Availability and Rates

Current Availability

I am currently working on several contracts, and will be too busy to take on new clients until at least August 2010. At that time, I *may* be able to take on additional projects depending on their scope and timeline. For example, I may be able to take on a project that will only take a few days, or a project that only needs a few hours/week.

If you have a full-time (long-term) or non-contract Drupal project that requires immediate attention, you can post the job information directly on the drupal.org jobs board. For Santa Cruz companies, there is a the Santa Cruz Drupal user group at http://groups.drupal.org/santa-cruz. For Bay Area companies, there are several Drupal user groups: http://groups.drupal.org/south-bay-california, http://groups.drupal.org/bay-area, and http://groups.drupal.org/berkeley.

Hourly vs Fixed Bids

I do not bid on fixed bid projects. Why? Because, in my experience, I have found that projects are never defined well enough for me to estimate accurately, and I do not want to manage change orders or have to grossly pad my hours to compensate for this. If you have a fixed bid project, you can post your job to drupal.org (see above). Or, check out some of the Drupal experts (see bottom of page) as some of these companies will do fixed bid projects. Note that if you have a well-defined project, I am happy to provide an *estimate* of the time I think it will take.

Retainers/Deposits

I require a retainer/deposit for new clients. The amount is based on the project. For example, if the work is estimated at about 10 hours, then a deposit for 5 hours work would be required up front. Once the project has been completed and paid for in full, future projects do not require a retainer if they will be paid on a regular basis (typically every 2 weeks or twice a month).

Rates

My rates vary depending upon the project requirements, duration, travel, etc. That being said, my rates are typically between $100/hr and $150/hr. Lower rates are typically for longer term projects with more flexibility. Higher rates are typically for short term, occasional, or "emergency" projects, or ones that require work on-site or other regular travel.

Contractor vs Employee

Currently, I am only doing long-term or short-term part-time contracts, or very short-term full-time contracts. I'm not currently interested in full-time employment. I have my own LLC, so contracts can be corp-to-corp which minimizes tax reporting requirements. As a contractor, I pay my own employment taxes as well as health care, retirement, and other benefits.

References

References are available upon request. Or, feel free to invite me on linkedin (email is linkedin [at] [this domain]), and there are a couple there you can review.