Charges
Posted by taoski | Filed under Coding, Geeky, Web
As the other members of Geeklimit will know (from my whining, sweating and general angst on IM) I will be leaving my tech support job at the end of the month. I have worked for this company for 13 years and as I am only 34 I feel my skillset can still grow and be nurtured by another company foolish fortunate enough to employ me.
Since I decided to leave, I have been asked to design quite a few websites for various people. This is not a real issue as I have a bit of experience with making websites from the past. I have CSS, HTML, Photoshop, illustrator and Dreamweaver skills too. I studied art and Graphics Design at school and college too before I fell into fixing PCs.
However, how much do I charge?
The sites I have been asked to make appear that they will be of a general nature, a few pages with just text, images and links. Nothing too fancy. So I did a quick search over the net and found that:
- Some places appear to charge around £100 for the home page and a smaller amount for any subsequent pages.
- Some places charge by the hour – sometimes up to £80 per hour!
- Some places charge about £250 for 5 pages.
- Some places charge about £500 for 5 pages!
Where do I start?
“Help me web designers…. you are my only hope….”
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June 8, 2006 at 7:35 am
I’ve been thinking the same thing, do people really charge that much for a website?
I’ve got a coulpe sites I’m working on at the moment.
Definatly the hardest thing when designing websites is getting the customer to tell you exactly what they want, sometimes you can create a site to what they asked for and then they say they don’t like it!!
June 8, 2006 at 8:44 am
I’ve had a few people ask me to set up web pages, along with requests to build them machines, install home networks, etc. I went on Microsoft’s web site and found a free template for a consulting contract, then used OpenOffice (just wanted to say that) to fill in the blanks.
I now keep a consulting contract on my USB key that states that any service I provide is $30 for 0-60 minutes, and $7.50 for every 15 minutes after that, rounded up. (61 minutes costs $37.50, etc.)
Yes, I’m cheap, but I figure it’s fair. I don’t have any complaints either, since most web sites get built for under $100, just using site templates I can find for free on the web.
I use the Joomla (www.joomla.org) open-source CMS platform, and teach them how to maintain their own content via the web-based admin center. (I make them managers, admin has too many confusing/dangerous options). I’ve found this works out well, since creating a site seems to be worth the time/price I charge, but maintaining the sites quickly become a huge pain/waste of time for the money.
I’d also like to point out that part of the reason I don’t charge that much is because I’m using an open-source tool to make their site. It wouldn’t be fair of me to charge them for something I get for free, so I just charge them for the effort of setting up the domain name, hosting, and installation of the software.
June 8, 2006 at 8:45 am
also, if you go this route, you can have a pdf that you give everyone that describes exactly how to add/remove news, control the front page, add/remove static content and add/remove menu entries. Keeps you from explaining it over and over…
June 8, 2006 at 8:50 am
For example, check out my friend Tom’s site. He’s a former Olympic javelin guy that now is kinda like a personal trainer for kids. The site is running Joomla with an apple.com-style template I found on the web. He adds and controls his own content via Joomla’s backend.
http://www.tpsports.org
The site just needs to be a basic portal for information about his business, and gets about 60 hits per day. For a site that takes less than 3 hours to set up, this suits his needs just fine. (3 hours = domain name registration, hosting set-up, Joomla installation, template search and install, and any customizations, like the logo addition)
June 8, 2006 at 8:58 am
Thanks for those pointers “Mr Crat”.
June 9, 2006 at 1:09 pm
Not necessarily relating to the web design element, but to pricing in general, in any field of business:
Working dramatically cheaper than the rest can give you an edge. You have to make sure, however, that you can do the job quicker as well in that case. Also, you might actually need to get more clients AND handle them faster, putting pressure on your quality, not to mention your life, should you have one
From what I gather, you’re not seeking to become an independent entrepreneur, but I think it applies nonetheless.
Sometimes it’s not a bad thing to ‘go with the market’. I’m not saying this applies to all and everything, but I just wanted to make this point since I’ve seen it happen before. You work longer, for more clients, stress-up and in the end earn less (not to mention taxes that pop up).
Hope it helps formalize your thoughts, if not, I won’t take offence. Good luck with any of your endeavours though!
June 12, 2006 at 10:38 am
http://www.redevolution.com/
selling joomla websites with custom themes for between £250 and £800
June 12, 2006 at 11:05 am
Holy crap, what a ripoff. Not only are there thousands of free themes out there, but Joomla is free and as easy to set up as WordPress. So basically you’re paying for the theme, which could never be worth that much.
For example, to justify those prices, I would have to spend between 15 and 49 hours installing the software (1 hour, tops) and customizing the site. There’s no way it would take me 14 hours to make a theme, even if I wanted to. (Which I don’t, because there are so many out there that could be slightly edited to fit almost any application)
Unless this includes some sort of custom PHP app development or lifetime hosting or something, this isn’t a good deal at all.
June 12, 2006 at 12:52 pm
£800?
There is hope for us all!
lol…
June 20, 2006 at 10:36 pm
I’m not sure where you all live, sounds like both Europe and US… I live in California, and to setup and manage a site for any medium to decent size business, I charge a minimum of $100/ hour. On average, I make between $1000 – $1500 for initial setup and design. Maintaining is an hourly charge, also rounded up. SO, if I manage and add content as requested the customer sees an invoice for time spent.
How can you expect to live on anything less, especially with gas and home prices what they are? If you charge as little as $30 / hour, and are giving your customer your undivided attention, then they are the ones getting a SCREAM’n deal… my opinion. Bravo for you willing to work for so little.
The computer / online industry is still (believe it or not) a thriving market in which dedicated and talented individuals are paid good money to provide good product. Even if it is only setting up Joomla / Mambo or whatever Open Source software available, your expertise and service is key, oherwise they would be doing it themselves.
As for using someone else’s templates and rigging them for your purpose, that’s just plain plagiarism, and would NEVER expect my customer to be satisfied with something ‘borrowed’ from someone else. My customers want an unique identity, a look and feel that defines their business.
Okay, I’m done. Good luck to you all…
June 21, 2006 at 9:39 am
hmm, I think we’re talking about two separate customers here:
You’re talking about making a living and running a business, while creating a unique entity on the web for customers that will have support needs.
I’m charging $30/hour to help friends or family get a web page up with news and contact info, or to upgrade their machine with more memory. I have a job that pays me pretty well, I just do this on the side for people I know.
As far as plaigiarism is concerned, people who submit their designs to the community for open use are encouraging you to use them. This saves my friends and family money, since I don’t have to re-invent the wheel for them. And as far as customizing the site for their business, that takes about 2 minutes in the CSS file, and another 2 to upload their logo.
People usually subscribe to two methods of billing:
1.) Cost-plus. Figure out what the work is costing you, including your time, add a certin percentage (mine is zero, since I only charge for time), and bill that amount
2.) Whatever you can get away with. This is usually more profitable, and will probably be most people’s idea of successful pricing, when this is your only source of income.
Since I usually only work for people I know, and I’m doing this to be helpful, not for money, I do the former and just ask to be compensated for my time.