How much do you charge to build and maintain a website?

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Heliocentrical

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Mar 28, 2005
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Hello. I am working on a few basic websites designed with frontpage for an independant insurance agent and a local church. They have asked for quotes on building and maintaining the sites but I have no clue what to charge. Can you guys give me some tips? As I mentioned before these will be basic frontpage webs. Thanks for the info.
 
I've done a couple for friends of friends and charged them $1000 start up fee and $20/hour for maintenance.

Just my experience and what I threw out and they accepted. :)
 
Wow, you really charged $1000 for a startup fee? I've been thinking about doing some web design on the side but I never thought of charging that much. Then again I'm kinda new to this area. One, my old high school, has an extremely and overwhelmingly embarrasing website so I thought I might do that one for free just to start building up a portfolio. After that, however, I had no idea what I might charge but $1000 seems a bit steep, at least for someone of my current calibur.
 
Our company usually won't work on a contract under $5000. They pay half up front, half when it's complete. In the past we've done mom & pop shops for considerably less and that was used to build up a company portfolio which led to clients that are asking for sites that cost alot more. Hopefully in the near future, that will lead to larger clients. Our rate for maintenance is $80/hour, 1 hour minimum.

The company I worked for during college started at about $7-8000, usually upwards of $10,000 for a site.

These sites usually include some assortment of Flash media (movies, menus, etc), database work, security measures, online marketing, sometimes shopping carts. Clients are well taken care of by providing copy-editing, design presentations and multiple design choices.

So these may not be basic websites that you asked about, but that gives you an idea of what the market can be in some areas. If you're planning on working on websites for a sidejob (independantly) check out your library or local book store for a book, Graphic Artists Guild Handbook. It has a good reference for hourly rates depending on who you are and who your client is. It's a good place to start when figuring your cost.
 
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Our customers are way too cheap, I can usually get $800-$1000 for a site. But I have a couple of regular clients who I charge $35 an hour
 
For the amount of time it's going to take you to make graphics, a layout, and x amount of pages with their content just a basic basic page should go for no less than $250 in my book. That is a main page and maybe 3 content pages with a simple logo. That's just my opinion though.
 
Wow, The prices you guys are giving are pretty high. When I said basic, I meant really basic. Here is a site I designed about 6 months ago. What do you guys think? I know it couldnt possibly be worth $5000 (Actually I didnt charge them anything at all). Regardless, folks saw it and liked it so now I have orders for more and that's why I'm asking. What could I charge for something of this quality?
 
Given that's it's just one page, I think you could've gotten about $200-400 for it, give or take. Like screwmesa said, $250 a page is a good estimate, maybe drop it down for 5+ pages on small sites. It's hard justifying to small businesses and organizations to invest money into a website. If you're talking to a potential client, try to get a feel for their area beforehand and think of ways a website can help them. Then go over those points when you're talking to them. If they can see how a website will help them, and not just be a pretty page, usually they're willing to invest more.
 
the strange thing about doing professional work is that if you charge too little, no one will take you seriously.

would you take your car to a mechanic that charged $5/hr or one that charged $40/hr? chances are, you would be really wary of the mechanic that only charged $5/hr. we perceive we will get a certain level of service based upon what we pay.
 
I think that page would be worth $200. Being that is only one page of info, I think you could have sold it to them as a one time flat fee to drive more people to their church.
 
My company is building a corporate website, developing an in-house intranet, and connecting companies they own (three large companies, spread across western Canada) to an even larger intranet. Guess how much we're charging... ;)
 
maw said:
the strange thing about doing professional work is that if you charge too little, no one will take you seriously. .
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so true. when i was starting out i had clients look at me funny for quoting too low. one has even upped my price for me (they were recieving a funding grant, still cool though)

i charge £500 for a basic small site with little db interaction (say just a news box) if i like the look of the client and they are a small company. for anyone larger £1000 - £1500 with the top end price bracket including seo and possibly a content management sys

for custom php db projects the skys the limit :D

for the site you linked to i would charge £250 max, considering it's done in frontpage ( 650 lines :eek: ). if you are serious about web dev i highly recommend dumping frontpage/dw and learning css/(x)html. one of the first things i do when meeting a prospective client is compare a nice clean coded site of mine to some hunk of junk and explain the $$ benefits (seo mainly)

btw i am still a small one man band startup(ish) myself
 
distortedmind said:
The site you linked to i would charge £250 max, considering it's done in frontpage ( 650 lines :eek: ). if you are serious about web dev i highly recommend dumping frontpage/dw and learning css/(x)html.
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LOL.

