Miscellaneous

I would completely avoid per-package billing. When you are having issues with a package this can eat your profit in no time. I would strictly bill by the hour and give estimates but never say the quote is final. The nature of packaging is much like application development so I would go to the client and show them your success stories, references etc so that you can justify your billable rate. The key thing is to gauge what your market will bear in terms of rate and stick to it. Everybody is going to try and talk you down but you have to make the call if the opportunity is worth your time or not. I have passed up some good money and it the short term I have wondered if it was a mistake but so far in terms of the long term results I have to say that I have been making the right decisions. I have had clients who passed on me return to me after they hired some cheap consultants because they realized the damage a bad packager can cause to a company's infrastructure.

Couldn't agree more.

I'd come up with a defninition for different package types (complex, medium, easy) and how much time you will take for each type (ex. 36 hours, 24 hours, 12 hours). Then clearly define what the client needs to provide you for you to meet those goals (ie, install instructions, passwords, firewall requirements, etc).

Make it very detailed and then no one gets angry later on.

If you'd like some examples I can email those to you.