I remember when I started out, I would charge $20 per hour. And almost everybody I spoke to in the industry would give me a massive lecture about this. Now that my hair is a bit greyer, it's my turn.
So here goes. Firstly, I totally understand why you want to price cheap - maybe you are unsure of your abilities, or are aiming to please, or want to do them a favour, or don't want to risk having your price rejected. There are lots of reasons for pricing cheap. Ultimately, pricing too cheaply helps nobody. It's bad for the industry - I don't want to have to compete against people charging $17-$20 per hour and I shouldn't have to. There is enough demand for web developers that you can charge a bit more. Telecom never drops their prices unless Vodafone does it (and vice versa). They aren't fools, so why aren't web developers doing the same? Next, it's bad for the client. They get a false expectation that the job can be done for $X, when actually it's not a true indication of it's value. If the job takes longer than you planned (which always happens), then you will be cutting corners to get the job finished, which doesn't help them. If you allow yourself a bit of breathing room, you can absorb a certain amount of overage, and give them good service. If you ask for more money, this is likely to be an issue. It's bad for you - you end up being the world's busiest poor man. If the job goes perfectly, you stand to make marginally more than a bus driver or waiter. If the job takes longer than expected, you earn less than an outsourced call centre worker in Bangalore but without the holiday pay. But the worst aspect is that you build a client base who are cost-conscious. What happens in a years time when you want to put your prices up to something more standard like $50 or $100 or $150? You will be forced to lose your client base who can no longer afford you, or forced to keep doing work for them forever at the cheaper rate. Cost-conscious clients will also take more of your time to manage, require more in-depth quotes, and will haggle every time you give them a price. If something goes wrong, they will make you fix it in your own time, as they just don't have any extra money to extend the project (regardless of what the problem is or whose fault it is). Attracting the wrong clients early on will cripple your businness before it even gets moving. So, here's a better idea. If you want to do the right thing for the client, charge them a fair price. Ultimately if their business model doesn't support a professionally designed website, and isn't at some stage going to generate enough income to cover the costs, then what's the point? (charities and churches an exception to this rule of course) If you aren't sure of your skills, or how much to charge, then get some help. If you quote a fair market price for the work as suggested, there will be plenty of room in the budget to hire an experienced freelancer to help out. So for example (without looking at the site) - quote $2000 instead of $1000. If they accept, pay a freelancer for 5 x 1 hour sessions to help you get the site done. They won't be doing any coding, they will be advising you on what to do next as the project progresses and making sure you aren't going off on some wild tangent or getting lost in extra requests from the client. The hard part of the job is managing the project/client, and once you have been in business for a while you learn some important tricks. The client gets a better site / better managed project due to the input of the more experienced freelancer. They don't get an unfair perception of what it costs to get web development done. You learn a whole lot in the process and gain confidence, and get a new industry contact. And more importantly ,there is less risk of losing money on the job. My 2c, having made the mistake of charging too little early on and still dealing with the problems it causes. Harvey. Michael Green wrote: > HAHA... Cheers Don and Hamish. i've actually just been preparing for > exams so haven't had a chance to read. i was thinking of something > like $17-20/hr but TBH like i said before i'm unsure. i should point > out that as far as i know the contact information on that site is out > of date!! -- Harvey Kane Phone. +649 950 4133 Mobile. +6421 811 951 Email. [EMAIL PROTECTED] --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ NZ PHP Users Group: http://groups.google.com/group/nzphpug To post, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
