[BNM] Fwd: How much do you charge for a web site?

[paul perrin]

Wot nick said.

A small site may be less techi development work, but there is no reason to
think the client liason/usability/graphic design etc will be any less than
any other site.

I'd generally separate out project management, graphic design, asset/copy
production and sign off, implementation for review, testing, going live
and support.

Whatever you do don't do a working 'prototype' that then 'evolves' into the
final site -- evolution is a long slow process. Clients often change their
minds (back and forth, again and again) , and often get distracted after the
first burst of enthusiasm.

Include delivery dates (and payment milestones) in the agreement - both the
dates by which the client must deliver copy to you, and the dates that you
will deliver stuff to the client -- if the client misses a delivery date,
then they should expect to pay for your wasted time.

For support have a minimum charge (maybe a half day).

If the sites really are so simple, the client may be better having a
designer heading it up - who can then farm the web work out if requried.

Paul /)/+)
2008/5/1 Nick Taylor <nick at tangerineworks.com>:

> > I am being increasing asked to make small (20 page or less) static
> websites.
> >
> > How much do you charge for such a beast ?
>
> Don't know, but in my experience the bulk of the work you'll wind up doing
> isn't in building the website itself, but involved with becoming the
> de-facto support person from day-one until they need a new website... and
> you gratefully pass the baton to some other bright-eyed kid. For me,
> hosting
> sites for friends has been a hard habit to break and a long, long journey
> of
> extracation.
>
> Personally although the costs (ignoring the above) of building a simple
> site
> may be less than 1k, I tend not to do anything under 1k - unless I'm being
> subcontracted to by another developer.... because the lower the budget,
> the
> less planning they will have done and the more time you'll spend on the
> phone chasing them for copy etc. I did a 1k contract for a local brewery
> (and who could resist that?) and it took over a year for them to get their
> copy together... by which time I'd gotten too busy with other stuff and
> artfully oozed out from under the responsibility. They were nice people so
> I
> didn't charge them for anything - but I shudder to think what the net loss
> was in terms of my chargeable time.
>
> That said, there are doubtless people and companies who have learned how
> to
> manage the smaller punter. Not me though. I'm not really clever enough for
> the simple stuff - too easy to push around etc.
>
> I'd almost consider taking smaller jobs to a local agency who hire
> freelancers and saying - "I've got this job but I'm a geek -  I'm not as
> good at customer liasson as you - would you consider hiring me to do it?".
> It's a fair bet that their cut won't be as much as the time you'll lose
> dealing with rogue support calls etc.
>
> And they'll have a better idea of what to charge.
>
>
>
> n
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> ______________________________________________________________________
> NICK TAYLOR :: nick at tangerineworks.com
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