My Price Sheet, in Full

The price sheet

Day rate:

• New clients: ¥600/day
• Returning clients: ¥500/day

Monthly rate:

• New clients: ¥12,000/month (a full month counts as 22 working days)
• Returning clients: ¥10,000/month

Terms for every project:

• All prices include tax, paid in full, under a Technical Services Agreement
• Quotes are valid for 15 days
• Every project comes with a year of free support

Support covers: bug fixes, server maintenance, and small adjustments, with a response within 24 hoursSupport doesn't cover: new features, which are billed separately and quoted before work starts

Nothing is charged before the quote

Talking through the requirements, a basic requirements analysis, and a basic quote are all free. If we don't go ahead, you still pay nothing.

Priced separately, not added to the days

In-depth requirements analysis is quoted separately before work starts. In-depth design is done by a designer at the designer's own rate, not folded into the ¥600 a day.

Basic design is part of development. I do it myself, only after we sign, and it isn't billed separately. Prototype design is also part of development: its days are estimated on their own and added to the total working days.

When requirements change

If the requirements stay the same and I go over my estimated days, you don't pay extra, and that's written into the contract. If the requirements change, we confirm in writing, then re-estimate the price and the schedule.

Servers, domains, filings, launch, and other equipment: I help handle them, from development all the way to launch. Anything that has to be bought or filed on your behalf goes on the service list at actual cost. It isn't folded into the day rate, and it isn't counted as something I throw in.

How projects longer than a month are counted

Total working days ÷ 22 = number of months at the monthly rate, with the remainder billed by the day. Calendar months don't matter: once you reach 22 working days, that's one month at the monthly rate. Under 22 days, the whole project is billed by the day.

Example: a 45-working-day project for a new client = 2 months at ¥24,000 + 1 day at ¥600 = ¥24,600. Billed entirely by the day, it would be 45 × ¥600 = ¥27,000, so you save ¥2,400.

Why returning clients pay less

Working together again skips the break-in period. You know how I work, I know your system's quirks, and communication takes half the effort. That discount is for the trust.

The logic behind the rate

It's not cheap work. It's a cheap structure. No sales team, no office, no fixed headcount. The rate is priced on the person responsible for the project, plus a small share for taxes.

Billing by the day comes with a built-in trust question: what if I drag my feet? There are really two ways to do that: slacking while working, and padding the estimate. I guard against both in two ways:

1. Days are estimated against market norms. How much a developer at this rate produces in a day is a known standard in the industry, not a number I make up.
2. You see progress every week. When you spend ¥600, you know which day it bought and what got done. You'll see at a glance whether I've been dragging my feet.

This price sheet is really a filter

The clients who are fine with these numbers are usually easy to work with, because they know what they're paying for and where the price difference comes from.