Today at work, one of my bosses explained to me that he wants to start a "side-job", selling a few things. He asked if I would be interested in doing the website for him in my down time. I obviously replied that I would love to, since I don't have much to do in the evenings anyway. Now, he asked me how much, and how I would like to get payed. I have a few questions about this: 1. What is the normal or proper way for freelance website designers to get payed; per page, per hour, per entire job, etc? 2. How much should I charge? - This site will take some time, but isn't a problem because it just needs to be done by next Christmas. - Should I charge more than I get payed normally at work since I am doing this in my free time? Since this is my first freelance job, I am a bit up in the air about everything. Actually designing and coding the website won't be a problem, however, I have no idea about I should charge this guy. He would like a price, or at least an idea of how I would be charging by tomorrow.Please help marketing gurus!
I charge a flat rate for most web design jobs. Usually in the mid $XXX range depending on a few factors. It really comes down to how much work is it going to be. How many hours do you think it will take you to do?
Probably about a solid 20 hours. Maybe a couple more. That will probably take a little while since I'll only be able to work on it at most 1 hour a day. But like I said, I have plenty of time to complete it. What would you say for that amount of time? Thanks for your suggestion, I added to your rep!
20 hours to design a website? That's a little high. Honestly, if the guy already knows what he wants the site to look like you should be able to pump out a mockup in photoshop within 2-3 hours, review a few times with him to make adjustments, and do it again. You shouldn't have more than 10 hours to do the design, then another hour or two to slice it to coding. But for 20 hours of work, I'd say somewhere around $500. But that's just me. Or you can bill him at something like $25/hour, which is about the industry average for design work. Then just keep a very specific record of the work you do. I personally hate charging by the hour though, so I just give them a flat rate based on how long it should take.
Personally, go around high figures. He's your boss, he owns the company i'm guessing, he's minted. Just don't take the piss, and look after him! Per page I'd say $50-100, or per hour around $30-50.
Most buyers prefer a flat rate. To figure out how much you want to charge: How much is your time worth? Calculate that by how much time you think the project will take. Then you need to increase the cost by about 20%, as about 90% of clients ask for more work than originally intended.
I'm not sure, I would prefer to charge somewhere in the neighborhood of $1000-$1500 for the entire project. I'll be doing this in my spare time, and my spare time is worth a lot. I'm a software engineer, and I already get payed an ok wage, so this little side job I do I would want to make it worth my time. Has anyone ever charged a flat fee of this much, or is this ridiculous? I mean, if you pay a mechanic with no education to fix your car, they charge like 40-50 per hour. Why should I charge any less?
Christian Little, I feel if I only charged $500, I would be under selling myself. I don't have much free time in the evenings, so I need a little more motivation to use it to help him.
Easiest thing to do is get a quote from a few of the web design companies advertising in your aread. I would suspect the majority of them would be well over $1,000...
$15-$20 seems rational, however it depend on your area and competion, check what others are charging for similar work?
$15-$20? I feel my work is worth more than that. My limited amount of free time is worth more than that. I came here to check what other people charge for work like this. I don't know where else I could go. I'll do some googling for designers in my area.
Ok, of the research I have done in the past like 10 minutes, lol, I have found two designers that gave example estimates. For a site like I am quoting (small business that incorporates e-commerce integration), prices range from $2500 - $5000. I guess quoting $1500 is quite reasonable. I'm sorry, but I just can't do it for $15-$20 an hour.