Web Design....do you charge hourly or flat rate?

by Neil M
11 replies
I am still working out some kinks with how I charge and I was just wondering how some of you charge for Custom Web Design...flat rate or hourly? and if hourly how much?
#charge #designdo #flat #hourly #rate #web
  • Profile picture of the author sprks79
    Hi there Neal, mostly I charge a product fee if its a simple straight forward site, not to many changes last minute and an agreed upon design. If there are alot of changes, or Im "re designing" a site I charge hourly.
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  • Profile picture of the author DigiSumo
    Hi Neil, I usually charge a flat rate. I've run into an hourly job here and there also.

    Cheers
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  • Profile picture of the author krikkod
    Definitely flat rate but you need to have boundaries for what they get for the flat rate. Some people will want more than what your 'beginner package' offers so you need to be ready with an hourly rate for anything extra.

    For example you might have a starter website which is 5 pages and thats it. But a client then wants an opt-in box and search box, so thats when you charge them the flat fee + the hourly rate for the extra work. Alternatively you could also have flat rates for an optin box and search box, however its only really worth doing if these items are asked for on the regular.
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    • Profile picture of the author Wilter Quesada
      Originally Posted by krikkod View Post

      Definitely flat rate but you need to have boundaries for what they get for the flat rate. Some people will want more than what your 'beginner package' offers so you need to be ready with an hourly rate for anything extra.

      For example you might have a starter website which is 5 pages and thats it. But a client then wants an opt-in box and search box, so thats when you charge them the flat fee + the hourly rate for the extra work. Alternatively you could also have flat rates for an optin box and search box, however its only really worth doing if these items are asked for on the regular.

      This is so true, this happened to me once and what a nightmare that it was, also make sure that you have a detail proposal of the thing you're going to do, give them 4 revisions and explain very clearly that anything extra that had no been discuss in the proposal you're going to be charging and hourly rate, for example I go with $150.00 the first hour and then $55.00 per hour.

      Don't worry you're not going to loose any client over this, if you don't do this they're going to ride you like a rollercoaster, and if you doing SEO for them after the website is completed the may get the idea that they can keep asking for changes.
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  • Profile picture of the author Canadaseopro
    Originally Posted by Neil M View Post

    I am still working out some kinks with how I charge and I was just wondering how some of you charge for Custom Web Design...flat rate or hourly? and if hourly how much?

    I have been building websites for over 17 years and I have never charged hourly as people want a firm quote before proceeding with any work and you often run into a lot of tweaks.
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  • Profile picture of the author atrbiz
    Flat fee only.
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  • Profile picture of the author iamchrisgreen
    Charge a flat fee.

    If a potential client is asking you for an hourly rate there is something wrong in your sales process.

    Hourly rates suggest that you are a commodity to them and not what I would call "The Trusted Advisor"... you really want to be seen as the advisor that can help them out.
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  • Profile picture of the author koppster
    I know of people charging a flat rate and they are very successful.
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    • Profile picture of the author Neil M
      Thanks for all the response guys. I'm charging flat rate with an hourly "maintenance" charge for tweaks so it seems I'm on track here.
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      • Profile picture of the author AUKev
        I just got hammered on a project that was fixed bid by a customer that was EXTREMELY anal. I probably doubled my man hours on the project just due to his pickyness. In the end, he referred me two new paying customers, so it was worth it.

        Future work with this client will be an hourly rate.

        Be sure to put fixed bid projects in writing. I could have saved myself 3-4 weeks of development time with a better detailed design.

        Either that, or define what you will do functionally for a fixed price with cosmetic changes at an hourly rate.

        Towards the end, he would say "can you tweak X?" I would say, "If we were doing an hourly rate, it would cost you $300." His response would be, "It is not that important".
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