Absolutely true. The advantage is the same regardless of billing model.
I've found you can't compete against off-shore outfits on price if you want to keep making money. So don't even try. Your competitive advantage is quality, communication, and responsibility.
You can deliver high quality product, designed for extension/enhancement in the future, and can communicate clearly with the client, and understand what they want (without them having to create a 50 page requirements document covering every tiny detail), and after the delivery they can call you up, and speak to the same person they talked to before, on the phone, and you'll take personal responsibility and pride in your deliverable. That costs more. End of story.
You won't get every client, but trust me, the ones that just care about the lowest $ figure above all else, aren't the clients you want to have anyway.
I'm not sure it is. When someone asks for a large, but reasonable rate, like $75 or $100 an hour, you generally know that they're good at what they do, and that they're worth the cost.
There's kind of a sweet spot in there- less than $35 an hour, you know they're amateur and you feel like you're getting substandard service. Much more than $100 an hour and you know you're getting fleeced.
I've found you can't compete against off-shore outfits on price if you want to keep making money. So don't even try. Your competitive advantage is quality, communication, and responsibility.
You can deliver high quality product, designed for extension/enhancement in the future, and can communicate clearly with the client, and understand what they want (without them having to create a 50 page requirements document covering every tiny detail), and after the delivery they can call you up, and speak to the same person they talked to before, on the phone, and you'll take personal responsibility and pride in your deliverable. That costs more. End of story.
You won't get every client, but trust me, the ones that just care about the lowest $ figure above all else, aren't the clients you want to have anyway.