Forum Moderators: LifeinAsia
I've been in the web design for quite a while but somehow all my clients were friends and I didn't really charge them anything. Now I was approached by a company to make a website for them.
They need it designed from the start. <snip>
So pretty much I'll have to do the following:
(1) Make pictures
(2) Retouch them (photoshop)
(3) Make HTML/Java client side
(4) PHP Server side programming for some basic visitation stats
(5) Possible over-the-phone maintenance afterwards.
They ask me to bid my price for it. Can someone clue me into how much this all costs?
Thank you in advance...
[edited by: stuntdubl at 1:51 pm (utc) on May 4, 2006]
[edit reason] edited specifics [/edit]
Unless there is a major design element involved, then you can charge a big amount of money $$$$ :-)
Better to go by the 'Hours it will take' X 'Hourly rate in your country'.
Without beating around the bush, how much would you charge per hour?
In reality, I have always ended up charging what the local market and client's budget could bear - much less than $45 when all the hours are taken into account.
Moving into a new market area or opening a new business often means that it is more important to get some successes into your portfolio than it is to extract the maximum income from your first clients.
Anybody in the US?
Without beating around the bush, how much would you charge per hour?
Enough that you fill the time set as work to the capacity that you are comfortable and can deliver on client expectations.
When your capacity is met, raise rates for all new clients to the point that you drop your least compatible customer.
Related:
The resources stuntdubl gave, contain quite a number of relevant issues. The first question is always: What does the customer actually want and expect?
What about a long-lasting payment of a few cents per visitor (or other more detailed measures) as long as you maintain the website? Does the company know about the value and possibilities of good SEO?
You can!
1. How many hours will it take?
2. How much per hour are you willing to work for?
1x2 = a price.
If you can't answer the above you are not qualified to do the work.
If you can answer the above you know the cost!
This is only complex rocket science if you want to rip-off your first valid customer! Don't do that, those techniques are best left to the experienced pro's with a reputation!
on your portfolio page where you list samples of sites you've done, in the description put "A site like this would cost about XX"
I would first of all ensure that the previous client has no problem with others knowing what they paid.
they do expect a bit more than just five pages like "about us", "how to find us" et.c.
In other words, they want me to make pictures of different storage units they have (it's a self-storage company), present them on individual pages with unit stats and dimension graphs (I have to draw all that too) and make the whole thing into interactive wizard, so that customer could select appropriate storage through a series of question-answer pages. Plus there's a reservation page and user feedback page with its own validation. All this besides "about us", "how to find us" etc. pages, plus it'd be nice, they told me, to have some internal visitation stats.
Since you have the link to the website that your clients would like to have theirs look like, so you can check the number of static pages, no. of dynamic pages, flash animations etc.
We are a Web Development unit in India and we charge here on a per page basis. We usually charge here $15 for a static page with just static content like images, text, menu etc and $25 per dynamic page that includes PHP Scripting and database connectivty for database driven content.
So, in this way you if you estimate the total pages as 20 (12 static + 8 dynamic) then you can charge $180+$200 = $380.
Alternatively you can charge on per hour basis as well. the choice is yours...!
Good Luck,
Ajay Chadha (Director)
<snip>
[edited by: trillianjedi at 12:32 pm (utc) on May 8, 2006]
[edit reason] TOS [/edit]
Anyway, guys, it doesn't work to ask a question without a sample. Here's the site they want theirs to be like:
How much do you think something like that would cost?
[edited by: jatar_k at 8:11 pm (utc) on May 9, 2006]
[edit reason] no urls thanks [/edit]
[edit reason] no urls thanks [/edit].... well, then I don't know how this forum might be of any help...
.... well, then I don't know how this forum might be of any help...
most people here know what various types of website look like, examples aren't always required! :)
i think that percentages in msg 11 gave pretty much the definitive answer to your question anyway
.... well, then I don't know how this forum might be of any help...
Well, if that's what you think perhaps we should just close the forum down ;)
>> they want me to make pictures of different storage units
So you're going to do the photography as well as the site design and production work?
Since this is your first paid job you'll need to take a swag at the price. I don't quote work anymore because there are too many unknowns. I give a range to the customer with the caveat that it may change depending upon what happens as we get into the project. That being said, I still use the basic formula of estimated hours X current rate. BTW - my rate has a built in multiplier of it's own that covers my overhead and profit.
For example, if you think a website will take you 50 hours to build and your hourly rate is $50US/hour then you either quote $50 per hour with an estimated time requirement of 50 hours, or $2500. Psychologically, $50 x 50 hours looks a lot lot more than $2500.
They will only ask you how many hours then add it up. and refuse to pay anymore..
Best to break it down in to sections on what will be done and why, price and costings for it, then give them some options..
Decide exactly what you will be doing, give them a price for that, pointing out that if any changes or addons are required then the price will change, if not, they get what you discussed at the price you discussed no hidden extras..
businesses can handle that, they know the budget, they know the time frame, they can calculate the ROI..
At the moment your problem is , it's like asking "how much does a car cost"? until you can decide with your client what type of car, what kind of fittings and fixtures etc .. nobody will know what the other is doing or wanting.
Take that time to get a clear idea about your clients, get to know their business, their clients their product, the 2 or 3 meetings this will take is when you sell yourself and your design...
That's the basics mate...
