Depends on how ongoing the “brokerage” work is.

If they help during the specs level and during the level of getting paid, and if this “broker” middle-man has a track record and experience ensuring the developer would get paid would keep getting paid, I’d say it should be between 50% and 75% on top of what rate the developer quotes. In other words, if the developer is asking for $100 an hour, the broker would bill the client between $150 and $175 an hour.

If it’s just the entity that connected the two, I’d suggest the figure between 15% and 25%.

If it’s a consulting-like agreement, part-time, short-term, and limited in scope, 15% on top of every bill should be fine.

If it’s a referral to a somewhat permanent position, the referral fee is generally between two months of compensation (2/12-th of what the developer makes during the first year) for juniors, three months (3/12-th = 25%) for a senior-level connection, and six months (extra 50% on top of their total first year comp) for a vital C-level hire.

Can’t say.

Generally, you get charged time and materials for development. You will pay any operating costs yourself.

Development isn’t as well defined as building a brick wall. As a result, predicting the time it will take is also not well defined.

Your final bill may well be more - perhaps significantly more - than first estimates would suggest.

Simpler kinds of app might be achieved by solo freelancers for a cost in the thousands range. Maybe hundreds range for a trivial ‘add your logo to a white label freeware thing’

Generally: it’s not cheap. Amazon and Facebook have spent billions on their apps and back end systems by now.

People who know what they are doing charge a high rate, charge by the hour, and don’t hestitate to walk away if you don’t pay. If you want a bunch of meetings, fine, but I’m charging for them. Want to spend two hours on the phone, fine, but I’m charging for them. Want me to go out and test and drive around and play with things to see how it works, fine, but I’m charging for it. Want to tell me what needs to happen and go against accepted norms, fine, but I’m charging for doing it wrong and then doing it right.

I’m not doing fixed fee development and people are tired of that with its problems of contract management.

There's no such thing as a "fair margin". You should be paid in accordance to the level of service you provide and the value your service creates for the customer. I'm a big proponent of results-only IT projects where you as a consultant are paid for the value you create for your customer.

This is a big step for many, customers and clients alike. But done well, it can make IT projects so much more productive, valuable and fair in terms of who shoulders the risk.

The first step as a consultant is to understand what constitutes value to the customer and how you easiest go about achieving that. Customers are used to consultants who never deliver on the value they expect. Do this right, and the customer won't be stingy and argue about margins but extremely loyal instead, refusing to work with anyone else.

The same reasoning works for sales commission fees. The commission should work to maximize customer return, not allow the sales agent to suboptimize. The goals of the sales agent, consultand and customer should align. Sadly, most sales commission agreements encourage suboptimization. Designing a fee structure that's fair is hard work, why many skimp on it.

A broker fee is basically the fee that you pay to your mortgage broker to look through the deals where you’d get accepted for a mortgage and find the best possible deal for you.

You may not have to pay this if you get a mortgage straight through a bank. Since independent brokers have access to lots of different deals from different banks and building societies, they can see a lot more variety than banks would, as they will only offer their own products.

You basically pay this to them as a finders fee. You won’t have to pay it if they can’t find you a deal, at least most of the time. The fee itself depends on the location too, in large cities such as London it may be higher than in other places, and it can also increase depending on the loan amount.

I go into detail about different fees on my blog that you can come across when buying a property:

I only really cover the UK, but you might come across these in other parts of the world as well, it’s better to budget for them. Also, budget more than you think you might need, just in case.

What's fair is just the problem with your entire thinking. There is nothing fair when it's come to price. What you need to is to read all sections in the Internet when it comes to value based pricing. You price yourself according to what the customer perceives it's worth in what you are offering. In the end, the only thing what is fair is that you know your own costs for your service product / consulting project and the minimum you need to have in order to break even. (Those calculations would entirely depend on your organization regarding your fixed and variable costs.)

That minimum is what you call a deal breaker, that you can walk out of the deal with good conscience. Anything else above the minimum level "the sky is the limit". If the customer think its worth it, then that is what you will quote. Don't worry, market forces will see to it that it will work out for both parties in the end.

I’m assuming this question relates to real estate broker fees, and specifically in regards to residential transactions.

Typically, the broker who has the listing for the property for sale determines the commission payable and negotiates that with the property seller. In most parts of the US this is going to be between 5 and 6% of the sales price of the property. If the real estate broker is part of a cooperative group of brokers (ie a local Board of Realtors, REBNY in New York City, etc.), there is generally a blanket agreement to share a commission if another agent procures the buyer for the property. In that case, the listing agent and the buyer’s representative would typically evenly split the commission (ie if a 5% listing, 2.5% per side).

There are cases when a property is listed as a, “Buyers Premium,” or other some such in which a buyer must pay a commission to the broker. There are also cases of, “Collect Your Own Fee,” where an agent bringing in a buyer would negotiate compensation directly with the buyer. This is often the case if an agent is bringing a buyer to a For Sale By Owner property.

For rentals, the fee structure varies a bit.

In most places, the owner pays a commission equal to 1 month of rent to the agent who has the listing to rent the property. If there is a cooperative/MLS arrangement in the area and another agent brings the tenant, they would typically split the owner paid commission. In some cases the tenant’s agent may seek additional compensation from the tenant. In some cases a local Board of Realtors or MLS may have rules that prohibit a tenant’s agent from collecting additional compensation from the tenant when they are already being paid out from the listing side.

In Manhattan, the customary commission for a rental has been 15% of the annual rent, paid by the tenant. This has been changing and more often larger properties offer options where a tenant can walk in off the street, without a broker, and simply rent an apartment and therefore not pay any sort of fee or commission. There are a million different variations on how this works in today’s market.

Please don't take offense... Keep an open mind and reflect on my comments as it's coming from a "HOW TO SELL" perspective.

Web developers are a dime a dozen.

A pretty website that is not converting visitors to prospects is nothing more digital wall art.

Useless to anyone but the owner to look at and admire.

Business owners don't want websites... What they really want is a virtual slot machine that will crank out money with every pull of the arm.

Business owners want the RESULT you are promising the website will bring them.

Prove that you can deliver at least $1.10 in ROI for every dollar given to you, and I will fill your dance card for years to come.

Maury

A mind is like a parachute, it only works when open

I know several alternative business finance Brokers and they get their leads through a large, well-managed network. They build it through their own contact books, with other Brokers, attend conventions and industry-focused events, prospect via telephone and occasionally even cold call. They build relationships with people who work with small businesses and who are in a position to understand the financial situation of a potential client and recognize a funding opportunity (tax professionals, attorneys, consultants, etc.).

They also spend a lot of time reminding people of what they offer and a lot of time marketing their own brand through social media and email blasts. They often build websites to generate, collect and control leads.

Start with friends and family, and consider that there is never a bad plug. Get the word out with all of your social networks (in person and online).

Consider joining a local board of trade.

Think about HUB networks, for example, if you are more on the development side, consider signing up with a graphic design agency to take on contract work.

If you are in a area without that much competition , definitely work on your local businesses, and be the expert in your city.

If you are trying to build a portfolio still, consider volunteering services for local non profit and user groups to get your name out as well.

If you have skills and time, consider contributiing development to WordPress / Drupal etc.

Sign up as a developer and write plugins for WordPress etc.

Clients will come.

One last bit of advice is that traditional advertising doesn't seem to convert well for this industry, so if you have an advertising budget, consider putting it toward more creative promotion ideas.