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ca0d32f7
Community Member

Cost Estimate

When posting a job, you ask the person posting to provide an estimate for the job. I understand that, however, you need another line that asks the freelancer to provide an estimate for the job if the poster has no idea what a job will cost. I lost a potential bidder for my work because she thought I had set the price way too low, which I did more as a placeholder than a real estimate. Thanks

4 REPLIES 4
yitwail
Community Member

John, this would be a nice feature to have but in the meantime you could mention in your job post that the stated budget is a placeholder. Regardless, I tend to avoid fixed price jobs with placeholder budgets because I don't want to waste a proposal if the client's unwilling to pay what I would consider a fair amount. 

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"No good deed goes unpunished." -- Clare Boothe Luce
prestonhunter
Community Member

You may be better off posting hourly contracts.

 

Then you do not need to state a budget amount. And anybody you hire will be paid fairly because you will be paying then for their time, with the hourly rate that they specify.

 

If you hire a number of developers, you can evaluate their work and their expense to your operation, and continue working only with the ones who provide you the best value.

 

That way you will save money.

versailles
Community Member


John D wrote:

When posting a job, you ask the person posting to provide an estimate for the job. I understand that, however, you need another line that asks the freelancer to provide an estimate for the job if the poster has no idea what a job will cost.


John, this has been requested a thousands of times, but Upwork has decided that you don't need this option. Upwork knows what you need way better than you do.

 

 

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"Where darkness shines like dazzling light"   —William Ashbless

You could post the job as hourly but say in the first line of the description that you're actually looking for a fixed price. I don't think freelancers will feel misled if you do this. 

 

You can then ask them to quote a fixed price or estimate in the cover letter of their proposal. However, as a freelancer I rarely commit to a fixed price in my proposal, as I don't usually have sufficient information yet.

 

When you're ready to make a job offer, it can be fixed price even if your original job post was hourly.

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