OT: Website Design -- How Much?

MaxKaladin · Feb 7, 2002

Well, people ask everything else here and I figure at least some of you might be in the right field.

I've been hooked up through a former coworker with someone who wants to get a website designed for his business. I'm supposed to meet him tomorrow evening to discuss this.

I've done some web stuff before. I did a webpage for the computer store I worked in in college, I've done campaign web pages, I did one for a non-profit group once, and I was a Seagate Web and IIS admin for a little while. I'm mostly a programmer though. I've done consulting before, though as a reporting consultant (SQL stuff and Crystal Reports).

The thing is I have no idea what I should charge for doing a website. Obviously it will partly depend on complexity and what all he wants on it, but I don't even have a ballpark figure.

Any pointers would be helpful.

Thanks,

Bandito · Feb 7, 2002

I don't know much about it, granted, but for a rough idea of what some people pay for said services, you can check out www.elance.com . It's freelancers that bid on jobs like web design etc...

Hope this helps.

Number47 · Feb 7, 2002

I do website design myself. I typically quote a job out based on $50/hr. with a very honest estimate of hours. That should be a good baseline. Usually, it gets knocked down a little from there in haggling.

Max, you and I should hook up. I am mostly a graphic designer, and you say you are mostly a programmer. If you want a nice layout, I would be happy to negotiate making up some "dumb" pages for you.

Oh, and everybody check out my website. It isn't great, but I had fun doing it.

Psionicist · Feb 7, 2002

Look at my personal webpage at http://psionicist.online.fr/
I like the look. It's easy to use and such.

I would recommend something:

Don't use BLACK background. That looks highly amateurish in corporate websites. EXCEPT if you are really good at colors and there are lots of information. But it's generally not worth even trying get a good look with black (really dark) background.
Don't use frames. Same reason as above.

I would personally charge 20$ per hour for a complex site with databases, SQL, admin systems and such as I'm too young to charge as much as "real" webmasters.

So if you are older than 20 or so you can easly charge 50$/hour.

War Golem · Feb 7, 2002

Hi MaxKaladin,

You really need more information. There are so many questions one needs to address before you can even begin to get down to numbers. I'm a corporate webmaster, not a freelancer, so the following isn't entirely from personal experience, but rather my impression of how the freelance market works.

First question is ALWAYS - Why do you want a web site? What is it's purpose? What is it meant to accomplish? Is it just a page with a contact information (telephone, address), an online brochure, a database of products, an e-commerce store, etc.

My personal inclination would be to charge a flat rate for designing a web site, based on a thorough interview of what they truly want/need, but even if you charge by the hour, knowing how involved a site they need should help you estimate the required hours better.

Plus, don't forget the issues of maintaining and updating the site after the initial design and creation. How often will the site be updated? How quickly? Are you expected to be at their beck an call to update the site on a daily basis, or just once a week, once a month, etc.

I'll throw out some numbers, but they are just my educated guess:

Simple site, few pages, all or mostly HTML: $300-600
Extensive site, many pages, all or mostly HTML: $1000-1500
Medium site, ASP and/or database, and/or e-commerce: $1000-$3000
Large site, complex, extensive programming: $3000-$10000

These numbers might be low, I'm not sure, In any case, for all sites, add more if you are also doing graphic design work for their images.

For maintenance and updates, the per hour fee is probably the way to go, $40-60/hr for HTML work, $60-$100+ for programming.

Hope this helps. Prices are always negotiable, of course. Just be careful not to get sucked in to agreeing to design a site for a flat fee without clearly defining up front the terms of what you are expected to deliver.

Good luck.

clockworkjoe · Feb 7, 2002

One thing to remember: don't feel bad asking for that kind of money. Businesses can afford it and yes while it may be easy for you, it's skilled labor and deserves more compensation than working at a fast food joint.

Escobar19 · Jul 18, 2019

Hi , in my opinion as from custumer view the design and interface of the site is the main thing that attract the client me . If you want to gather more clients and make a good profit from selling your product firstly you need to invest in marketing and in the site developing . This guys provide the best web design toronto .They provide amazing website exactly how you desire . They continue even after building the site to provide support and help with ideas all the clients.