We basicly have project that always turn around the same pattern. But, it someti

Question

We basicly have project that always turn around the same pattern. But, it sometime happens that we have project that go absolutly at the opposite of what we usualy do. It become now more difficult to bid and give this bidding to a potential client. In harder case, there's sometime things which look very difficult to do and we just don't have an idea of how much time it could take... We also (for sure) want to take as less possible time to bid this knowing that we should maybe never get the project.

So, my questions are;

On what you base your time?
What are the factors to consider (I know it's a bit hard as you don't see the base informations).
Is there any tools that can help?
To wrap it all, is there a better way to do it and if yes, what is this way?

Explanation / Answer

Bidding a project (which I assume is what you are talking about) is always difficult. If you try to hit the steps below you will be in a good spot:

Make sure you have a complete set of requirements. Obviously you will need input from the client here and you will also need them to sign off on these requirements.
Once you have the requirements, try break them down into the smallest pieces possible. This will make it easier to estimate how long it will take to implement each piece. Take the sum of these pieces as the base for how long it will take to develop (give yourself some padding)
When the client comes to you with new requirements (which they will) try to address them in the next development cycle. I like using a phased approach to development, this allows you to get the clients sign off on the original functionality you agreed on before looking at additional stuff.
If you worry about minimizing the time to bid the project, then you risk the project failing or taking way longer than you expect. It's entirely possible that you might loose the bid, but that is probably a good thing. I would rather not get a project than get a project from a client that won't tell you what they want.

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