How much should I be asking for when coding a psd?

It will be cross-browser (Opera 9.0+ Safari 3.0+ FF2.0+ IE6.0+), coded tableless, valid CSS, xHTML and will include the necessary scripting (JS, PHP and MySQL).

It won't be Wordpress, just for an ordinary website.

What it has:

Advanced menu (left and right).
Search box with option dropdown.
Extra menu on the left (with extra indented lists)
Google Ad Space.
The whole thing is 3 column.

I can't show what it looks like (haven't got the permision), but that's pretty much the best description I can give.

 

er define advanced menu, do you mean flyouts? Mentioning php,mysql, are you just coding the PSD or the entire site? Big difference.

 

I will be coding the PSD + a couple of JS things by the looks of it. I'm not sure whether he/she wants PHP so leave that out. It's not really an advanced menu, but it may mean I need to use image mapping as it is in different shapes. It also needs the :hover attribute in CSS, but that's pretty obvious.

 

Where are you located ? Will you be working online or at the site ? It will depend a bit also upon place ...

 

As far as I know, I will be using my own domain to do everything, and then sending the files to him, and I will install them for him if he needs me to.

 

without seeing the design, it could be anywhere from 20-50 USD. Just depends on what you consider your hourly rate to be and how long it will take you. Would also depend on how complicated the JS is, I'd charge more for it unless there's code readily available.

 

Thanks, I was thinking it would be a bit more than that as I have seen someone doing this for 55 USD p/h. But I'm pretty new to the marketing business (not the coding) so yeah.

 

Well, seeing a rate quote and knowing if they are getting biz is two different things. I've seen design sites charging much more for PSD>HTML. @ 55/hr, I would expect to have the site coded in an hour tops. That rate is ridiculous. I don't care how good the coding is. Around 15-20/hr is good with a reasonable timeframe, 2-3 hours. And that rate is probably going to price you out of work on DP. But hey, if you can get the higher rates and repeat customers, more power to you. One way to establish the rate would be set lower rates to start, once you get swamped with work, start upping the price till you find the magic point where the work is the amount you want.

 

That seems a little low. Charge by the hour, and give yourself a livable wage. There is a big difference between what you can charge on DP and the price that you should be charging.

The quality of your work will also be a major factor when deciding on what to charge, so a preview of your code would help me judge it better.

Overall, I would say that doing work away from DP in a less competitive area, I would charge at least a few hundred $.

Just my $0.02

Nick

 

I charge $50 for valid XHTML/CSS for a medium difficulty layout. A bit more for a harder one and a bit less for an easier one.

Note that freelance is not my only income.

 

It also depends on where you are located. Rates are higher in metro areas etc. I keep in mind that where I live, if I was going to be doing a bunch of these, I could hire someone for $8-10/hr. A medium difficulty level PSD for static html shouldn't take over 2 hours, that's $25 hr. It's a fair rate on both sides. But like I said, if you can chage 50+ hr, more power to you. Me, personally, I wouldn't pay $100 for that service.

 

Why would it matter on where you live, if you are using the internet?

 

Cost of living in your area... Consider this, I live in london (rip off capital of the world) where living expenses are high. Why would I want to work for $8 an hour, that only £4 which can just about by a coffee. Another coder may live in india, (or another cheap place to live) where $8 can buy you a lot.

My point is, charge what you need to live on.

 

If you do the work on the inet, you're going to have to match up to rates at where ever you find the work. Its the same concept. If going rate at DP is 10/hr for PSD work, you won't get much work at 55/hr. Same is true if you did local work. If the guy down the street does it for 10/hr, you would have to deliver some awesome customer service/support to lure business away. This, of course, is stipulating similar quality and deliver dates.

 

Personally if it's for a client online i normally charge $8 an hour so take a rough estamite of how long it will take you. Normally coding just a stock website takes me 2 hours - 3 hours. SO i normally charge $20-$30 depending on how hard it is.

In real life i tend to chare a bit more.

 

Hmm, well I live in London so I'm not sure what my starting price should be.

 

May I recommend a good book?
High Income Consulting - Tom Lambert - ISBN 1-85788-169-9

Chapter 6 Setting Fees

you can get some of this info on the net but the book is a good read anyways.

You need to set an amount that you can stay in business for, at the end of the day there are only so many hours you want to work, there is no point in killing yourself to work 18+ hours a day.

 

Much higher. And advertise locally if possible.

 

Well I don't really have a business (this is just sole marketing) but I'd like to earn enough money to pay for my own things. THe thing is it's hard as no one trusts someone with 0 iTrader =\.

 

You could buy some things, to boost your itrader.

Then maybe people will trust you.