Several years or so ago, someone came to us with a job to design a website.
It was to be a simple, functional, no frills website meant for an NGO.
The emphasis was on simplicity, the guy said, nothing fanciful, just something that would put their organization out there, and which met their needs.
We quoted- it was accepted- we started.
Somewhere along the way however it became increasingly apparent that simplicity was not in the game.
Client didn't want simplicity.
He wanted detail.
A fair bit of it too.
It was to be a website that had this, had that, had this, had that, had this again, and still that some more.
Simplicity- as we interpreted it- was confined more to the budget.
Now there are times when we don't mind going the extra mile (a little bit more).
And there are times when we can adjust and arrange.
But things become no more a business when the consideration paid is a fraction of the standard-rate card.
And things make no more business sense when demands for change are over and above the regular scope according to the standard rate card.
Let's be clear.
I'm not being whiny over a difficult client.
I don't need to write an article if I want to be whiny.
I just go have a latte or a mug of fruit beer.
But what I want is to simply say it straight out: That there are boundaries in business and it is a fair enough thing if those boundaries were respected and adhered to without expecting the other party to bend over backwards and give out more than what is due.
In other words, if there's a standard rate card, there's a standard rate card.
Follow it.
If there are limits to which that rate card can be stretched, there are limits that the rate card can be stretched.
Accept it.
It is not possible- NOT POSSIBLE- I tell you- that you want to have a particular design (done from scratch) with an xx (almost unlimited) number of changes (that you have to do because 'your quality is unacceptable') at this well-below-market-rate price (since, you know, we are doing this good work).
I have to eat.
Let's talk about design.
Design- or UI- the user interface- is subjective.
What that means is that it can stretch very easily from one end of the spectrum to the other- and there is no stopping how simple one wants it to be, or how detailed one desires it to be.
A benchmark of measurement on our part usually includes the UX- the user experience- which is itself a wide scope but can range from 'call to action' to 'access to information' to 'ease of navigation'.
There are certain designs that work well for certain industries- they are simple, they have easy navigation and even though they don't have the frills, they are suited for the industry's purpose.
We've done them before.
So you can't come and tell me that what works for many a similar organization will not be applicable to yours- especially since you volunteered the information of your good work on the onset (whilst negotiating the price).
Okay so let's say that the client was familiar with more complicated sites.
And okay let's also say that the client was familiar with sites that involved a lot of work and it still didn't matter to him that unlike back then, now speed (and cost) were of necessity.
That familiarity with a particular working environment became apparent when demands came for an "xx (unlimited) number of changes to the site because our work was of slipshot quality"
You see, it is only in those environments that a client can display that similar sort of attitude where they make the same kind of demands using the same kind of reasons.
But we're not people who don't know what these environments are.
And we are not people who don't know how to justify costs for the same kind of demands.
When it's a six figure sum you are paying there, of course you (can) make that sort of demands.
In any case, the experienced ones would have buffered the cost of your demands into the quote anyway.
Want changes here and there?
Sure. You've paid for it.
Want changes after those amendments have been made?
Sure. You've paid for it too.
Oh, want changes at a random hour and a response at any time of the day?
No problem. Your money has paid for a person to be on call. How fast do you want those changes? Let us know. No worries. It's all included.
But that's not something I could do.
Not for a sum far, far lower than a six figure sum.
What I could do was to design it (from scratch with limitations) buffering in the fairly limited budget and work from there.
Would it be a functional site?
Yes
Would it have everything that our quote said would have?
Yes
Would there be changes?
Yes (just not too many and not too often)
We would do what the budget permitted us to do- and a bit more.
That was reasonable, wasn't it?
Sad to say, the client didn't think so.
I shan't go into what transpired after that.
Maybe they took our work and went on elsewhere.
Maybe they decided to consider it a bad business decision and leave it at there.
We're (technically) still waiting for them to come back to us about what exactly it is they want so that we can do what it is exactly that they want.
There can be no multiple decks and multiple experiments, I'm afraid.
We respect our work.
We expect others to respect it too.
Otherwise, there's always some sucker out there.