How much should I charge for doing a site?

[dma550]

Focusing on LAMP work:

That pricing makes sense in terms of development/design houses with multiple employees which may be in house or contracted consultants all working on the same projects.

In terms of independent consultants doing contract work, i.e. professionals who work solo via 1099 (could be W2 but you get my point) usually charge that only if 5-7+ years experience and highly qualified, but I could be wrong.

Would like to hear your opinion on this.

I agree, I find this too on the development side of things. My subs usually get around $100/hr. They don't get more as many times they are specialists and don't carry the full skillset to get the whole project done.

For a clone of me, and someone that has a full skillset and integration + design sensibilities, I go full rate and bake it into the project.

For LAMP work, ie Wordpress sites that start from templates, I think $85-100/hr retail is fine, with subs getting 65-75.00 / hr in the US. I have yet to be satisfied with offshoring anything.

 

[SrWebDeveloper]

Thanks for your response, dma550.

To all:

RE: Posting rates and dollar amounts and defining the job title

As many of us here are using the LAMP stack, I just want to comment that to me development is not defined by working with open source CMS's that "start from templates" as one user put it or "cookie cutter" by another. That's part of it, sure, but there are many in this group who build highly customized and very complex Enterprise level sites/multisites, modules/plugins and theming using Drupal, Joomla or other contemporary CMS's. Disciplines that involve both front end UI and back end development using object oriented coding via fully qualified frameworks.

Clients wish to save money and time by switching to such open source frameworks within the LAMP stack and not be tied down to one shop via a proprietary custom CMS or back end technology.

So what happens when you have a lot of folks experienced at a rapidly evolving technology stack on a professional level? A market is born!

And so is a modern job title fitting to the needs of this market, "LAMP Developer":
http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-lamp+developer

Take a look!

That's a baseline for determining the high and low expected earnings for this particular market and job classification, for any job you take on. For example I'm an IT Consultant/LAMP Developer with 5+ years direct experience from SOHO to Enterprise level and I earn the higher end of the spectrum shown on that page. My skills warrant it, and savvy clients expect me to be within that range when I bid or interview.

It's important to know your market (financially and technically) before you bid a job or contemplate taking on contract work as an independent consultant.

Then you can discuss the project with the client and then create an estimate or salary expectation based on project specifics.

-jim

 

[fig]

It's important to know your market (financially and technically) before you bid a job or contemplate taking on contract work as an independent consultant.

Then you can discuss the project with the client and then create an estimate or salary expectation based on project specifics.

-jim

Very important point that I think a lot of folks miss.

A website from an independent developer in Iowa is going to cost a lot less than a site being built for someone in New York or LA (with obviously lots of steps inbetween).

 

[Kyle2123]

And so is a modern job title fitting to the needs of this market, "LAMP Developer":
http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-lamp+developer

Take a look!

That's a baseline for determining the high and low expected earnings for this particular market and job classification, for any job you take on. For example I'm an IT Consultant/LAMP Developer with 5+ years direct experience from SOHO to Enterprise level and I earn the higher end of the spectrum shown on that page. My skills warrant it, and savvy clients expect me to be within that range when I bid or interview.

When looking at job sites like that, keep in mind that the yearly amounts usually reflect a full time job with full benefits, etc. If you are doing 1099, you need to add at least 25% on top of whatever a full-time employee salary is to account for this. The amount on that page looks crazy low to me though, maybe it varies by region, but I live in the MidWest which I don't think is exactly on the high end of IT salaries, and just about any IT job I've ever seen around here starts at well over 75K.

 

[SrWebDeveloper]

Very important point that I think a lot of folks miss.

A website from an independent developer in Iowa is going to cost a lot less than a site being built for someone in New York or LA (with obviously lots of steps inbetween).

For those who visit the link for salary info for LAMP dev, use the LOCATION field on that site, obviously.

Same response to Kyle2123 -- the default view on that page is likely a statistical median average. The page I linked has this disclaimer as well:

"Average lamp developer salaries can vary greatly due to company, location, industry, experience and benefits."

Thanks for chiming in, excellent advice, all.

Cheers.

 

[0dev]

Just in case anyone is interested, I'm being paid £100 for the shopfront and I'll be paid separately for any extra work I do (they already want me to sort out other stuff), so I'm quite happy all things considered.

 

[SrWebDeveloper]

Just in case anyone is interested, I'm being paid £100 for the shopfront and I'll be paid separately for any extra work I do (they already want me to sort out other stuff), so I'm quite happy all things considered.

All that matters is you're being paid what you're worth and the client is happy, you need not divulge pay in the future as that's your business and you don't necessarily want the competition in your area to know such things. But I understand your excitement and reporting back, congrats on the job and it sounds like you'll be busy there and play a key role. Excellent stuff for your portfolio for future jobs.

Well done!

 

[SPOOF]

Once upon a time, ages and ages ago...I used to do web development (when that consisted of HTML and some javascript, CSS was brand new and I did some of it). More recently, I also did IT Consulting and database development.

Now, I do a different line of work, but still tech related...anyway, that's my background.

As far as pay is concerned, a lot of good comments have come out here already, most of which I agree with. It is very important to take into account 4 basic things when figuring out standard pricing (before any discounts you decide to provide for whatever reason), no matter what the job, no matter what the industry:
1) Your skill level
2) The average market price in your area
3) The time you believe it will take
4) Additional skills you will need to learn, or another expert you'll need to hire (take some off of the price if you're learning, add some if you're hiring an outside expert)

For example, you may have a design masters with art exhibits in museums, multiple interactive displays, and a PHD in computer science...but if you're doing a website for a small shop (even if it is a complex site) in a small town, you probably can't charge the same thing you just charged that mainstream TV show or the government.

At the same time, you may be the best thing since sliced bread in your area with a huge slew of clients, but any large company won't even look at your bid since it wasn't high enough to be considered quality.

Sometimes economics and business decisions are entertaining.

 

[sambredeson]

My rule of thumb is that I charge $20 per hour with a $100 minimum. (The minimum is *always* met.)

I don't have any degrees in CS or design or anything like that, and all my experience is from making sites for friends, family, and through word-of-mouth from those. I think I'm decent at making sites, but certainly not an expert, and web design is not my primary job. These factors all bring down how much I feel like I can charge people.

 

[SrWebDeveloper]

My rule of thumb is that I charge $20 per hour with a $100 minimum. (The minimum is *always* met.)

I don't have any degrees in CS or design or anything like that, and all my experience is from making sites for friends, family, and through word-of-mouth from those. I think I'm decent at making sites, but certainly not an expert, and web design is not my primary job. These factors all bring down how much I feel like I can charge people.

I don't know your situation and no need to divulge, but the advice here has been for professional gigs which involves reported income. But thank you for offering insight into the DIY or hobbyist price point, for those wondering. Otherwise to those following who do this part time but also professionally please take my advice and consider creating a contract situation, do a 1099, it's easy to start a small business sole prop. or LLC and get a tax ID and not end up owing taxes to Uncle Sam or whatever.