How much would you pay to make a web site ???

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mramzin36

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Sep 27, 2007
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i was just wondering how much you would charge to make a website cuz ive been asked to make one but dont know how much to charge some one should i get payed by the hour or when its done and just make a total???

basically all i want to know is how much should i charge to build some one a web site????
 


I've been doing freelance web design for a couple years now for guys in my town. I originally started charing by the hour, its way easier if your just starting out.

When you make a bid you are just multiplying your hourly rate by the amount of hours you expect the project to take. When I tried giving them a bid I usually GREATLY under estimated the time it would take to complete the project and ended up spending more time then I thought I would, and thus loosing money.

I suggest you charge by the hour, and LOG ALL YOUR TIME (Time you work, phone calls, in person meetings, all of it). If you decide to do bid, take the amount of hours you think it will take you, and multiply that by 1.5... That gives you some wiggle room.

As for how much you should charge... Its really what they are willing to pay. I charge $15/hr. The clients I took were paying $90/hr for a worse job. Since this is your first time I would recommend not charging more than $25/hr. As you build your portfolio and your experience you can start to charge more.
 
Charge a flat rate. People feel more comfortable that way, and you don't have to worry about billing someone for 10 hours and then explaining what you did within each one of those hours.

Always go flat rate.
 
I agree with demon, charge a flat rate but base it on some sort of hourly project budget. However, over-guess and build in the EXACT changes that a client can request during the project...

In April I charged $5k to develop a site, which I budgeted at $50/hr for 100 man hours... Unfortunately I wasn't clear as to how my client could adjust certain elements of the project (ie some aspects of layout, site functionality, etc.) and ended up going waaaay over the budgeted time. I think the end result was probably close to 150 hours in to the project, which dropped my functional earnings down to $33 an hour.
 
And for god's sake make sure your flat rate is nothing less than $500 for the *simplest* of sites (think 1-3 page brochure). In my experience, doing websites like this (small customers) is typically a pain in the ass and the jobs typically take more of your time than anticipated. I'd try to start at $1k for 3-5 page site where you can use an off-the-shelf design template and Joomla or similar. Try to sell the customers on using you as a host and charge them $20 or $30 / month to host and support the site. Try to add-on a SEO and PPC campaign and monthly management fees for those. The recurring income (especially when you build up a few clients) is really nice.
 
I charge a flat rate also but do almost the same as "smap". I charge one flat rate for the website and make sure you have a SOLID agreement on color schemes and the layout first or you will end up going way over budget on revisions (learned that the hard way) and I give them a second quote with a NICE Discount if they want to switch to my hosting service and I will do monthly maintenance and upkeep for the monthly hosting fee. (then charge hourly if they need Big changes) most of the time they switch and never need revisions however you keep getting paid monthly for their website.
 
What would be the best way to handle the payments in this case? Because you don't want to hand over the website you spend hours on, only to have your customer not pay for it.
 
I take check from all my clients. If you are really worried about them not paying just have everyone sign an agreement before anything starts. If they don't pay, just take it to court, once you show the signed agreement you get your money.
 
smap said:
And for god's sake make sure your flat rate is nothing less than $500 for the *simplest* of sites (think 1-3 page brochure). In my experience, doing websites like this (small customers) is typically a pain in the ass and the jobs typically take more of your time than anticipated. I'd try to start at $1k for 3-5 page site where you can use an off-the-shelf design template and Joomla or similar. Try to sell the customers on using you as a host and charge them $20 or $30 / month to host and support the site. Try to add-on a SEO and PPC campaign and monthly management fees for those. The recurring income (especially when you build up a few clients) is really nice.
Click to expand...

You have a point there smap. You can do some kind of upsell that you can offer to your clients.

jaded said:
What would be the best way to handle the payments in this case? Because you don't want to hand over the website you spend hours on, only to have your customer not pay for it.
Click to expand...

In my case, I sometimes come across nice clients who pay in advance. However, there are those who want to see your work before paying. But get into an agreement to pay 50% before you work. That's the best thing you can do.
 
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