How to get the right budget for a mobile app project?

Are you a mobile applications developer and are you looking for active projects to work on? Looking for customers but do not know how to optimize your availability? We can help to write a good proposal for a project and how to develop the most fitting budget for your project.

Within this article we will inform you of the key points to learning in order to define a budget for a mobile app project. This is way to achieve excellence even before being hired as an application developer.

Are you a mobile applications developer and are you looking for active projects to work on? Looking for customers but do not know how to optimize your availability? We can help to write a good proposal for a project and how to develop the most fitting budget for your project.

Within this article we will inform you of the key points to learning in order to define a budget for a mobile app project. This is way to achieve excellence even before being hired as an application developer.

1)     Introducing the team

Just like in any initial encounter between people, the first step is to present yourself and your team. Mention any studies or training you’ve undertaken, if appropriate training in a particular technology that the client is requesting e.g the master operating system etc. But it also imperative that youlet them know how many years of experience you’ve worked on those operating systems and technologies. Remember concrete examples to back your claims aids the customer to know what kind of results can offer.

Present other attributes or qualities of app developers that can help or complement your profile – industry experience, related contacts and other ancillary services that you could offer- these are always a positive in the eyes of the customer.

2)     A Professional portfolio

Try to accumulate in a single document all work performed as a freelance developer or major development company and try to keep it updated. Ideally you should also customize your proposals with similar applications (as requested by the client) or highlighting and focusing on the parts of them which may relate to what the customer needs. Always remember that you should customize your proposals for each client, this makes it more attractive as personalized proposals always fare better, it could be the defining advantage over other mobile application developers that means you get the project over someone else.

3)     What problem or needs have you detected? And what’s your solution?

Put all your ideas in order to illustrate your understanding of the clients’ project, making sure you are both on the same page. However, of course it is possible that the client detects that you have not quite understood what they are after and explain it better in a second interaction. This prevents issues further down the line.

Furthermore, detecting a problem or need is a good introduction to proposing a technical solution. As we have seen before you do not have to use complicated language to be understood and if you do, try to explain in such a way to gain customer trust. If you propose alternatives ideas to the development of the application, try to provide arguments to convince the client to implement your suggestions. You want to be helping him make the decision and not generating more questions than he may already have.

4)     Division of the budget and app project

Try to divide the project into different tasks or milestones. With this you get several objectives:

Better planning: This step will allow you to better gauge the resources you’ll need to use and the approximate time needed for each phase.

Continuous monitoring of the project will enable you to achieve making partial deliveries of the project. This allows the customer to follow the development in terms of functionality and in terms of meeting deadlines.

Greater control: it allows you to get customer feedback long before the final delivery, so you can go adjusting the mobile app development to what the customer really wants.

Secure collection: Due to the fact that the project is split in several milestones, you do not have to wait till the entire project is finished before receiving  any money

5)     How to divide a mobile app project into milestones

To get down to work, what are the most common milestones or tasks that usually make up an app project? We’ve put together two different ways as examples, but there are many other ways to divide a project and several other combinations.

Imagine for example a very common request where the client requests the development of an Android and iPhone app with web parts and an admin panel to the manage data. A possible way to divide the project into milestones might be:

• Proposed design or mock-ups
• Android application
• iPhone application
• Web section
• Administration panel
• Proposed design and mockups
• Alpha or Alpha Version: a prototype where you can start testing the functionality of the project but without a design in most cases.
• Beta Version: full version but still unstable, useful for reviewing                .
• Final version: the entire project complete and ready for final testing before launch.
• Phase corrections and tests: it is always best to devote time to test the functionalities for loading and bug fixes that may not have been picked up in a previous step.

Another common example is the development of mobile games:

• Proposed design and mockups
• Alpha or Alpha Version: a prototype where you can start testing the functionality of the project but without a design in most cases.
• Beta Version: full version but still unstable, useful for reviewing                .
• Final version: the entire project complete and ready for final testing before launch.
• Phase corrections and tests: it is always best to devote time to test the functionalities for loading and bug fixes that may not have been picked up in a previous step

Throughout each of the deliveries the customer can validate the work and above all may be able to add to each of the parties. In addition this will allow you to adjust to meet your deadlines.

Whatever the case you can sometimes request an initial milestone to start or ‘kick-off’ where the customer advances a percentage of the project (which is usually around 20-50%) so the development team can start working.

It is here where you’ll be able to better justify the budget for developing your app, since you’ll have been able to divide the assigned work into measurable parts; personal resources and time.

Track the work

Again generating customer confidence is very important to propose how to develop the work, what methodologies should be used and monitoring how they will be making deliveries.

This is very much in parallel with the milestones or tasks, the better the project has been segmented, the better the various parties can keep track of progress and deliveries.

Service Maintenance and Technical Support

Note that most customers do not have the experience or technical knowledge to perform routine maintenance and management of the application or of the corresponding server. On the other hand it is highly recommended that the maintenance and monitoring of mobile app performed should be completed by the same team that helped the development. That is why it is useful that at the time of budgeting for the development of the app to always include how much the customer spent on the server (approx based on requests expected) and technical maintenance.

Again take this opportunity to sell your experience as a freelance developer and to generate confidence and trust. If the customer notices that you are not going to worry about the technical side (which in itself is an insecurity if you do not know how to achieve this) this could the difference between opting for a certain proposal and another.

Be sure to offer error correction and care services in the case of technical problems with the application itself or the server. A customer service quality is often the decisive factor between being chosen as an application developer and not.

Method of Payment: Deposit Escrow

As we mentioned above, the usual request for an advance is between 20-50% of the total work. However, be aware that not all customers are willing to advance a portion of the budget for an unsecured app.

Dividing the project into milestones or tasks app enables you receive payment for the project as progresses is being made upon it, which provides warranty on both parts. In any case, to define in advance how you will be making payments is very convenient but does not have to be set in stone.

The security deposit or Escrow system is widely used as a payment method in software development. In it, an intermediary (in this case Yeeply) takes the budget for a deposit from the client (or each of the landmarks) and this guarantees that the developer can start working. If the developer meets the agreed terms the intermediary may release the budget.

This system has a small cost of intermediation but offers an exceptional guarantee that the budget is deposited before the start of the work. This system is used on platforms like Yeeply, contracting websites, where customers are looking to hire professionals to develop apps. This means the prevention of the main problems in application outsourcing.

Finish your proposal with a striking conclusion

If you wish to end up with the best chance of being hiring simply explain why you are the ideal candidate. Take the opportunity to comment on what you could not in other sections and above all demonstrates enthusiasm, confidence and trust in the development project.

You may think this is a very long process, once you’ve done it once, you will be accustomed to it and it will be a lot easier to fill in. Keep in mind that most of the points will be the same, so will be a lot less time consuming to fill in.

If you’re determined to work on projects concerned with mobile applications, we recommend visiting Yeeply, an online platform where hundreds of clients post their projects to hire a freelance developer or development company for their apps.

At Yeeply.com we take care in selecting projects, we always advise the client to define extensively the specifications in order to make it easier for you to understand what is required from you, openness and honesty are key.

Furthermore thanks to the Escrow guarantee system, (where the customer deposits the budget for an app before any work begins) we off you the assurance that you will be charged for the work done. Finally with experience within the platform and client assessments will allow you to get new customers with exciting application development projects to work on.