Pricing for Website Design (Graphics Only)

Question

I was wondering if someone could advise me on pricing for a website design.

I'm redesigning a blog/travel site for an individual. The site is about 8 pages plus some modules, etc. I'm also redesigning their logo. I've already spent about a week doing it, maybe 3 hours per day and I'm still not halfway finished (kind of a perfectionist). I plan to charge for the project itself, rather than hourly. According to the advise I've already received, I should be charging anywhere between $1000 and $1500. I'm just curious what other people thought.

My main concern is overcharging for a site that I will not be coding. I am doing ONLY the graphics and basically the product I'm delivering with be a wireframe layout and all the custom graphic files (vectors, etc.) and the person I'm designing it for will do all the CMS stuff himself. Again, I'm doing NO CODING whatsoever.

So, that said, what should I be charging? I'm also including unlimited design revisions up to two months after initial completion. Any ideas? Another thing to mention is that I'm a student and it's my first paid job (but he doesn't know that). Anyway, thanks in advance for any suggestions you may have!

Answer 1

1) Yes, your price range is fine. You have a lot of pages plus a logo. However...

2) Why don't you have a contract? The contract should spell out exactly what you are doing, exactly what the client is going to receive, who owns what copyrights, and exactly what you are charging, particularly if it's a per-project fee and not hourly.

3) DO NOT OFFER UNLIMITED REVISIONS EVER.

Not for a month, a week, a day, an hour. When you have a plumber come to your house to fix the toilet, does he say "I'll come back and tighten the washers in the sink and fix the leaky hose, for free, as long as you call back within a month"? Of course not. He charges for the work he does. More work is more pay. Don't ever give away your services for free, which is exactly what "unlimited revisions" means.

Being paid on retainer is different; that's a flat fee for a specific period of time, during which the client can give you as much or as little work as they like, but you are getting paid regardless.

You offer a specific number of rounds of revisions (I like three) in the contract. Rounds of revisions after that get paid for on an hourly basis. They can revise for years, but you're getting paid for your labor.

Answer 2

I can't directly state whether your price range is appropriate or not. A mom-and-pop operation has different needs than a Fortune 500 corporation. What's adequate pricing for someone with 5 years experience may be woefully low for someone with 10 years experience. In addition, no one here really knows your overhead and expenses.

In the end all pricing comes down to hourly rates. Sure, you may not expose the actual hourly rate to your client, but you should be using that to calculate your fees.

Check out THIS THREAD and DA01's answer. It's a good one. Figure out your hourly rate. Figure out how much time you anticipate the project taking (then add at least 2 hours for unexpected items) and you've got your project fees.

For many services hourly rates can vary. One rate for simple mockups, one rate for coding HTML/CSS, one rate for server-side scripting, etc. So really, you should be able to figure out pretty close what to charge on your own.

And Lauren is absolutely correct when posting "do not offer unlimited revisions". Clients will see that and, oh, how they will take advantage of it. After all.. isn't adding an entirely new page to the site just a "revision" to the site? If you do not impose limits, they will never impose them on their own.

Answer 3

Okay, quick reality check.

It's good to keep market price in mind. I wouldn't do a logo for any less than $600 and I might do a comps-only site project for as little as $650. But that's quick and dirty, no revision pricing, and I've been doing this a long time.

You're new to this and you probably need the work, experience, and portfolio padding more than anything. Your price is certainly fair but, always be willing to fill a gap in your day by negotiating a little. When you have more clients/projects than you need, then you can negotiate tougher ;)

Answer 4

As a designer and programmer I say this is a legit pricing (as a student).

I had some customers who got their first website from me and they were shocked about the price. In that case you just have to send them to an agency and they will gladly take your offer ;)

But back to your question, you can kinda calculate the price. I for example charge 30€/hour (I guess you can charge the same in $). Taking the time you spent it´s 30€ x 21hours (7 days with 3 hours/day) and saying that you´re halfway done it´s 630€ x 2 = 1260€. Offering unlimited revisions afterwards is a nice offer, not sure how I would charge that but I think you can easily climp up to 1500$ if not more.

I think in my current agency someone would pay several thousand dollars or euros so you should be fine with that.