Web design pricing

anykey · Post by **anykey** » Sun 11 Mar, 2007 6:22 pm

Some of my friends and I actually got hired to do web design for a real business! It's definitely different than the off and on stuff I was doing before...
The other day somebody contacted me and asked me to design a simple static website for them. It's pretty much done, and I have no idea what to charge. One of my friends claims I can charge up to $100 for each static page, but that seems to be a little too expensive, especially since I know this person and I'm not a pro (yet!).
What should I charge?

hop · Post by **hop** » Sun 11 Mar, 2007 8:11 pm

Did you design the interface or the actual markupcode? Can you show some screenshots of your produced quality?

Did you provide documentation? Source development files? Does your design conform with professional standards? Did you use specific project management or HCI techniques?

Otherwise, $10-15 per hour. Tops.

anykey · Post by **anykey** » Mon 12 Mar, 2007 4:12 am

But this isn't something that can really be priced per hour...
All it is is a simple css layout with some html. Yes, it is very professional, but wtf are HCI techniques?!

hop · Post by **hop** » Mon 12 Mar, 2007 9:36 am

Human-computer Interaction.

What kind of company was it? How big? What kind of site? How big? How much did you do? How much time did it cost?

Post by **kv83** » Mon 12 Mar, 2007 9:37 am

But this isn't something that can really be priced per hour...

Why not? Everything is prices per hour... how much work did it cost you to make it is the most important question when indicating a price.

hop · Post by **hop** » Mon 12 Mar, 2007 2:45 pm

Even if half the work was just sitting somewhere thinking about your design or aproach to the job.

anykey · Post by **anykey** » Mon 12 Mar, 2007 4:51 pm

I guess I can make an estimate as to the amount of time it took me.
This isn't for a company (that's my next assignment), but just for a therapist.

Here's what I have so far (just one page, since she hasn't given me any content yet)
http://eric.woodtx.com/web/designs/Melissa%20Wilson/

hop · Post by **hop** » Mon 12 Mar, 2007 5:15 pm

Yeah, 10-15 / hour tops.

That's the basic uneducated+inexperienced doing the job rates in this business.

Add another 10/hour for working significant experience, skill, or education.

And yet another 10/hour for highly professional techniques/hardware/etc required for doing the job.

Something like that.

Maybe some more if you want to look fancy to potential employers, but you'll have to be able to back that up with your work.

Guide:
http://advertising.about.com/od/getting ... erates.htm

Check out guru.com for the real thing to compare with others:
http://guru.com
(run a search for html web design and sort by lowest rates first)

That's what you have to compete with in expertise and price.

I get 25 euro / hour for my freelance work. (taxes excluded) 150% for working on location/overtime.

anykey · Post by **anykey** » Mon 12 Mar, 2007 5:36 pm

Awesome.
Thanks for the reference material!
Once I get a couple more clients and some more experience I can charge a little more.

hop · Post by **hop** » Mon 12 Mar, 2007 6:46 pm

One other important factor I keep in mind that few mention is the amount of work one expects to be doing.

I'm ok with 25euro / hour because I know I can get more work than I could possibly do. From a single company. So it's pretty much a steady, more than full time, job if I want it to be. And 25 euro/hour ain't that bad for a student

If I wasn't studying and had to go find my own freelance employment without the certainty of having work, I'd increase my prices to compensate for such various things as accidents or loss of work.

I mean, how many students can make $400 in a day copying a php class and editing it a bit?