what should i charge to make a website?

[elliotff]

Hi All,

I have been asked to make a simple website for a building company. Will contain some photos of previous work undertaken, contact details ETC.

I am just wondering what other people on here think is a fair price. The site will be updated 3-4 times a year and i already have hosting i can use.

What is a fair price?

[ZesPak]

Calculate the time you think you'll spend on it
x
The price you want for an hour of your work.


HTH.

[silverous]

ZesPak said:

Calculate the time you think you'll spend on it
x
The price you want for an hour of your work.


HTH.

and....make sure it is viable at that cost. I suspect a lot of this type of website use the template type websites that come with web hosting and so I would imagine not a lot of bespoke development involved these days, more the time (which they'll need to spend) coming up with content and photos. Something in the hundreds of pounds I would imagine.

[elliotff]

silverous said:

and....make sure it is viable at that cost. I suspect a lot of this type of website use the template type websites that come with web hosting and so I would imagine not a lot of bespoke development involved these days, more the time (which they'll need to spend) coming up with content and photos. Something in the hundreds of pounds I would imagine.

Yes i will be using a CMS/template package. I reckon i can get the website to a decent place in 4-5 hours with the content.

I will be hosting the site too so i guess i can throw in a little more for that....

[ZesPak]

You have to separate the costs:

1. Set up, if you say 4-5 hours, get some margin as it'll come back a couple of times and you don't want to say "I'll have to charge extra for that" with the first thing he asks. 10h seems reasonable.
2. Hosting + maybe maintenance during the year (cms updates,...)

[TheEnd]

I'd have thought around £300-400 would be fair.

[missingman]

Don't provide the hosting, get them to buy their own off of TSO Host. If you provide it you're responsible and unless you're a top-notch IT bod you're better off not involved.

How much? Here's where I'd be:

Initial admin to help with hosting purchase, setting up email, domain 'stuff' and just generally being at a good place to start - 2 hours.
Install Wordpress, install a few essential plugins and set up user accounts etc - 1 hour
Find a theme you like and chuck in the basic content - 1 hour
Add photos where needed, configure slidehows, contact page, Google maps etc... 4 hours
SEO work on each page using Yoast - 1 hour
Little jobs like Favicons and adding Analytics - 1 hour
Final adjustments, testing on various devices, client approval - 2 hours
A bit of spare time just because - 2hours.

That's 14 hours at whatever rate you charge. I have no shortage of people paying £35/hour so £450-£500 won't be far wrong.

Then you need to consider security updates, backups, testing backups and those occasional changes you mentioned. Probably another £100/quarter.

Hope that helps.

[buggalugs]

elliotff said:

I reckon i can get the website to a decent place in 4-5 hours with the content.

Have you done it yet

Hosting is a tricky one, even if you punt it off to TSO host the client will still come to you if there are issues as they will have no idea what you're talking about and think you're being a t*at when you explain to them that it's nothing to do with you. So you might as well make a few quid off it so it's worth your while. This is why a lot of people charge 'maintainance' fees.

[Bikerjon]

Has to be £500 for anything half decent - anything less and it's barely worthwhile. I don't do many websites for customers as it's not really my best skill, but of the few I've done it felt like I worked for minimum wage or even less - so I've learned my lesson the hard way! It's so easy to underestimate and overlook the true time it takes to setup a website and then also account for the endless refinements, emails, telephone calls etc

[dmsims]

Bikerjon said:

Has to be £500 for anything half decent - anything less and it's barely worthwhile. I don't do many websites for customers as it's not really my best skill, but of the few I've done it felt like I worked for minimum wage or even less - so I've learned my lesson the hard way! It's so easy to underestimate and overlook the true time it takes to setup a website and then also account for the endless refinements, emails, telephone calls etc

Can I just say +99?

I only step into the breach when absolutely required (normally they have been shafted by a company claiming to know what they are doing) - there even seem to be a few here!

Brings out the worst in my OCD!

[ZesPak]

Agreed with both of the above.

In the end I refer most of my customer to click and go stuff like squarespace.

Not worth the effort, maintained about 30 sites but now only half a dozen for family and friends' businesses.

[Frimley111R]

One element no-one has mentioned is copy writing. It's labour intensive and can easily exceed the total design cost. Don't overlook it.

[akirk]

Frimley111R said:

One element no-one has mentioned is copy writing. It's labour intensive and can easily exceed the total design cost. Don't overlook it.

It is not the only thing missed out above sadly... It is why so many companies have useless websites...
Wordpress / template / Seo / bit of content doesn't exactly build a site which will help grow a business...

[Frimley111R]

Many companies don't care.

[All that jazz]

elliotff said:

Hi All,

I have been asked to make a simple website for a building company. Will contain some photos of previous work undertaken, contact details ETC.

I am just wondering what other people on here think is a fair price. The site will be updated 3-4 times a year and i already have hosting i can use.

What is a fair price?

Tell them to put it on fiverr.com and job done by some kid in the Philippines for exactly that much.