in the USA, but, as I understand it..under European legislation, an "open" conversation like that only falls under scrutiny when the parties having the discussion own a considerable share of the market. Which sounds more logical and fits better with what Sepeck pointed out.....e.g. an association of vets openly discussing vaccination fees could be construed as price fixing.
I haven't checked your link..nor am I a lawyer, but, a collegue was selling his company recently - having just bought out a competitor (he runs a childcare franchise in the UK) - and his deal hit the skids because the european monopolies comission rolled in. After buying the competitor out he now had ahuge chunk of the UK market. From listening to his war stories, I picked up that it's market share that is key, not the subject of rates/prices. It's a moot, irrelevant point if it's a few individuals discussing it.
I maybe wrong...but I sincerely doubt the original poster will have anyone banging on his door with a warrant anytime soon for opening up the discussion of rates for installing Drupal.
Dub