Web Site Development Pricing and Rates?

davidjam

Are there any on-line resources that have standards for rates and prices on web site development across the country?

I have no idea what to charge!

Also I would love to here what members of the PHP Builder community are charging. (Please say what part of the world/states you are from. I live in Montana and cost of living is lower than other parts of US.)

Thanking all in advance...

drawmack

Call some local companies that do this kind of work and pretend you're interested in having them set up a web site for you. Then in the process ask them what they charge per hour, or what hourly rate their quotes are based on. From what they say develop an average then undersell them.

weekender

first, only bill a set fee if you and the client are very certain of the specification and work required. If not, bill hourly or daily.

I chose the initial amount based on what the salary of my previous job had worked out at daily. Then factor in your reputation - if you are starting out, offer cheaper rates and possibly target poorer clients (charities/schools etc) who can't afford as much, but will be super-enthusiastic about their site, and so spread your name. Once you are established and people start asking for you by name, then you can start charging more.

pyro

Originally posted by weekender
first, only bill a set fee if you and the client are very certain of the specification and work required.

This is an important point. It's always a good idea to have detailed, written specifications that state exactly what you are going to be doing. This way, if the client tries to add additional features, you'll be able to get your money.

drawmack

Originally posted by weekender
first, only bill a set fee if you and the client are very certain of the specification and work required. If not, bill hourly or daily.

I do full job billing, but I do an itemized quote that has all the features they say they want. Then if they ask for something later I can refer back to the quote and either say yes or sorry that will be an extra fee because it's not covered in the original quote.

I have yet to have anyone complain about this.

Also I get half the money up front and half on completion. That way I don't do a 6 week job and end up not getting paid for it, at least I get paid for 3 weeks.

davidjam

Thanks for the feedback. I hope we get a lot on this thread because I am sure it would be a resource for everyone.

Again if anyone knows of any kind of association for developers / web builders please post it. Graphic design (which is my legacy career path) has a number of these kinds of associations, for instance the Graphic Artists Guild and the American Institute of Graphic Arts.

davidjam

To distill what has been said so far:

Find out what is being charged locally.
Keep your rates low and competitive at first, increase later as you get a reputation / experience.
Provide a quote/estimate based on specific site requirements. If features are added then add these to the final bill. (I will add to this that the client should be provided with a revised quotation so they can give the go ahead)
Get half up front. Half upon completion. (I have seen this elsewhere with internet dev. companies)

davidjam

I like the idea of charging for services rendered and not for time spent, because at this early point in my career I am spending a lot of time developing functions and classes that can all be used on future site development. It wouldn't be fair to charge the current customer for this kind of thing (on an hourly basis anyways).

Bunkermaster

Originally posted by davidjam
I like the idea of charging for services rendered and not for time spent, because at this early point in my career I am spending a lot of time developing functions and classes that can all be used on future site development. It wouldn't be fair to charge the current customer for this kind of thing (on an hourly basis anyways).

In some countries (France for instance) it is forbidden to bill hour rates to your customers. You can only charge for a package since if you can define time spent etc. you could hire someone to do it inhouse. No one respects that though 😃 (in France)

drawmack

Originally posted by Bunkermaster
In some countries (France for instance) it is forbidden to bill hour rates to your customers. You can only charge for a package since if you can define time spent etc. you could hire someone to do it inhouse. No one respects that though 😃 (in France)

My qoutes are based on an hourly rate. So I describe what I'm going to do, tell them how many hours I think that will take and give them the price for that number of hours. I do however tell them that this price is set in stone once the contract is signed, so if it takes me less they still pay and if it takes more they pay the same. That meets with the price for service and I still get my hourly rate (usually).

cbn_noodles

Don't suppose anyone knows off hand what the going rate is in London?

I need to extract some data from an ODBC database and then present it neatly in an XHTML document.

That's all they've told me so far - but I will definitely get a list of exactly what they want for a quote, as others have said. That way I only do what is on the list.

But still, I need an average hourly rate... just so I have a rough idea in my mind.

XeRoZeN

Also another tip for our business is NEVER EVER! Design a basic site and say "I do professional work" most of the people I talk to tell me that they don't bother going threw the site if its ugly. So make sure you work on your site and make it very good looking. I seen people charge $80 for a website but that doesn't include all the pages its just for a simple index page.

redrabbit

Hey, i'm in the same position as you, and this is what i have decided on: