Starting A Web Design Company - If You Own One, Please Chime In.

Currently I own OrganizedHavoc Web Design and I run the site with 4 freelancers on a daily basis. We are doing quite well, and within a year I would like to open a storefront and provide web design services locally. I usually give affordable quotes to people based on the work needed, but when we have the actual storefront we would like to create a pricelist and hourly wage sheet.

I could make something up and write how much we should charge, but I was wondering if anyone here owns a brick and mortar web design company and they would share with me their price list? Or could make one up?

Thanks for any help you can give.
-George

 

i would also like to open my own web design company in future. Interested in this topic too. highhobbiescom, is yours a new web design company? which country is it located?

 

Just sent you a PM.

 

First stop is google. Here's a quick grab:

http://artatom.com/FAQ.html

Interesting cause it lists the database backend quotes. Page itself looks like it should cost less than $5 though.

#2 result looks much better. More graphic design related though.

http://www.qesign.com/custom-design-price-list.shtml

#3 More of a business look to it. Covers additional profit areas (seminars etc, maybe not your thing)

http://www.grantasticdesigns.com/prices.html

There's more results at google but it gives a starting point.

 

Thanks, I will look into it.

OrganizedHavoc is based out of High Point, NC but will be relocating before opening up retail store.

If anyone has any other comments, please chime in.

 

I was involved in a web design firm for a while, and apparently I still own part of it. For years we had a large office, but eventually so many people were telecommuting that we shrunk it down to two rooms. Now everyone telecommutes, and things seem to be more efficient than ever. They use a hosted PBX for phones, so staff can just pick up the phone and dial a 3-digit extension to talk to a co-worker for free, even across the country. People have more time to spend with their families, they're living in their preferred cities (or rural outposts), the time zone spread means better phone coverage, and the cost savings are substantial.

Based on that experience I'm not so sure a storefront is that much of a plus. Do web design firms get a lot of walk-in business? Normally the meetings are held at the client's location; even when we did have the office I could count on one hand the number of times a client actually showed up for any reason, other than dropping off a cheque.

P.S. I like your web page.

 

I would like to have an office, with a sign on the door, although on the inside it will be 4 small offices and a larger room in the front with couches and/or televisions and a very relaxed feel. We would like to make everyone feel super comfortable at all times. The offices will be for myself, a designer, and a graphic artist. The other office will be a meeting room for us to meet with clients if they would like. I just like having the option to, when needed, talk face to face with my designers. I have had 3-4 freelancers work for me in the past 4 years, and although it is a great money saving idea, I feel I would work better with a dedicated in house team. I also like that we can put our advertisement in the phone book and locally sponsor events with a brick and mortar location for people if needed.

Thank you for the web page comments, I think simplicity is all that is needed for an information page. I hate all the extras that designers add to websites just to fill space.

Web Design Firms that I have recently visited seem to have 2-3 new people per week walking in. This was in a popular vacation spot, where there are literally thousands of businesses.

Any other comments, chat, suggestions, or anything is greatly appreciated.

 

Bump for new comments, suggestions.

 

My advice is to not pay for a physical location just because you "want an office". Run your business to make money, not so you can feel that you are a professional with an office. As previous posts have said, you probably don't need a physical location because those few times you will need to actual meet with clients you can do it at their business location or a restaurant or coffee shop.

If it aint broke don't fix it... this has killed many many otherwise profitable businesses.

thallewell

 

With the office issue, I own a web company and we get probably 5% new client walk ins, 20% to 30% email inquires through our business sites and remaining and largest portion of work comes from existing client referals. A store front for me does not bring in much business.

I think an office makes sense only if you see the benefits in having all your staff in the same place to work, also whether you enjoy the social aspects of the office which is sometimes overlooked, as working from home is great but can be a little unsocial and lastly whether it makes sense economically also.

As for prices check out your local competition, most will have price online if not send them an inquiry asking for prices for a few things and see what you get. Prices in general vary alot depending on location and work, small company or big company but just browse some sites online.

 

I would like to hire people, and have a physical place to do business and to work with my employees. I dont just want a physical location, I want to have people near me who work for me.

 

Thanks milvos, Good post. I like the fact that I can tell a local client that they can come in and brainstorm in our meeting room, as well as at their location. I also would like to be close to my staff and would like to be able to discuss things with them face to face. Sometimes it is easier to describe something that way. Who do you staff? I was thinking a graphic designer, an all around web designer, and myself (a little of both.)

