Is this a good way to charge for webmastering?

[urquanmaster]

I plan to have a bi-monthly plan and limit it to X amount of updates/requests. If the customer doesn't call in a single request, I'd make no charges. If they use only one, I'd shave Y% off the cost of X and if they only use 2, I'd shave 1/2 of Y% off. It seems a lot easier than calculating hours.

Does that seem like a good plan? How do you guys do it?

[Reli4nt]

how do you account for the fact that differnet tasks take varying amounts of time to accomplish?

[NetNerd85]

You should never charge based around time. Charge what you can. What if a client want's an update that will take 15 minutes? Would you do it for free out of the kindness of your heart? What if 20 clients wanted updates that would only take 15 minutes each? Would you spend 5 hours doing free updates while your business goes down the drain? or would you prefer to make thousands of dollars per month for an update/maintenance fee?

I wouldn't shave off any of the price. They're paying for the security that you will be there to "drop everything" to serve them. They're paying for a service and piece of mind ;)

Of course it all depends on the client and the project. Some one with a 5 page site does not need a monthly update fee. Just charge by update but never by hour.

[Reli4nt]

To me that makes no sense. For a 15 minute update I'll bill them accordingly. For 15 minutes of course I may just wait til the next month when they have commissioned more work but I will get my 15minutes worth of money.

If you charge by update, the updates vary tremendously in the time they take to accomplish and time is the only way to make sense of it all.

[NetNerd85]

Successful businesses which want to stay around for decades charge by value not by time. Why? You can make more money charging by value than you ever will by time, unless you outsource to India or China then get children to do the hard work for $USD 6 a year. You can have a successful and moral business charging by value because it is a "fair deal". You want people to buy whatever you are selling because they see the value in it, not because it's the cheapest thing around. You'll never ever stay the cheapest (because you'll go out of business) and clients who just want the cheapest thing around won't stick around. Business is about making money and connecting with people who can make you more of it. That's the harshness of business, it's about making money, plain and simple. How you go about it and how much you make is up to you but you want to make a good profit and a good living :) don't you?

[Reli4nt]

Successful businesses which want to stay around for decades charge by value not by time.
Yes and No.

Sucessful businesses charge by both. In this case they'd set a different hourly rate for each job based on value. I set a total price for a job up front. The cost is based on the time it will take and the rate I determine for the job. Maintenance however, is always by hour because many customers will eat up you time with changes and testing out variations and so forth if they know they are being charged a flat rate.

Success was never a matter of price either. It's a matter of convenience. Few companies suceed by being the cheapest. Customers who seek out the cheapest prices are the most disloyal of them all. You need to make it easy/convenient for the customer to stay with you.

[Compguy Pete]

Your concept is interesting however I have to agree with the other posters...

Your going to be better off just running the clock or saying that changes are X.

However if charge by the change, quarter hour billing or full hour min your going to upset someone and make another client very happy by whatever you choose. Either way your not going to make everyone happy. you need to do whats right for you and your business.

Telling you exactly how I charge would violate the sites AUP, so we won't go there howerver I will say I support both the project as a whole fee and the hourly rate option.

[NetNerd85]

Do you guys visit with the client? or work over the phone / email? If you interview the client, Do you wear a suit and do some sort of "pitch" routine? or do you wear what's comfortable and wing it?

[KDLA]

Do you guys visit with the client? or work over the phone / email? If you interview the client, Do you wear a suit and do some sort of "pitch" routine? or do you wear what's comfortable and wing it?

Yes, I initially visit them. People will tend to be more kind and considerate if they have a face with a name, rather than just someone out there in cyberland. As to updates, I either email or visit. I've not found phone calls very helpful. Either I'm interrupting a thought, or the person needs to talk to someone else before a decision is made.

I dress as an employee of that business might dress. Keeps the valuation of my work on equal footing, even though I'm a contracted employee. It also shows respect for their concept of "proper" work deportment.

See my post here (http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=119008) for more info.

KDLA

[Reli4nt]

I try always to meet them in their territory but it's not always feasible. I have a few clients that I have never met.

I rarely wear a suit, except for large accounts. I always wear a long sleeve collared button down dress shirt with nice slacks and scuffless black shoes. I think comng across as a worker, someone ready roll up his sleeves and get down to business on the spot, is more important to my relationships than looking like a successful salesman.

In all honesty though I have always focused more on funtionality than aesthetics which usually works for me but sometimes against.

[JPnyc]

We can't discuss any actual amounts here (by US law) but I base the amount on how difficult the update is to do. If it's a quick piece of text they need changed, that takes a lot less time than changing 10 image file sources.

[urquanmaster]

Forgot to mention..

With the plan, each update would be limited to a smaller, text-based update or very minor graphical changes. If they want me to add a page or change something in the layout, I would just asses it, then come up with a charge. If we go by the "easy" arguement, I would say that a bi/tri monthly plan is more favorable to the client.

And yes, we definately don't need to mention any money sums. We're just talking about different payment plans ....and I'm sure that's not a TOS violation, is it?.

[KDLA]

I charge by the month, operating on a "retainer" - a set sum for each month, which covers any assignments covered by the contract. But, let me add, that the sites I work on are usually non-profit organizations (and I cut them a break) and the changes I make are usually text changes (rarely image-adding) every other week.

[FireCracker37]

I always meet with the client if it is possible. I like to sit down and understand how they work. I will be honest in saying that some companies get quoted a slightly higher price, based soley on the fact that I know they will be very demanding, and I will be doing a lot of work for them.

I allways incorporate update fees in my hosting bill. If they client hosts with an independent hosting company, then I tell them they will be billed by the hour for all updates, this helps me retain more hosting customers as well.

I don't care if an update takes 5 minutes or not, the customer is paying a lot less for my time then they are paying for what I know. Maybe it only takes me five minutes to do the update, but that is because I am trained to do something that they couldn't achieve in a week.

I honestly, don't do anything for free, if you start handing out freebies, then they are going to expect it all the time.

[why2k]

I charge a set minimum amount for any updates then the price gets bigger ast the update gets bigger or takes more time.. Cover your butt or else you will die!

[Kendi]

I charge a flat rate for the month allowing for only simple changes such as updating text or a few images. Adding pages or re-designing a page is not included. This has worked well for me because usually my updates are like Up Coming Events and Calendar Events kind of updates.