how much to charge per hour?

[distanthawk]

Hi

I am a novice web developer.

I am creating web site for a prosthetics business(friends of the family). The site is 75% complete, and it turned out very clean. Nothing fancy, just html, javascript, several photos, graphics, and news paper clippings.

The owners of the business are not very web savy, and have allowed me to make all of the desions. The site will be up in a month or two, so can not include a URL

My Question

How much should I charge per hour? I was thinking around $18-$24. I live in the bay area. I have currently put in 104 hours over 7 weeks. They seem to be very pleased with the site so far. These are good friends of the family, and they will require updates in the future. So how much per hour?

Note:

- 2 people before me have attempted to make the site with unsatisfactory results. They paid a guy who made a site with only text $800.

- they pay another guy $5000 on month to maintain there computers and network at 2 locations(about 10 PCs). He only comes in when he is needed. I wish I had his job.

thanks for any advice,

Alex

[pyro]

There answers are going to be in more of a general sense...

How much you charge per hour depends on a few things. Your skill level is one. The more skilled you are in programming/design, the more your services are worth, and thus, the more you can charge.

Also, it depends on what you have done for them. If you are just talking (X)HTML, and CSS, you aren't going to be albe to charge as much as you can if you are working with PHP (or some other server side language), MySQL (or some other database), or even JavaScript.

[Daria]

You have to keep in mind the size of the site, too. How many pages are there? Is it just the site, or will they also have mailboxes with their domain? Will you be involved in future updates or is it going to be just a static site that is off your hands as soon as it goes live?

[distanthawk]

the site will probably be updated every couple of monthes with new photos and press releases about the business

the site will also not involve any sever side scripting, some of the employees can hardly use a mouse.

Alex

[MotherNatrsSon]

It is really hard to say without seeing the site, but this question has been brought up on a couple other forums I frequent. The "going rate" for design and layout of a site, with no scripting of any kind, seems to be $30 to $60 per hour provided the site is "custom" and not from a template. If you add ASP or PHP and databases to it, it seems $60 to $80 per hour is the "going rate".

If you are going to be maintaining the site and doing regular updates, "good" friends of the family, you may want to cut them a package deal. X amount for the site, and X amount a month for maintenace and changes to the site. This could be determined by how much time you think it will actually take you to check links and make sure everything on the site is working each month.

If you made or make a "logo" or any other graphics for the site that is usually extra as well.

Many people said they tried to "go low" on bids to do a site and the project actually went to someone that was charging more. People equate "cheap" with low quality and lack of experience.

my 2 pennies ;)

MNS

[Daria]

Agree.
Also see who is proofreading the final content: if they proofread it and you just use their corrections, there is normal hourly rate, if you do proofreading yourself, there is extra + $15.00 an hour. There is also an extra charge for anything that was not a part of the original plan. Many times people "suddenly remember" "few more" "little add-ons". Beware of the trap and always leave some plus-minus margins for the price in the proposal :)

[Sux0rZh@jc0rz]

The "going rate" for design and layout of a site, with no scripting of any kind, seems to be $30 to $60 per hour provided the site is "custom" and not from a template.

if the site is all one template but is a template you made, then charge them per page, cause after the first page all you really do is modify the words on the page, not the layout.

also: if they truely are good friends and you like them, cut them at least 10%. charge them for the initial design then the maintenance should be around 20-50% of what the original design cost was. (you can charge them if they decide to switch templates again and you have to redesign the site)

im 14, so 20$ an hour seems fair to me but I don't know exactly how many pages your doing. you could just charge them like xxx$ for the layout and then xxx$ for each page you add if its a site with the same design over and over but with lots of pages.

btw: if your living on this, then i'd charge them around 20-40$ an hour sense they are friends.

[MotherNatrsSon]

I am amazed at the number of teenagers doing sites these days. Nothing against them if they are actually doing an excellant job ie; coding to standards and taking accessibility into account. If they are really good, charging the "going rate" even though they are teens is not unacceptable in my eyes. But I'm an old man, I got kids that are teens....LOL

Written contracts are also a good idea. Get it on paper, and have them sign it. That way there is no confusion as to what terms were agreed to, costs for add-ons, and everything can be itemized.

MNS

[amacfarl]

A little advice for the future. Agree a price - then start work. Unfortunately you have provided a service and are now trying to agree a price.

This is the recipe for disaster. It is too easy for the service provider and the customer to disagree on a price. You may charge them per hour, however in their mind they may be thinking per page... etc.. etc..

Undoing the work is not going to help you. It is not like selling a car, where you can take the car back.

Agreeing a price first ensures that both parties know what is expected and what are the deliverables.

Just a little thought for the future......

[Sux0rZh@jc0rz]

its his family friends so i don't think he's gonna get to much trouble....this time.

[Robert Wellock]

I typically charge £500.00 per hour for solution providing though generally webpages tend to be charged upon content rather than time spent.

[pyro]

Originally posted by Robert Wellock
I typically charge £500.00 per hour...That has to be a typo... :D

[Robert Wellock]

No, it was not…

[pyro]

Could you do me a favor then, and define "solution providing"?

[Robert Wellock]

You're getting closer now, I am bound by hacker ethics not to charge money for accessibility-retrofitting, or providing coding solutions, though that's the standard figure I quote before business negotiations begin.

[pyro]

Ah, ok... I think I got ya, now... :)

[Robert Wellock]

Good ;)

[Jordan]

Hi,

yes its always best to quote before you begin so that both you and the client agree on price, requirements and delivery time. I would never go into a project where the price was not agreed.

see 'HOW WE WORK' section of www.designers-4-web.com

[Aronya1]

One thing to consider: if you charge by the hour, be ready to document your time to the client's satisfaction. This may be difficult to do, so it might be worth considering a flat fee of some kind, with guidelines for number of pages, graphics work, etc., all laid out. Ie: 10 pages, 3 images of a certain size per page, for $10,000.00. Then, advise them that changes in the design will mean an increase in cost.

[pyro]

10 pages for $10,000? If that is USD, those must be some complex, complex pages...

[Aronya1]

Looks a lot like this:

<html>
<body>
<h1>Show me the easy money!</h1>
</body>
</html>