Mobilisation fee justification for client

[blinton25]

I have a client who wishes to pay me a 5% mobilisation fee to start a project, with further payments as deliverables are made. I had requested 15%, so they have asked me to justify why I need more.

1. Developer has to fund one project by taking funds from another one
2. Client tends not to pay other payments (after deliverables made) in a timely manner
3. Developer focusses on mutiple projects rather than on priority one

I am sure that research has been done on this subject though, maybe under inadequate funding of software project as a risk.

Can anyone provide me with additional points or point me to resources?

 

[genomon]

I would say you don't really need to "justify" anything; it's your business. No $ = no project.

Money can't buy happiness -- but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Corvette than in a Yugo.

 

[kmcferrin]

I think that genomon hit the nail on the head, though I would recommend being a little more diplomatic when you present it to them. You could just tell them that your business has a minimum commitment of 15%, which is really quite reasonable for most small projects.

Then of course, you've already supplied several goods reasons yourself. But in my experience, depending on what the project it, half of the work is done before any deliverables are completed. You've got the original assessment, requirements gathering, initial design document and prototyping that usually happens before you present anything back to the customer. Not knowing specifically what your deliverables are, it would be very easy to be over halfway done before you started delivery.

I firmly believe that the payment for a deliverable should be roughly what the work costs to get there. For example, if your first deliverable is a requirements document, make sure that the payment for the first deliverable is equal to what you would charge to do requirements gathering and documentation if that were the entire project. If the next stage is to provide a design document, then make sure that the deliverable payment is equal to what you would charge if you were handed a requirements document and asked to create a design document for it.

 

[aarenot]

My first question would be how did you deliver the original request?

The next thing I would do is to resubmit the project with the 5% down, but change the pricing to charge more overall for the project. Explain that you have a policy to discount projects pricing for the 15% down stipulation, otherwise you have to make up the additional cost.

Do not approach it from why you need the 15%, but from the 15% enables you to discount the overall project becuase of less up front investment by yourself.

 

[dwarfthrower]

genomon has it nailed. Why should your business bankroll their business' IT projects?

[sub]Never be afraid to share your dreams with the world.
There's nothing the world loves more than the taste of really sweet dreams.[/sub]
Webflo

 

[blinton25]

Hello,

All good points, confirming that they raised the mobilisation fee to 15%. Thanks everyone.

 

[genomon]

blinton25 Best of luck to you

All I ask is a chance to prove that money can't make me happy.