Hi there I desperately need a website quote asap. My client has asked for the following specs to his new 'Photography and Videography' website. Design: * Logo and header * Navigation; Home, Services, Suggestion Box, Galleries, Videos and Contact * body; content * Footer; copyright and sponsors Pages: * Home-page > 'Announcement notices' section, a few thumbnails as latest category-name to link to gallery page and 'About Us' section. * Service-page > All services on Photography and Videography * Suggestion box-page > a form for suggestions and improvement * Gallery-page > Categories of photos starting off with thumbnails first, then click to view a larger scale of the image and having a comment e.g. link * Video-page > A youtube video * Contact page > A contact form and so on.. How would I estimate the cost. I appreciate your help and can't thank you enough. Many thanks in advance CHEERS
$1200 would be what I would quote for that it if is a fully customized website. However, working with photographers in the past, they are amongst the worse customers to deal with because the majority of them (not all of them) are nit picky about a lot of things that do not even matter in terms of their business. A lot of these guys are sadists that think because they have money to pay, they can meddle and dispute every detail. Sorry for the gloomy outlook, but I have had bad experiences with photographers in the past. However, again, this is not all of them--I have met some that are very easy going.
Cool! Thanks ironman, so what is the breakdown of your cost and how long do you reckon it would take? Do you charge by hourly e.g. 40hrs x $30 = $1200 or flat rate?
buckmajor, I rarely quote by the hour because when you do that, you put a price on yourself. When customers think you are only worth an $XX per hour...you pinhole yourself from future work opportunities and investment opportunities. For example, if you charge $60/hour, they may be able to pay now but in the future if their wallet is not as deep, they will not go back to you because they feel they cannot afford you. And if you charge $30/hour, two years later if they come back to you, they will think you are still worth just $30/hour. On top of that if any investment opportunities come about, who would invest in someone worth so little? Here is my breakdown of the costs: Cost to outsource initial development will be lets say $200. Cost of tweaks and changes will be twice as much as development because this is the process that takes longest, so let's say $400. And for your time consulting with the client, going back and forth between the client, you and the developer...this on-going / pain in the ass process will take 2-4 weeks, so pay yourself $600 for this. Obviously, you can change these price figures and find someone to outsource it to for less, but I am giving you a guideline to follow. If you have Google Talk, you can add me and I will be more than happy to help you out further. is my Gmail I hope this helps you buckmajor.
True, does this include custom design too? What would recommend for the photo galleries, say for the client to upload his own photos when ever he wants? Would word wordpress be the best answer?
P.S I know it is wise to give the client a quote first up but is that the same as a written proposal? I was thinking about it and thought how would you structure this?
Your not going to believe this but I have learned something important today. My client that ask for my service has bailout . Man it took 3hrs of my time for the blueprint 'Consultation' and at the end of it, I got nothing. Do you reckon I should of charged my client for the consultation after the meeting...I mean he said 'yes' and convinced me but then I got an emailed just now about not wanting to go ahead with it . You can agree or not but I think I will charge my future clients for consultation of his website scope straight after the meeting unless it goes ahead then I can make it a free consultation fee. Come to think of it, would it be easier to create a documented form which outline the agreement on 1. Consultation fees and 2. Free Consultation fee if client wishes to proceed our service, and have this signed off first before the meeting? What do you think? I like my idea and will seek some legal advice.
buckmajor, Sorry, I know this may sound harsh, but remember what I said about photographer clients being a pain in the ass? So I hope now you get a better idea of the different "types" of clients out there. As far as consultation, I do only phone and in person, because that filters out some of the fakes. On top of that, I would kindly let them know that they would need to provide you with everything they have on the website, and that you would require a deposit before doing any research, diagrams, blueprints, etc. for them. This will prevent you from wasting time with the customer like you did here.
That's a cool way to put it. So the deposit is paid up front before any research, diagrams etc. How much deposit are we talking about?
Thanks ironman you have been so hopeful. So with the percentage amount, is that for the total estimate? If so, do still have to work out the quote first, is this right? I would still need to do some research, etc. Unless, I can ask for a random deposit maybe e.g. $150 up front, then work out the total estimate after I know the specifcation.
buckmajor, See the problem you are facing, in my opinion, is you are looking at it from a strictly mechanical point of view. To me, this is not a problem of contracts or deposits or any of that. You have put in the work, and the prospect customer backed out on you. So you deserve to be compensated for that time you put in. (Please correct me if this is inaccurate.) The root of the problem comes from the fact that you did not see this coming, and that is from a lack of understanding of human psychology. My recommendation is get a sales job (not retail store), start cold calling, networking, and really getting under the skin of people's psychology. All animals have an intuitive feel for the terrain, if you can get the intuitive feel for your terrain, then you are God-sent. The ability to sense if someone is legitimately interested or bullshitting, the ability to sense if a product will sell or not sell, etc. All these are permutations of animal intuition for the environment that are instinctively in each of us, but is in dormancy. The fact that I suggested the photographer guy would be a pain in the ass (and without meeting him) and the fact that I suggested this venture work out http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1387254&highlight=new+venture are examples of this "intuitive feel" that I am referring to. This answer is probably not what you were expecting, nor is it a quick fix. But I think this will help you in the long run. I spent 30 minutes putting this to words, so I hope my efforts help you!
I'm beginning to understand a lot more now. I clicked on that link and it brought a lot of understanding about traffic. Maybe I need to do more research and put it into practice. As for the quote, I can assure you that it was worth your 30mins for me to learn and understand about people and more about traffic too. CHEERS
It's really hard nowadays to get 1200$ for a website like that ... there are a lot of people out there that will do the same website for much much less ...
I definitely agree. I signed up on a freelance website and projects was estimated around $150-$300 or less, depending if its a full size website.