As a website designer, I get asked by my colleagues all the time on how I determine my design charges? To be honest, there is really no straight answer to that question. Most of the time, I always say “it depends on the work”. It could be per page, per hour, or per project.
Now here are my advices for aspiring designers who are just getting into the business. Before you ever give out a quote to the potential client, you need to considering a few things first.
- What is the project and how complex would it be?
Ask your potential client, a couple of things. Some questions to ask include:- How many pages will they be needed?
- Are there images and/or templates that need to be used, or will they be created as part of the project?
- Are all contents will be provided by the client or will be written by the designer?
- Will there be any Flash, multimedia, programming or scripting required?
Depending on the answer to those questions may raise your prices.
- What is the deadline of the finished design ? The more urgent a project is, the more you can generally charge.
- How much experience do you have?
The more Web design experience you have, the more you can charge, consider yourself as an expert on this field. Keep in mind, however that if you don’t have a lot of Flash experience and that’s what your clients want, you shouldn’t rely on your six years of HTML coding to increase your prices.
- How much long-term maintenance is required?
Often, when a Web site is commissioned, the clients have not thought beyond just getting the page up on the site. As a Web designer, you should make sure that your clients have maintenance covered. If they expect you or your company to cover it, you should probably get a separate contract for that aspect of the job.
- Find out the on-going rate around your are?
This can often be difficult to determine. The best way is to network with other designers. Consult for a web-page work see how much they will charge and you can also ask a firm’s hourly charges.
- How much do you want to make?
The bottom line, after everything else is: how much do you want to make? For example, you might have a project you would love to do, because it would be fun, or interesting or challenging. Your bid might reflect that. On the other hand, you might feel uncomfortable doing a job or would have to do extra work just to complete it, such as if you would have to hire a database programmer to complete the project.
Some General Rules of Thumb
- Never bid on a project you do not have the resources to complete. If you assume that you’ll be able to hire a MySQL programmer when you make the bid, chances are you’ll be scrambling 2 days before the due date and spend all your fee on a last minute programmer.
- Always remember to Get as clear and specific a contract as possible.
- Be careful with pro bono work. There are many good reasons to build Web sites for free, but you should treat your pro bono work as seriously as any other contract. And if you give away your services, your customers might not want to pay after the free period is over, even if they like your quality.
- Always be honest with your clients. If you say you can meet a deadline, then meet it, and if you can’t give them as much warning as you possibly can.
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October 19th, 2007 at 7:10 am
Im a web developer and usually I charge $800-$1000 for basic site with customer graphics this is up to 8 pages. When it comes to Flash design, I go about base of $1500. If it is e-commerce, I usually charge at least $2000.00
October 19th, 2007 at 10:02 am
Thanks for the info. In most cases I underestimate my potentials that I lower my prices even though I know that I am an expert on this field. Can you give a ballpark on how much you charge?
October 19th, 2007 at 10:06 am
I charge about the same as Karrie. I have been doing this for awhile but it really depends on how complex the design is and how complex the customer as well
There are a lot of them out there who cannot decide what they really want, they change their minds almost everyday.
I suggest you avoid those people or else you will stuck on that project forever.