What should I charge

Boygenius · 07-31-2006, 03:42 PM

Hello everybody. This is my first post and I'm glad I found this site. I have one more semester to go before I recieve by Associates Degree in Website Design and Webpage Management. The head of the Student Life Organization wants me to come in and talkin to him about working on their website. He said it will involve maintenance and updates to the page. Here is the link http://www.ccp.edu/vpst-aff/studentlife/ The page seems pretty straight foward to me. I need some honest suggestions on how much I should charge for maintenance and updates considering that I'm just starting out and still in school. Keep in mind that this work may last for the entire fall and spring semester. What price range should expect to hear from him as well? I dont want him trying to get over on me. I meet with him this Thursday at 12:30 p.m eastern time. Try to respond before then. Thanks for the help

I'll keep you all posted.

**John Scott** · 07-31-2006, 03:50 PM

Hourlay wage. And, depends on skill.

waffles · 07-31-2006, 04:05 PM

At least 150% of Pen. minimum wage I'd say. Maybe change the number, but hourly is the way to go. You don't want them to pay you, say, $900 for a half hour of work if they thought it would take forever. But you also don't want them to pay you $50 for 90 hours of work on something they thought wouldn't take so long.

And with web stuff like this, someone is going to get screwed over if you have a set price.

If you go to the school, I'd consider getting some extra perks in exchange for a lower price.

AntNE00 · 07-31-2006, 04:26 PM

Id say it all depends on how intricate your going to get with it. i have a price for my basic site layouts and then i charge extra for each other thing i add to it. But alot of people charge in different ways.

Boygenius · 07-31-2006, 07:14 PM

Ok so he told me he wants me to do maintenance and updates for the web page. So I'm just looking for some reasonable hourly wages to be thrown out their. Whats too low and what just right ya know? My main concern is cheating myself. I'm gonna deliver dedicated work because thats just how I operate. I know this is my first job but I do want to come out of this satisfied and not kicking myself over cheating myself you know.

waffles · 07-31-2006, 08:53 PM

Minimum wage here in Florida is $6.40. Adjust it based on Pennsylvania's minimum wage, how badly they need someone, and who easy it will be to find that person. Don't be an ass though.

This might be time to bring in an unbiased third party and have him look at the lowest you'd do it for and the highest they'll pay. But that might look unprofessional.

Charge extra if they make you use Frontpage though.

drew68 · 08-01-2006, 04:06 AM

ok they know your a student right? your fairly new to this, as you picked up a new client.

if your doing a project from start to finish you sit down and edit your website proposal and assess your fees according to each phase of your project. i base my work off of $65.00 per hour and of course you assess your time for project management, phone calls, possible travel etc.

if your doing just web development for an already existing website then you have two options. you can grab a maintenance agreement(in a Word format) and assess a monthly fee. depending on the size of the site and their requests you figure a total. let's say for this site...$250.00 per month.

or

you can charge hourly. i usually don't go by the hour because i want to be fair to my clients and although my clients entrust in the work i do there's always that devil hovering over your shoulders saying ...tack on an extra 30 minutes or an hour. if you go by the hour make sure you don't charge too less of a fee. like $15 per hour is too little. then soon enough, you'll start tacking 30 minutes here, 1 hour there, 2 hours here....you get my drift. If they want to not hire you at that rate because they think it's too expensive then have them go find a non professional who doesn't know what there doing. I would charge them $25 per hour just because that site looks horrid and needs a total facial makeover. lol

Don't give them the option...the option is up to you to go to them. Act professional and tell them this is what I do and these are my fees. If they don't like it...then good for you...you can easily find hundreds more like these on Craigs List everyday if you wanted to. Trust me...there's hundreds out there that are asking for the same type of work.

anyways...that's my tip for you...good luck and if you have any questions...feel free to ask away.

and welcome to the boards

drew

Boygenius · 08-01-2006, 11:15 AM

Drew your made plenty of sense. It answered my question. That was funny. The site does look a mess though lol. I was thinking about around $250-$300. I now have an idea of what is too low. If he starts talking a low figure than I'm walking. I think Im gonna like this forum lol