Yep it's 650 lines. :D

Unfortunately I dont know how to use anything else. I have a copy of Adobe Go Live 6.0 and I cant even get past bringing up a template. I guess I need to find an online tutorial or take a course. I never really intended to get involved in this. Most of the folks I know are completely computer illiterate and I kind of became the "computer guy". I do simple things like clean out spyware,viruses,adware,upgrade memory chips,replace hard drives, modems and setup folks dsl or cable. Now I'm designing websites. It's kinda funny actually. :p

Edit: What's £250 in US dollars? :confused:
 
Aratech said:
LOL.

Yep it's 650 lines. :D

Unfortunately I dont know how to use anything else. I have a copy of Adobe Go Live 6.0 and I cant even get past bringing up a template. I guess I need to find an online tutorial or take a course. I never really intended to get involved in this. Most of the folks I know are completely computer illiterate and I kind of became the "computer guy". I do simple things like clean out spyware,viruses,adware,upgrade memory chips,replace hard drives, modems and setup folks dsl or cable. Now I'm designing websites. It's kinda funny actually. :p
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heh, we all have to start somewhere. i was a systems admin myself before my boss tapped me to build a little website for our department. the rest, as they say, is history
 
The tried and true method is to learn it in notepad. You have so much more flexibility that way. That's how you should do it. Versus Frontpage/Dreamweaver. If you have something intense that you need WYSIWYG then load your prefabbed notepad version into Dreamweaver. I'm a Fireworks/Dreamweaver fan. Only for laying DIV layers though. That's a pain in the ass for relative positioning. Especially if you are trying to do it based on something in the background. Here's some links about HTML programming... Read Up...
All Markup Specs: http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/
HTML 4.01: http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/REC-html401-19991224/
CSS: http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/

I personally always refer to w3c.org (World Wide Web Consortium). It's up to you on where you wat to refer.
 
Hmm, since this seems to pertain to the topic, I want to know what I should charge for a site of a similar quality to http://worldofwaldman.f2o.org . I made it out of boredome, and my father's client saw it and asked how much I would charge for something like that. I said I had no clue, and in the end, he went with someone else. But what would a site like that be worth? I only spent three days making it, including graphics, which I already knew how to do, and coding, which I learned while making it (XHTML and CSS in notepad), so I didn't think it would be much, but after looking at some of your reccomendations for the other site, I am amazed at what I could be expecting for something like this.
 
Enrickey said:
Hmm, since this seems to pertain to the topic, I want to know what I should charge for a site of a similar quality to http://worldofwaldman.f2o.org . I made it out of boredome, and my father's client saw it and asked how much I would charge for something like that. I said I had no clue, and in the end, he went with someone else. But what would a site like that be worth? I only spent three days making it, including graphics, which I already knew how to do, and coding, which I learned while making it (XHTML and CSS in notepad), so I didn't think it would be much, but after looking at some of your reccomendations for the other site, I am amazed at what I could be expecting for something like this.
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Not burning you or anything... But the coding looks prefab too perfect with the breaks in it and everything. Was it WYSIWYG?
 
this is a site we are working on, not done yet, lots of validation errors etc but we charged $4000
 
Not burning you or anything... But the coding looks prefab too perfect with the breaks in it and everything. Was it WYSIWYG?
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I'm not 100% sure what that means, but I think that you are talking about how the code goes to a new line in the middle of a paragraph, if so, that is because when I was coding it, I didn't like scrolling. Thanks to what little knowledge of C++ that I had, I quickly learned some PHP and have the site load the entry from an external file, so each entry spans one long line now, and there is horizontal scrolling.

I eventually want to make my own little CMS, because it looks like a fun project.

But no, I did it all completely by hand, I just put it extra effort to make it look good, being my first, I wanted to do it right from the getgo.
 
25 per page, 250 for logo, 35 setup fee, 2 free updates (text and picture), 150 for ecommerce
 
What type of skills are in demand? Of course the basics such as, (not evening mentioning HTML) PHP/MySQL (or other databases)/CSS/JS.
However, are skills like Flash design in demand now?
Are Flash designers more desired than regular web programmers?
 
I've done some basic pages for people. I charge a flat fee of $100 per 5 pages. I don't do maintenance/upkeep though. If they want updates, they either pay the full price per page for updates, or they learn to do it themselves, support is a headache that I don't want to get into for a minimal side-gig.

Then again, I also code HTML in notepad, don't do flash, do very basic graphics works, and have a limited understanding of javascript and forms. I'm by no means professional, but I'm cheap and for basic stuff I get the job done with some style.
 
