[brandon99337]

Couple questions for people that have had a little more experience in these things...

How much do you charge for a total website remodel?

How is the exchange made?

How do you go through the editing process (according to what the client wants)

and anything else you might want to throw in to help me out...

Thanks

[BenignDesign]

I start out with a questionaire.... to get an idea of what they know they want vs ideas they've been tossing around.

From there, I work up an initial quote with an agreement that it is ONLY a quote and is subject to change as the client's requests/requirements change.

From there, I set to work on the redesign. As things come up - changes, adjustments, modifications, redesigns of the redesign, etc - I let them know up front of any new charges for the work.

I recently finished a redesign project that jumped $700 from initial quote to final bill due to all the extra stuff they decided they wanted. And it happens a lot...

Initial consultation:
"We just want a clean, simple site. Basic HTML should be fine. We'll keep all the existing information on the site. Just make it look more professional."

Two days later:
"What about a web form? Can we add a web form? And database access for our clients? With a secure login?"

Three hours later:
"About the web form.... can we get that emailed to different people based on the subject chosen from a drop-down? And can we get all the submitted forms saved to the server, in their own file, in comma delimited format?"

Seriously... it happens a lot. I try not to put myself in a position where I am limited to a hard and fast initial quote as client's frequently decide to add a lot more complicated bits as the process goes on.

I also use my personal webspace as demo space. I try to update the client site a couple times per day so they can let me know as soon as possible of any changes or adjustments that need to be made.

A full remodel, by my rates, can vary from $50 into the thousands depending on how complex a site the client is looking for. I try to stick with local clients and accept checks for these accounts. Otherwise, I look for online resources matching clients to freelancers that offer an escrow function where the client has to pay the site who then pays me.. it cuts down on the amount of money you'll get stiffed in the end.

This post has been edited by BenignDesign: 18 March 2008 - 07:42 PM

[brandon99337]

hmm how much for about a 7 page total makeover, as in everything sucks and your just going to start from scratch.

[BenignDesign]

hmm... if it's a commercial site (as opposed to a non-profit site)...

A full custom redesign using only XHTML and CSS - client provides all text and images - $200-275 depending on specifics... but you need to keep in mind I live in Podunk, BFE... I've met people who charge considerably more. I try to keep my work affordable for the local clientele (ie, small businesses, bars and churches).

[Nykc]

brandon99337 - For 1 you need to look around and see what your competitors charge. A lot of developers charge by the hour. Depending on the depth and involvment of the project I will charge anywhere from $20 - $50 an hour. And with that in mind you better keep tabs on everything you did in that hour down to atleast 15 minute increments.
To tell someone 300.00 for a basic makeover will commit you to that price for the duration, you better hope and pray your contract has a clause that lets you out of that agreement or you could wind up building a database driven, ecommerce website that costs you more to develop than you even made on the project. Let alone all the wonderful maintenance time with it.

You need to search competitors and get an idea of what there fee's are. You will see some charge hourly, some are starting as low as $295.00 for a simple three page website with additional fees via ala cart.

BeningDesign - Isn't that the truth. I have that with other development projects as well. Lets build a simple Macro that writes from Excel to the Mainframe. 1 day later, keep me up to speed on your progress, and did you put any thought into the email macro? (What email macro?) Lets make 3 Macros and then I want to cut from Excel and paste data to a email template so the BA's can send emails that are pre-generated. Oh and I want error checking and logging on these macros as well. Are they done yet?

Good times I tell ya!

[BenignDesign]

yup yup.... can be a pain.

I ended up adding hourly fees on the final bill for the client I mentioned earlier because we spent three ENTIRE working days making minor adjustments (ie, "Can we move that image 2 pixels to the left? Ok.... now can we move it up 1? Maybe it would look better on the other side of the screen... can we try that? Hmm... no... can we put it back where it was? Can we make it bigger? Well, now it looks fuzzy. Can you clean that up?" ..... after an hour long pixel-by-pixel clean up effort.... "Nah... I liked it better smaller.... put the small image back up.... and can we center the menu? No, I don't like that... left align it...." for THREE FREAKING DAYS.. I thought my ear was going to graft to the phone receiver by the time we finished). Not that I get bitter or anything

But I truly love what I do. Seriously, I can think of no better way to spend my day than sipping a coffee and coding my heart out.

[brandon99337]

Haha, brilliant, I'm actually looking at a small locally owned business and since it is one of my first projects I'll charge considerably lower. And I didn't know how much money was in this business .

[Mikhail]

I Charge hourly + non refundable fee which covers planning, I've had some good success with that, but probably only because I live in a huge town.

[BenignDesign]

You can make a decent living at it, but you've gotta bust your rump to get the contracts... keep up with freelancing sites... print advertisement.... web advertisement.... That was honestly the hardest part of starting things up.... getting the word out that I was here and the services I was offering. Took a good year and a half to get steady work coming in, but you can support yourself and your family with freelance if you pimp yourself enough

[spearfish]

Freelancing is a great way to make money, if, as Benign said, you can get jobs.

Try contacting local businesses.

[brandon99337]

Yeah I need to see if I can get a few clients....thanks for the tip spearfish, I'll call a couple up...

[jjsaw5]

Ive been kicking around this idea too. I figure i can make some extra money and get better at work i do at my day job while im at it.

I already have a bunch of WVU art students that want a website built to showcase their work.

[brandon99337]

That would be like the easiest thing to make! Use CSS To get some nice backgrounds for the pictures and a nice photo album layout and your pretty much done!

[Nykc]

Ironically after moving to Columbus - My Toledo & SE Michigan based web design company has received more attention this past couple of months than it has in over a year. I had a local radio station contact me to interview me. So now I decided to do something about my webs that are decaying. I have spent the past several weeks reconstructing my base website, put other projects on the back burner and now I am going to hopefully web whore myself to the point I can make a decent living on the side. I'd rather do that full time if I could afford it.

[brandon99337]

How much are you bringing in with web design? And just to see, what's your website?