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Time and material vs Fixed price

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Vlad Dm
Time and material vs Fixed price

Time & Material vs Fixed Price

Before you buy a new chair you want to know everything about it. What materials it is made of, who constructed it, where it was produced, will it last long? Before we pick the payment option - our "chair", let's make sure that you understand what each one means.

Fixed contract definition

It is a model where a client pays a predetermined amount of money, which he has discussed and agreed to pay for a particular scope of work to a vendor. You can understand what is Fixed Price project if you read between the lines. A client and a vendor set not only the fixed sum but also a date (deadline), which cannot be changed even if a vendor faces lots of issues, bugs and technical crashes. 
 
So, all risks are handled by the vendor. You might have thought that it's a fantastic way to run your business, you pay and don't worry about anything. However, it's not quite that easy. This model also implies that a client won't change the scope of work. In reality, of course, changes can be added to the scope, however, they will be discussed in another contract, with another deadline and billing.

Time and material definition

The Time and material billing is an approach when a client pays for all billing materials and hours, which were spent on the project. If I were a client I would boil over. It could take them an eternity to develop it! And I have to pay for this? No, thank you. Nevertheless, this method is as popular as the Fixed Price. It happens because a client supervises the whole process and sees how much time was spent on every feature and pays only after a thorough discussion.

The relation between methodology and the way of payment

Let's get back to our chair when you pick one you know exactly where you want to place it and what purpose it is going to serve. When you choose the method of payment for your project, you should think about how you will develop it.
We can spend hours talking about various development methodologies in the IT sphere. Nevertheless, the most common (probably because they are the best ones) are the Waterfall and Agile approaches. The Waterfall methodology has a long preparation stage where all the documentation should be gathered before the development stage begins. Once the development has started, nothing can be changed. If you have a very clear understanding of your project then Waterfall is a perfect choice for you.
Usually, such projects are startups. A person or a group of people have an idea about a product in detail, including the functionality, design, target audience and have fixed amount of money to bring the idea to life. So it is essential to apply a Fixed Price model here. In general, startupers don't have a technical background, so the process of supervision is difficult and a little stressful for them. When a fixed amount of money is paid, they get rid of these obligations because all risks are on the vendor. When a client spends a little time inspecting the development team, he or she will get what they paid for.
On the other hand, we have clients with broken chairs. I meant projects. Or they want a chair and a sofa and a table in one. My point is that a vast majority of all projects are bug fixing or the rebuilding of existing products. And, of course, we shouldn't forget about large projects with complex functionality when not only the team but the customer himself has a little understanding of what features the final product will include.
In such cases, when the scope of work is unclear, an Agile approach fits the best. The Agile choice means flexible, because here you can make changes anytime, and the Fixed Price model can not be used. However, the Time and Material pricing model can. And very successfully, by the way. The team sets the tasks for two weeks (usual the length of a sprint) and approves it with a customer and he pays for man-hours, which will be used for the tasks performance.
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