{NcsO}ReichstaG said:
What type of skills are in demand? Of course the basics such as, (not evening mentioning HTML) PHP/MySQL (or other databases)/CSS/JS.
However, are skills like Flash design in demand now?
Are Flash designers more desired than regular web programmers?
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I think that depends what kind of gig you want to get into. I would imagine in-house web developers (not too common anymore) would want to have more CSS, HTML, knowledge of web standards and some good knowledge of some server-side languages.

Working of a web-design company you'll most likely need the Flash experience. If you're going for more of the design orientation, you'll want to know Flash as well. If going in as a developer you'll want PHP and ASP, possibly .NET experience, and database experience. And really, either way, you need the core advanced HTMl, JS, etc.

If you're going at it solo, well, learn it all as much as you can.
 
Here's a question since we're on the subject. I'm trying to start my own business and I'll do doing web sites (already got 1 client).

What I want to know is, I just recently got a tax id but I'm new to owning a business so I don't know what all I need to do. Like I got the federal tax ID, but do I need to collect state tax or no? Do I need to file for anything else?

Also, how does everyone handle contracts? Do you just accept the payment and that's it, all verbal, or do you have the client sign something. if so, is it something generic I can look at to get an idea.

I just want to know how everything is done before I go too far in and I can't find any good resources for this information
 
I believe it depends on the state you're business is in if you need to charge state sales tax. In Tennessee you do, 9.25%. If your client is in a different state than you, there is no tax regardless. Also if you're developing a site for someone that is turning around and selling that site (reselling it) or it's non-profit, there's no tax.

If you're working for yourself, you should file self-employment tax. You'll need to make estimated payments using IRS Form 1040-ES quarterly.

Always use a contract. It will save you when you need it. Catch a ride over to your local bookstore and find a book called Pricing & Ethical Guidelines. I highly recommed purchasing said book, but if you can't take a browse through it and find the example contracts for websites. Use that as a guide for your Terms & Conditions of your contract. In your contract also define the scope of the project. Include things like the site-map, standards you're going to check (CSS, XHTML, etc), minimum browser specs, website dimenstions, etc. Try to balanace details so that your client doesn't get overwhelmed with them. Know your contract forwards and backwards so when you meet with your client you can go over the highlights and the client can read the details later.

Defining the clarify what the project is, it will prevent "scope creep". The client gives you a call, "Hey, can you do ..." something easy, might take you a couple hours to do, but it's not in the contract. Just state politely that you can do the work, but there will be charges for it. Another good book that goes over that kind of stuff is Web ReDesign.

It may seem like a lot of work to come up with a good contract, but when you get a client conflict (they'll come someday) you'll really appreciate a contract and signature backing you up. You'll probably modify your contract as you run into different client problems too.

A good payment plan is half up front, half when it's finished. State whatever your payment terms are in your contract.
 
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The tax id was the only thing I needed, correct? There isn't a state one as well?

Also, I was told the quarterly tax paying form was sent out to you. Do I have to manually fill this out and is there a penalty if I wait until tax time to do it all in 1 chunk?

Thanks for the other info, I'll definately be taking a look at those books
 
I second buying the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook, I know several 'independent contractors' who use it, one of which is a Discreet Training Specialist and professor at my university.
 
Kris said:
The tax id was the only thing I needed, correct? There isn't a state one as well?

Also, I was told the quarterly tax paying form was sent out to you. Do I have to manually fill this out and is there a penalty if I wait until tax time to do it all in 1 chunk?

Thanks for the other info, I'll definately be taking a look at those books
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I think that you'll need a state ID as well. You may want to talk to an accountant that is familiar with your local and state laws.

For the self employment tax payments, you need to make your first payment using the 1040-ES form. After the first payment, the IRS should send you a booklet with quarterly coupons that you'll send back to them with your payments.
 
I don't think I have any local accountants near by, nor would I have the means to pay them. Do you know of any web forums, like an entrepreneur forum I could go to? I'm sure to have more questions down the line.

Many thanks as well
 
Sorry, I don't know any place online for that information, although I'm sure it's out there. For our business we contacted the state IRS office and we hire an accountant about once a month to look over our books and taxes.
 
