Website Development Services - Inspirativ - Website Design, CMS, Programming

Fast, Good or Cheap — Should You Choose Just Two?

Tuesday, 25 November 2008

The method of Fast/Good/Cheap is a pricing method most web development companies use. Have you heard of it? It means that if you would like to make your website you will have to choose two of these three words. How does it work and should you really choose just two?

First of all you must understand why web development companies use such approach. The main reason is that if web developers allow their clients to have fast, good and cheap work then most likely they are working 24+ hours a day for very little return. That’s why web developers keep these rules in mind when pricing your project otherwise their work/income/career will suffer. And that’s why you are actually offered the combination of only two — either good and fast OR good and cheap OR fast and cheap.

Here are some explanations of these options with advantages and disadvantages for the clients.

Good + Fast = Expensive

If you want great quality and fast work then you should prepare to pay more. Developers must put up their prices because they have to cancel or delay other projects and stay up 24+ hours to get your job done.

Good + Cheap = Slow

This option seems very favorable for many clients who are not in a hurry and can wait for two-three months to get their work done. Very often web development companies agree to use such approach because they think that they won’t be stressed about tight deadlines and developers will work on the project as a part-time job.

Fast + Cheap = Inferior

If you wish to have a fast and cheap job, then you should expect the result to be quite inferior. Developers don’t have the time to make the job as good as it could be plus they will hardly get any return on the product.

Conclusions:

The biggest problem of Fast/Good/Cheap approach is that web development companies are not always honest with the clients. Most of them won’t tell you that if you want a cheap and fast job, then the end product will be hardly satisfactory from the point of quality. We would even recommend potential clients to set up unrealistic goals to see how the company reacts. And if they are ready to fulfill all your dreams in three days, we wouldn’t recommend choosing them.

The problem of cost, quality and speed of development was mentioned in one of our previous notes. And we must say that we are against Fast/Good/Cheap pricing model for a number of reasons:

We are against anything that might possibly affect the quality of our services.
Our clients are people who are looking for quality work and a reliable partner rather than the cheapest cost, so we care about our reputation.
Usually the amount of work to make a quality product is always the same no matter if it will be very slow in terms of development time.

We are sure that everybody understands that you really can’t have all three-in-one. You can’t get Fast and Good and Cheap at the same time. And it’s not only about website development, it’s about any other services in different spheres.

But we also strongly believe that you can have Fast, Good and Cheaper! Just remember that there’s always a choice. But you must understand WHY it’s cheaper and WHY it’s faster and WHY it’s good! If you don’t understand why you are getting a lower price for the services — take your time and find out.

How? Read our next note.

Why do we post our notes?

Our notes are mainly intended for our potential clients. These notes will be also helpful to people who would like to get their website done and they don’t have much experience working with web development companies.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about our notes or would like to give us your feedback.