Our primary objective at the beginning of any relationship is to understand what you are trying to do.  If we don't understand, we don't succeed.  We start by taking a look at your requirements.  If you don't have any that is okay, we just start with helping you build your requirements.  Once we have a firm understanding of what the application is going to do and almost more importantly what it isn't going to do, it is time to sit down and get down to the numbers.  This is where the feasibility of the application comes into play.  We can help you analyze that as well.

When we bid the project we will also be defining the responsibilities that each of us is going to have.  This is an important part of the bidding process and helps define the scope of work.

After we give you a bid, and the contract has been awarded to us we will be working with you all the way until your application has been completed which also means making sure that it is approved in Apple's app store if applicable.  If your application doesn't make it into the app store and we didn't mention an issue during development, we will make the changes needed at no extra cost to you. 

Fixed Price Contract

 In situations where we have enough information to determine how much time it is going to take us to build an application we can bid a fixed price for the project.  The advantage of this is that if the project takes longer than anticipated to complete, while staying within the original scope, the cost to you will not change.  The disadvantage of this is that changes to the scope will require addendum's to the contract.  

If you have a complete set of requirements, screen mock-ups, use cases and manpower on your end dedicated to the project, this style might be the best way to proceed.

Time & Materials Contract

Do you have a concept but aren't sure where or how far you want to take the project?  A time and materials contract is probably going to work best for you.  The advantages of this are that you have the freedom to stop the project at any time you wish.  We suggest either starting with building a specification so that the development of the app can be done fixed price, or building some mock-ups and prototypes to try and get new players involved.  Sometimes these two processes go hand in hand.  Once we get to a point where we can estimate how long the project is going to take you have the choice of asking for a fixed price bid, or moving forward with T&M.

Taking the time and materials approach is suitable for clients who which to play a large part in the development process.  When elements of the project cannot be effectively estimated at the beginning, this model is the best option.