[thelist] What to charge for web design

deke web at master.gen.in.us
Sun Apr 15 20:46:58 CDT 2001


On 15 Apr 2001, at 14:05, Warden, Matt posted a message which said:

> The problem that people aren't bringing up is that with no portfolio, you
> aren't going to charge $65/hr for html-jockying (*duck*). If you quote
> $65/hr and have no portfolio or have a portfolio that shows you don't have
> enough experience to charge $65/hr, you're going to get laughed at. Sorry,
> that's the breaks. You have to go for the small-business clients who don't
> have the cash to put up a really "cutting edge" kind of site and are willing
> to take a lesser site for, of course, lesser cash.
 
> Like people have said, there is a lot affecting how much you should charge
> (location, local market competition, etc.). But, if I can just throw a
> number out here, I'd say $30/hr for your first job or two. Then, quickly
> increase the rate with each job after that.

At $65 an hour, they might laugh at your portfolio. At $30 an hour,
they aren't going to even look at it. They pay more than that to have
someone change oil in the company van. They cannot afford to 
have someone incompetent. You *teach* your customers what you
are worth, and while they may not want to waste money, the surest
way to do that is to pay too little. There are just too many horror
stories about website projects.

People are inexpert at buying web design, and an open-ended rate
is scarey. Spend some time with the prospect, and figure out what
the website should be like, enough that you can spec it out. If you
figure the site should take you a hundred hours to do, bid it at $6500.

I think it makes more sense to start by counting the number of
pages, multiplying by $200, then applying various finagle factors
that reflect the complexity and difficulty of building the site and
of working with the client. But that's simply a different route to
get to the same end. The point is, you bid a job so the client can
budget it. 

deke

------------------------
 "The church is near but the road is icy; 
  the bar is far away but I will walk carefully." 
                            -- Russian Proverb




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