web site estimate
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- Fanco
okay. prepare yourself for the ugliest web site ever done :
i might land a contract to redesign it. they have a tight budget. i am a student. so they hope to save some dough off me. i was thinking around 1500$. but i know they will do stupid and useless changes so i can expect more than 1500$. is this a good price? or should i charge more?
- canuck0
If you were not a student then I would say no, quote higher.
But I am in a similar situation right now. I am back at school and have been offered a shot at redesigning this ugly turd,
I am probably going to suggest a rate of $20 an hour, and later on tonight figure out how many hours it will take to redesign. You might take a similar approach.
- ldww0
that background is marble-icious
- dotsonsocks0
It doesn't matter if you are a student or not. If you know you can do quality work, don't be afraid to ask 30-40 bucks an hour. If they think it's a little high, you can always bring your rate down. Unless you are desperate for experience, don't start at 20.
To answer your question, 1500 doesn't sound too bad (that's 50 hours worth at work if you were to charge 30/hr).
- Visia0
waaay too low. Just because you're a student doesn't give you the right to undercut. It's a horrible approach to business to say to a client: "Look, I'm gonna do a shit job on your site because I'm just a student and don't know what I'm doing, but I'll do it for cheap."
Either do good work and charge for it properly (roughly 75-150/hr) or don't take on the work at all. Your status as a student shouldn't enter into this equation at all.
- BrigadeDesigns0
Agreed-- charge a proper rate.
It's folks like you who make it harder for us to bill appropriately.
- TResudek0
To me it seems that this client doesn't care about quality... they care about getting information online at a cheap price. I would bet my life that they also are the kind of company that will ask you to make tiny changes until the end of time even though they are probably useless changes.
I'd prepare a comp and give a quote for how long you think it'd take to make it into reality. Make it clear that any changes on top of that will be an additional charge.
This is probably a BS client that you'll grow to hate so make sure you make it worth your while.
Just my intuition based on what they have on their site now.
TR
- slappy0
What he said.
bill at 40 an hour and just absorb some of the changes/ammendments so they still get a good deal.
- nburlington0
Listen to what BrigadeDesigns is saying - don't undercut. I'm in the process of bidding on a job now and two other designers have already come in and bid $300-$500 for a website redesign.
They're not getting the job because their rates are suspect but now I still have to contend with the lowballing.
You just need to sit down with the client and explain the value of what you are providing.
get these books if you don't have them. they're helpful.
Creating the Perfect Design Brief
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obido…Graphic Artists Guild: Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obido…The Dictionary of Brand
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obido…
- raksasa0
wat do u guys mean by per hour rate?
- uberdesigner0
$600 via paypal with all the ramen you can eat
- canuck0
Either do good work and charge for it properly (roughly 75-150/hr) or don't take on the work at all. Your status as a student shouldn't enter into this equation at all.
Visia
(Sep 18 05, 17:43Are you serious 75-150. When I was working at a design shop they were only charging $80 an hour, and they had over heads to cover - Non design staff, rent, other expenses etc. etc.
I have no problem charging $20 an hour when I was only making 30k a year out of school as a web designer (think that works out to around $15 an hour). Now if I was making this a full time freelance thing then yeah I would charge more, but I have no other costs I have to take into account. I can get more work charging $20 an hour as opposed to charging double that.
When design companies pay shit wages to jr designers you get used to living on shit money. $20 an hour is a lot to me.
one.
- KILLputer0
Either do good work and charge for it properly (roughly 75-150/hr) or don't take on the work at all. Your status as a student shouldn't enter into this equation at all.
Visia
(Sep 18 05, 17:43)--
HAHAHA yeah $150 an hour will get you the job for sure. I did work for Philadelphia Eagles and a national bank and the budget wasn't that high. Don't know what they are paying you in Canada Visa but unless your part of a big firm (where they are taking most of the money anyway) no student or freelance designer is making $150 an hour doing web work.Your a web designer not fucking Picasso or Frank lloyd Wright- my sister is a lawyer and does charge that much to get people out of prision.
- KILLputer0
my sister is a lawyer and does charge that much to get people out of prision.
--
DOESN"T charge that much/--
Hell- I'll do that site for $1500.00
$20 an hour is a good ending rate for someone starting off- I say suggest more if you feel your worth it but while you don't want to stretch yourself thin you do not want to over charge either.
The same time people chargin too little is ruining the market- so is the fact that people think designing a shitty website using a CMS and some drop shadow deserves $150 and hour.
- Crouwel0
sorry, wrong thread, wrong link, wrong time, wrong person, wrong planet.
- nburlington0
Get those books I posted and plan a strategy for the project. Listen to the client first, flesh out the project and then decide what its worth. Let them know exactly what they are getting from you.
If you have good work in your portfolio and a solid plan to go ahead with the job, the client will be more comfortable with a reasonable rate (or fixed price).
Show them exactly what you can do for them.
Clients are looking for someone who can meet their budget AND their objectives. A fourth grader can meet their budget.
- Spix0
i've seen worse (on my portfolio)
1500 is ok..i think
- Duane0
I totally agree with nburlington. Charge what it's worth and use those books he mentioned as reference for your pricing.
- Visia0
okay, fine. Charge 20$ hr. I don't really care. But, remember: people will pay you what they deem you're worth.
And, if you look this up via the AIGA you'll see that I'm not off in my numbers at all. They're in CDN dollars by the way.
To me 20 an hour is way too low. It shows no confidence in your own abilities. Hell, you can make that managing a Starbucks. I'd like to think my skills are worth a lot more than "we need more grande cups".
This is skilled labour and you're not going to bill for every hour of every day so make sure when you do it's worth it to continue in the career.
How do you raise a family on 20/hr? Think about things down the road. Car, mortgage, kids, retirement fund, education funds. You can't do those things on 30K a year if you live in a city.
Hell, the house alone will cost you half a million anymore.
To me, it's a shame that there are still so many people in this industry willing to rip themselves off.
And, if your excuse is "but I'm a student". "B-b-b-b-b-but the poncho."
Who gives a shit. If you're going to take the work charge for it properly and do it properly otherwise don't do it at all.
They still don't teach business in design schools do they?
- Visia0
by the way I agree with BrigadeDesign and NBurlington.
Killputer's link is enough comment on his abilities.