how much to charge for a website?

[mlegg]

I made this site for a friend's business. What do you think is a fair price to ask for all my work? Here is a link to the site: http://tinyurl.com/5rknx6p

If this is in the wrong sub-forum please move it to the correct spot.

[Beverleyh]

Only you can decide that I'm afraid.

Base your price on the hours of work you put into it - since we dont know how long it took or what systems you have running in the background (such as a content management system to allow the client to make their own updates), we cant really make a fair assessment.

These resources might help you decide a fair price:
http://webdesign.about.com/cs/salaries/a/aa022403a.htm
http://www.designquote.net/html/dq_estimate_wizard.cfm
http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/marke...sign-services/

[djr33]

Deciding this sort of thing is very difficult. However, in some general sense it seems like things balance out: less experienced designers take longer to develop a site. And more experienced designers take less time but can charge more for their knowledge. So whether you charge $10/hr for 10 hours or $20/hr for 5 hours, either way you end up charging $100 for the same project.
For me, web design is a hobby and when I do freelance work it's a bonus, so I decide on a price that would make it worth it to me for my time. Then if that's acceptable to the client, we move forward.

You can choose to charge by the hour or by the job/component, but it's always best to agree on this beforehand. It's also good to charge based on items-- for example, explain that the number of pages, as well as the complexity of those pages, will change the price. That way you and your client will understand the pricing system and can agree.

If you haven't already agreed and are on good terms with your client then I suggest talking to them. That's always a little complicated, so next time negotiate first.

If you are charging by the project, not by the hour, I still recommend thinking of it as charging by the hour. If it takes you 10 hours, then to make a reasonable amount of money, I expect you'd want at least $10/hr. So that's $100. But some designers will charge more than that, potentially significantly more. I knew a designer a while ago who charged around $100/hr. But of course then you need to find clients who can afford that and be very responsible with your time-- efficient and deliver good work.

Professional companies may end up charging a very significant amount, for example they may even have a minimum of several thousand dollars per project, though those are probably entire sites being designed for companies, not individuals.

Additionally, I believe that it is actually illegal for us to discuss specific pricing because that can be considered a form of monopolizing the market and price fixing. (That's why my answers here are fairly general.)


For me personally, I try to decide what amount is worth my time and at the same time consider the needs (and financial situation) of the client. I think I'm very fair with my prices, but that is also partly because I don't do this full time: it would be very difficult to support myself as-is, I think.


The simplest answer: decide on a reasonable hourly rate. Do you have another job? If so, how much do you make per hour? (No need to post that of course.) Then just decide if you need to make more (or less?) from web design and multiply that by your time. That will give you an estimate and you can work from there to decide if you want to adjust it slightly.



As a general note, it's also helpful (before starting a job) to ask the client what they expect to pay. This will give you an idea of whether you want to work with them and you can still negotiate some, but it will make things easier in the end, assuming they have a price in mind.



Note: I moved this discussion to the lounge since it's not really a question about HTML specifically.



And thanks for the links, Beverley.

[uthamaputiran]

Call some designer to get price estimation..

[traq]

Call some designer to get price estimation..

very bad idea. the designer you get "an estimation" from may be a better designer/developer than you are. They may be far worse.

What is guaranteed, however, is that if they give you an estimate without knowing lots of specifics about your project, then the estimate is worthless. Good designers don't work that way. Giving a price right away means one of three things:

1) the designer doesn't care what you want; they've just got a standard product they give everyone (maybe with different styling, etc.)

2) the designer doesn't know what they're getting into. if it's more work than they guessed, it might not work properly, or the designer might end up working at a loss. (not good if that designer is _you_!)

3) the guy you're talking to isn't a designer. They're a salesman. and they'll find some poor sap in college who they can subcontract to, working them to death for dirt cheap (see #2).

None of these scenarios are of any help at all if you're actually trying to figure out a "fair price" that you can charge someone else.

Start with these questions, and then sit and reflect on what you think is "fair."

What does the project involve? Be very, very specific. The "one page" that you quote might actually involve dozens of scripts and cost you weeks of work.

How difficult is the work? How confident are you that you can deliver a quality product? (that one's tricky. you might need some peer input - nothing against you, but sometimes, the script that you think is awesome, cutting edge code is, in reality, a five-year-old half-baked idea that someone else threw out in a blog post, and it's a coincidence that it "works" at all.)

How much time do you expect to spend on the project? How many revisions might be involved?

[djr33]

How much time do you expect to spend on the project? How many revisions might be involved?

That's a very good point. Revisions end up being a time consuming part. So generally speaking, you can think of a base price then double it, since you will probably do twice the amount of work if you are very flexible with your client. That may very greatly though, depending on the client, your ability to understand what the client wants, etc.
However, in this current situation it sounds like the website is complete. So that may not be relevant. But you should definitely confirm that your friend wants the site as-is, not as a first draft of a much bigger project, or the price should change accordingly.