IMO we have 2 methods,

T&M: which may be directly invoiced, or it may be offered with a contract, and terms.

Contract: a binding agreement with the scope of work defined, where all parties agree on the terms, and amounts.

Either of these, can be used to bid a project.


Flat Rate, just happens to be, a term pricing system sellers, use to market their estimating sheets, for preparing a contract.


Just as a side note, many fortune 500 companies, use the same type of estimating sheets, to generate their internal work orders.



[This message has been edited by LK (edited 09-25-2006).]