Thank you so much guys.

 

I'm in Wilmington, NC and I'm considering getting a single office downtown just to have somewhere else to go. I would suggest office space rather than a retail type storefront. Office space is way cheaper and I think would have more benefits than a retail space for a web design business. Not bad for networking especially if you're in a bigger office complex with other businesses that do B2B.

 

having an office is nice... having a storefront is much more work. I would try to avoid any hi foot traffic areas. Pedestrians think because you do web design you also fix computers and like to talk about their favorite game. I used to do primarily network consulting until I opened an office/storefront on the main street in town.... The repair requests and hardware sales were so busy I ended up losing so many network contracts.

Good Luck and don't be afraid to charge what you think is the a fair price, there is always someone cheaper and there is always someone more expensive... be fair to yourself and your customer. Do not charge what you think you should be paid for an hours work. I try to keep my pay at about 30% per hour of work that I bill for.

 

I would love to have an office space with a nice view, and still have the ability to list my address in the phone book and on advertisements. That would be amazing.. Guys, I really appreciate the responses.. Thank you.

What staff do you guys have? Are they all just all-around designers, or what? What did you start with? Do you host in house or use an online hosting service?

 

What does "20% to 30% email inquires through our business sites" consist of? My biggest fear is that with $100,000 in student loans, I will fail and lose money with this venture. This is my dream job, and I don't want to fail. Hard to go into something with this mindset. Also, I like this price sheet I found online: http://www.netformz.com/web-design-prices.shtml. They seem to have everything worked out, but still ask for the customers to request a quote. The price sheet I want is for me and my designers, I will ask people to request quotes as well, but I am writing a business plan and need a solid and very detailed price list. What do you guys think of theirs? And do you have any suggestions?

Also, I found this price list online: http://www.123triad.com/services_pricing.php
Do you think their web design is too inexpensive? I think with the overhead i'm looking at and the quality of design, their prices are very low. Which can be good, and bad at the same time.

 

Rent a mailbox in a prestigious location downtown and then find a nice place to work somewhere else. You can collect your mail once a week; nothing useful arrives that way in this business. Even cheques and contracts normally come by courier. And unless you're doing $50 sites for Girl Scout troops, I remain very skeptical about walk-in business. This isn't a barbershop.

Speaking about this company I co-founded again...

Full-time staff (with benefits, etc) are system administrators, database administrators, programmers, sales, and customer service. The designers are all freelancers, mainly because the design phase of our projects tended to be short compared to the backend development - quite often there would have been big gaps with nothing for a full-time designer to do. This also makes it possible to have a lot of different design styles "on tap".

If you hit up the art schools you can get limitless supply of talented designers willing to work cheap just to build up some real portfolio pieces.

 

Thank you for your post. I still am stubborn and would like to own a physical location, I have found offices with 3 rooms and a main meeting room for less than $900 a month with all utilities included. I don't want to mix personal life and my work, I will work better in an office rather than at home in my home office. It may sound strange, but it's true, for me at least.

 

If you are adament about having a physical location and I admit you have good reasons for having one - then you should arrange your price list according to your overheads plus margin taking into account how good you are compared to your local competitors (if better then adjust your margins to reflect that)

But coming on this board and being willing to ask for advice shows alot about your personality; i don't think you'll fail.

 

Personally, a physical location is crazy when you don't even have an established cash flow positive business!

ok, so just to stay a float, you need to make at least $900 a month for rent + bills (electricity, water, heating, rates, taxes).. then you will need to pay for telecoms (internet, phones, faxes) then you need equipment such as chairs, desks computers, printers.. this really starts to add up, and your running costs can be easily double that of rent.

So that means you need to make at least $2000 or so per month just to pay your bills, then you need to pay yourself and your staff!

There are really no benefits of having an office space in this industry unless you are established, have good cash flow and good clients.

It sounds the only reason you want an office is to say you have an office.. there is no value to having one at this stage of your business, you need to learn to walk before you can run.

Oh.. plus you have $100,000 student debt? You really should factor that in.

Take a step back, remove your emotions from the idea.. then look at the figures.. is having an office space really the smartest idea financially?