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OUR WORKFLOW


First Contact: we get to know you, your project’s goal and your needs.

Engagement Decision: we can engage in one of three methods:

  1. As per task: We can carry out work to fulfill your needs.
  2. As per project: We can build a project estimate for how to satisfy your project needs:
    • Sole source procurement: When we are engaged for work, we will define a statement of work and define the scope of the project.
    • Short proposal / quote (for projects with a budget of $10,000 or less): We can prepare a short form proposal and brief statement of work for your project; and the intended budget. Tasks that are not covered in the statement of work will be charged on a per hour rate. These proposals are prepared as a sales exercise. There is no cost for the preparation of short proposals. They remain confidential documents, only to be shared with Shawn DeWolfe Consulting and the prospective client.*
    • Long proposal (for projects with a budget exceeding $10,000): We can prepare an in-depth analysis of your project and its requirements. This preparation would be a per task engagement. The prepared document would be owned by our client for use as they please. If a client accepts our long proposal, half of the preparation costs incurred in its preparation will be credited to the project. Long form proposals remain confidential documents, only to be shared with Shawn DeWolfe Consulting and the prospective client.*
  3. As per retainer: We can serve a number of roles and provide talent as you require. We will work out the deliverables of the interaction:
    • hours per month of availability
    • days and hours of availability
    • task areas
    • turnaround time expectation on emails, chat messages and inbound phone calls

Procession and Deposit Phase: acceptance of our statement of work, or our proposal (long or short) and payment of a deposit will engage us on your project. (Note: Before work can begin, we will need you to fill out the project intake form and provide your login credentials. Any delay in completion of this step will result in a delay in the commencement of work, for which the client accepts full responsibility.)

Engagement Duration: our engagement works in two week billing cycles. At the close of each cycle, we will bill for the work carried out or the retainer fees incurred.

INDUSTRY TERMS & CONCEPTS

There are a number of terms and concepts that we will ask if you feel comfortable and informed about. These will likely be key elements of a project and we will assess your grasp of the concepts.

  • HTML
  • Content management systems
  • Responsive design
  • Web hosting
  • User experience
  • Readability

METHODS & HOURS OF COMMUNICATION

Communication is preferably done by email, as this allows us to file and refer back to earlier communications & instructions as needed. Follow-ups can happen via phone calls. Small documents and files under 10MB can be relayed via email. Files of 10MB to 100MB will be moved via Dropbox sharing. Files and folders that amount to more than 100MB will be shared via physical media (a portable drive).

Our business hours are Monday to Friday from 9AM PST to 5PM PST. At our discretion, we may work outside of those hours or engage with staffers in other time zones. By default, we will not respond outside of our business hours.

BILLING PRACTICES AND BILLING CYCLES

MINIMUMS AND MAXIMUMS

Our minimum engagement level is $2500 + GST. In the case of projects, we require a deposit of 50% of the budget goal before substantive work can begin. In the case of tasks, we require a deposit of the minimum fee ($160 for the first 2 hrs, or the full amount of the task if time estimated is less than 2 hrs). Tasks will be applied against the engagement balance. We reserve the right to waive these minimums for established clients.

None of our projects and tasks are fixed price deliverable projects. We will estimate a budget goal, but all parties need to recognize that change management will affect the final costs and the time-frame of delivery.

BILLING CYCLE

Bills will be prepared every two weeks. The first bill is due upon receipt. We will draw upon any deposits and credits received. Thereafter bills are issued on a bi-weekly basis for work carried out and expenses incurred in the previous two-week cycle. If an invoice is overdue, we reserve the right to pause work until overdue invoices are reconciled.

RATES

These are the hourly rates for projects contracted from January 1st, 2020 to December 31st, 2020.

  • Project Management – $120 per hour, billed in quarter-hour units rounded up to the nearest 15 minutes.
  • Graphic Designer – $100 per hour, billed in quarter-hour units rounded up to the nearest 30 minutes.
  • Developer – $100 per hour, billed in quarter-hour units rounded up to the nearest 15 minutes.
  • Data Entry – $50 per hour, billed in quarter-hour units rounded up to the nearest 30 minutes.
  • Clerical – $50 per hour, billed in quarter-hour units rounded up to the nearest 30 minutes.
  • Newsletter Prep – $100 per hour, billed in full-hour units.

ADDITIONAL FEES

For projects with estimated prices, there are additional fees that will be added to the project costs should they arise.

File Storage in excess of 200MB, will cost $10 per GB per month. After the duration of the project, the fees and storage can be continued, but we will default to the removal of those files at the close of a project unless storage continuation is requested.

Email correspondence, instant messages via chat and SMS text messages may be charged at a minimum of 15 min. per reply to inbound message billed at our hourly developer rate.

Phone calls, Skype calls and in-person meetings will be charged at a minimum of 15 min. per meeting or call billed at our hourly developer rate (see above).

Travel time incurred to meetings and on-site location in excess of 45 minutes in travel from the vicinity of Hillside St. and Quadra St. in Victoria, BC will be charged at a minimum of 15 min. billed at our hourly developer rate.

OVERDUE INVOICES AND FEES

Retainer fees and ongoing agreements are due at the onset of a billing period and must be paid prior to service beginning. In the case of ongoing, there is a three day grace period from the date of issue of an invoice, after which time, the work will be discontinued.

Overdue invoices will be charged at a rate of 10% interest per month until they age to three months, when they will be passed on for third-party resolution.

We will pass overdue invoices that age more than three months to collections and / or remedy via litigation. We reserve the right to refer overdue invoices that have aged more than one calendar month to collections and / or remedy via litigation at our discretion.

SUBCONTRACTS

We will do work as a subcontractor. We make attempts to give authority and attribution to the contracting entity (aka parent contractor). If accounts fall into arrears or if there is a failure in the execution of a contract, we reserve the right to carry out the following:

  • We will contact the end client to continue and complete an in-progress project.
  • We will contact the end client to pay any invoices or accounts that the parent contractor failed to reconcile.
  • We will reference the work we carried out in portfolios, promotions, sales and marketing for the tasks we carried out.

* If shared with a third party, the contents and the budget of a proposal are considered to be accepted by the client. Accepted budgets will be invoiced and considered due for payment.

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