How much do I charge?

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How much do I charge?

It's my first paying "gig"

GoodChi

5:51 pm on Oct 7, 2004 (gmt 0)

I'm designing a website for a small business owner in my town who liked the design I did for a relative's local business. The site will be fairly small - about 20 pages total, and the first page will involve Flash (which I'm studying frantically right now). I don't want to charge a lot since I am new to this, but I don't want to undersell myself either. Could anyone give me a general idea of what I should charge this guy? Thank You!

moltar

6:17 pm on Oct 7, 2004 (gmt 0)

It all depends on the area where you live, business type you are dealing with. In my area, site like this would be very, very roughly $3000 (professionaly done). I am not sure how "new" you are to this, but it is just an idea.

GoodChi

6:35 pm on Oct 7, 2004 (gmt 0)

Thank you - That's what I needed was a "general idea." I was thinking of charging about $2500. I'm in a small town, but the client travels and services high-end clients. I'm not in this for the money, it's more of a hobby. Seeing as how this is my first paying gig, I really didn't have any idea what to charge. Thanks very much for your help!

jetnovo

1:46 am on Oct 14, 2004 (gmt 0)

I work for a small company (8 people) in New Zealand. Here the standard rates for HTML work of a high standard are US$45 - US$60 per hour (depending on what city you work in). We allow three hours per page for building pure HTML, plus time for flash, search engine registration, design, uploading, validation etcetera.

An average 20-page site HTML-only might cost US$2500 once costing calculations based on the above factors, are taken into account.

The minimum people here charge is about US$15 an hour, which is for super-crappy, HTML INvalid, el-cheapo sites. I think charging US$2000 - US$3000 is reasonable, especially since they are obviously already happy with your standard of work.

dpf777

4:18 pm on Oct 14, 2004 (gmt 0)

<quote>I don't want to charge a lot since I am new to this</quote> You need to examine this statement. Are you reluctant to charge because your "newness" means your capabilities are low? or does it simply mean your confidence is low? My advice is that you not charge "low" for either reason - do a pro job and charge a pro price - even if your inexperience means you have to invest long, hard hours getting up to speed. dont sell yourself short unless you are really out of groceries.