Sorry for going a bit off topic, but..
Wow, am I missing something here? People actually pay for webpages? For just the source of the pages and images for the design?
We are talking about maintenace and hosting costs, right?
A basic webpage is pretty simple to make, especially using an editor like frontpage... I don't see why anyone would pay hundreds of dollars for one, unless it had advanced PHP/ASP features like login scripts, user areas, etc.
 
jrbryner said:
Sorry, I don't know any place online for that information, although I'm sure it's out there. For our business we contacted the state IRS office and we hire an accountant about once a month to look over our books and taxes.
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I'd love to do that. Unfortunately, I wouldn't have the money to do that and this is a very small company (I'll probably be the only one doing presentations to clients, collecting money, and doing the work). Thanks for all the information though, I'll keep an eye out. I could have sworn there was only a federal tax id but I don't know ANYTHING about taxes.
erorr404 said:
Sorry for going a bit off topic, but..
Wow, am I missing something here? People actually pay for webpages? For just the source of the pages and images for the design?.
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They get the source and images for the sites they pay for
erorr404 said:
We are talking about maintenace and hosting costs, right?
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Yes and no. You can add into a contract about it, but I think it's mostly refereering to just the web site design
erorr404 said:
A basic webpage is pretty simple to make, especially using an editor like frontpage... I don't see why anyone would pay hundreds of dollars for one, unless it had advanced PHP/ASP features like login scripts, user areas, etc.
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There are plenty of reasons someone might pay for a website
  • The customer may not have the time to create one
  • The company you're in talks with doesn't want to spend any time doing the research for how to create a web page since they're computer illeterate
  • Depending on how good the designer is, it can take some time to make a decent page.
  • Practically all web pages require images. The images usually need to be edited or created which requires a graphic artist. Those guys arn't cheap
  • Frontpage sucks!
If you're good, people will pay for it. For PHP and ASP, you probably won't see a page that includes a lot of it less than $1000.
 
What would be a reasonable price for a website like this? http://www.loanamount.com/

A friend of mine wants me to make a site for him modelling that one. Also, I noticed some VB in there. I have experience with VB but I have never put VB in a website. Can somebody tell me what I need to know to make that work? Much appreciated.
 
xynapse said:
What would be a reasonable price for a website like this? http://www.loanamount.com/

A friend of mine wants me to make a site for him modelling that one. Also, I noticed some VB in there. I have experience with VB but I have never put VB in a website. Can somebody tell me what I need to know to make that work? Much appreciated.
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1)That site uses a template
2)Its poorly coded. Many paragraphs break out of the template box
3)Due to 1 & 2, it probably didn't cost much. Probably a couple hundred for the site. ($0-$70 for template, couple hundred for coding, done).
 
jizzypop said:
if youre using frontpage probably just do it for free.
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Why would I do it for free? He's not that good of a friend. :D j/k I'm a full time student. Any extra cash i get is a great help. I'm not going to use frontpage though. I'm going to try and tough it out with notepad. If that doesnt work I'll probably use dreamweaver. Thanks for the help guys.
 
I just built an application to track requisitions for purchasing on my company intranet. It has 28 pages of various designs with a full database behind it. We did this in-house with ASP .NET.

We received several outside quotes and they ranged from 80 to 100 grand. We did it internally for around 65 grand in about 5 months time.

The point is that there is a price for being creative and creating a benefit or return on the customer side. We expect to save 20 grand a year in processing and employee time that was done with manual inputs on mainframe screens.

When you create a webpage for anyone don't just consider your cost, consider what there willing to pay because they will have some kind of payback over time. It's part of charging the cost of doing business today.
 
I charge around 250 $ for a standard site, 350 $ if there is db involved. Support I give for free, just to be helpful (and make them recomend me to others).

Next step for me is to charge more, I am thinking about 500 for a standard site with say 5-6 pages and 800 for a database site with basic CMS for some pages.

And believe it or not, I can produce a basic pro looking table based site in 12 hours. I do not like to make pure CSS sites for customers if they do not specify that they need a website that have high usability.

Also, I recomend beginners to work in Dreamweaver, but use the full code view in the beginning then split screen code and design view.
 
one of the benefits of using an editor other than notepad (but not a WYSIWYG) is that for a new programmer, it automatically formats a lot of code for you. stuff like changing colors for reserved words, offering drop downs for possible values, and auto indenting are really helpful for almost any programmer. for a beginning programmer that doesn't know how to format well, it will be much easier to debug code down the line. compare this to something like frontpage, which can churn out acceptable results, but which is also a complete bear to edit/maintain manually should the need arise
 
The company I'm with charges $95/hr for web programming maintance. Some of our complete sites can run upwards of $10-15k for full inventory/user management. Hell I just got done writing a script for a company that was basically a javascript popup box that the user selected an option that, then sent the option they selected to their shopping cart. This ran the guy $700, and I did it in one day.

Heres an example of one of our higher-end sites: http://www.dreeshomes.com/jsp/home.jsp.
 
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