[thelist] A Beginner Freelance Question

Richard Davey rich at launchcode.co.uk
Wed Jul 21 13:12:57 CDT 2004


Hello Webmaster(!),

Tuesday, July 20, 2004, 9:10:38 PM, you wrote:

W> Yes, i understand that, and i agree, but wot i am asking is if somebody may
W> be able to at least offer a ballpark _starters_ amount? as i said, keeping
W> in mind that this will possibly be one of my first bigger customers, last
W> thing i want to do is overcharge and lose them.

Even if you got back 100 different ballpark amounts - it's still of
little practical use to you. The amount we charge to our clients for
our work will vary *DRAMATICALLY* based on a whole number of criteria
that you can't even begin to pin a price on. Some examples:

Country / Area of the country - I'm in the UK, some parts expect to
pay less than others here. In larger countries I am sure this is more
prevalent.

Type of client - Blue chip, Charity, etc.

Client history - even if you've never worked for them before, do you
know them? Are there friendship links there somewhere or is this a
cold pitch?

If I told you that I charge £200 per day, is that any use to you? Your
client might not be willing to pay more than £50 per day, I don't know
- only you know. It also depends on the actual work you are
undertaking and how "common" this is.

Trust me on one thing though - don't worry about "over-quote = a lost
sale" - 9 times out of 10 (in my experience) companies will come back
and say "we like the proposal, but it's too expensive" and you haggle
and take it from there. Unless you are totally way off the mark and
they have a handful of other great pitches on their desk will they
just drop you totally. Find out - do some asking, some tactful
questions, etc. One of the very first questions you should have asked
them already is "what kind of budget do you have for this project?".

If you had - you wouldn't have needed to start this post :)

If there is one thing I have learnt over the years - do NOT be afraid
of loosing a client. If they are an extreme pain in the ass, it's
better to not have their money than have them leech your time away.
Remember this as you expand!

Best regards,

Richard Davey
-- 
 http://www.launchcode.co.uk - PHP Development Services
 "I am not young enough to know everything." - Oscar Wilde




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