Rates
Our rates vary widely by project, but we can give some figures as rather flexible guidelines. We have a policy of halving our rates for nonprofits and other worthy causes. Rates for support are 1/3 of the initial rate of the service if you're not eligible for free support. Rates are calculated proportionally; that means 50 minutes is billed at 5/6 the hourly cost, not as 1 hour or 45 minutes.
We previously offered flat rates instead of hourly rates for many services. Unfortunately, many clients abused this system by asking for changes that gradually brought the project further and further out of scope, while paying only for the original scope of the project. Therefore, we will now substitute flat rates for hourly rates only when a formal requirements document is drafted by the client and signed by both parties before work begins (if you're unsure about how to draft such a document but desire a fixed price scheme, we can help you). Additional work outside of the scope of the document will be charged at the standard hourly rate and the project deadline will be moved further for a length of time corresponding to the time spent on the out-of-scope requirements (in other words, the deadlines you initially specify only cover the work you initially specify). Alternatively, we will consider milestone-based rates, particularly on large projects.
All of these pricing structures make it advantageous for clients to have a clear idea of their requirements before work begins.
If you are on a budget, please tell us what that budget is before work begins. If the project as specified will not fit in your proposed budget, we will suggest features you could remove from the specification to make the project cheaper, but if you run over a budget that you never disclosed to us once work has begun, you will still be expected to make payment in full for all completed work.
We offer services other than just data mining, as you'll see in the following table:
| Type of work | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Consultation | ||
| Initial Consultation | Free! | We will look at your project, discuss appropriate solutions, and run an exploratory analysis on your data to give you a minimum accuracy guarantee if applicable. |
| Subsequent Phone Calls | $40/hour | Unlike email, phone calls take place in realtime. We'll be happy to talk with you, but phone time is lost time and we must therefore charge for it. |
| Data Mining | ||
| Mine our data! | $100 per hour, $150 minimum. | We'll run mining algorithms on your data and provide you with a report of the results. This can be fast if we've already implemented the algorithm, so there's a minimum charge. |
| Mining in your CGI scripts! | $140 per hour. | This is a unique and highly specialized service. It covers the addition of mining to existing scripts; if the remaining CGI development is nontrivial, add the cost for the sort of CGI you need. |
| Mining in your applications! | $175 per hour. | Same as CGI, but for standalone applications. Cheaper if the app is in Matlab, since it's an easy language to do mining in. |
| Computer Aided Diagnosis | Contact for rates. | CAD is our specialty, but we're not responsible for health decisions made on the results of our systems. Our systems are designed for research and are not meant for clinical use. CAD is designed to augment a radiologist, not replace one. |
| Standard Web Design and Development | ||
| Web Design | $75 for first page, $25 for each subsequent page. | For design only, without coding. |
| Web Development: HTML, Javascript, and CSS | $115 for first page/script, $50 for each subsequent page/script. | For coding your existing design. Our turnaround time tends to be very rapid. |
| Web Design and Development | $140 for first page/script, $60 for each subsequent page/script. | We design it and code it. |
| Flash / ActionScript | $60 per hour. | Due to the variable complexity of Flash designs, our rates are hourly. |
| CGI Installation | $35 for first script, $20 for each subsequent script. | This is CGI installation, not coding. |
| CGI Coding (basic) | $50 per script. | Including basic form-processing. |
| CGI Coding (intermediate) | $100 per script. | Including data-driven scripts and writing SQL queries. |
| CGI Coding (advanced) | $75 per hour. | e.g. GD visualization, PayPal IPN processing, web services, …. |
| Standard Software Development | ||
| Programming: See “can do” page for languages. | $85 per hour. Flat rates available for repeat work. | Rates can vary greatly based on complexity of project requirements. |