I hаνе bееn qυеѕtіοnеd tο produce a website promoting global conferences οf sorts. Thеrе іѕ nο management οf thе site involved. It wіll consist οf several pages, designed tο a high ordinary, wіth images аnd text, sidebar etc etc, wіth facilities fοr content tο bе updated easily. I’m іn a bit οf a dilema аѕ tο hοw tο charge fοr thе job. It’s a casual friendly engagement.
Anу tips? Shουld i dο іt based οn hοw many hours іt takes mе? Or јυѕt аѕ аn еnd result? Alѕο justifications οf уουr estimations wουld bе appreciated, јυѕt ѕο i саn know a bit more аbουt whу іt’s thе best way tο gο 
Thanks guys.
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It’s sort of a combo of the two…you need to charge hourly but you need to present your client with an “estimated” cost up front.
Here’s basically how it goes:
1) Figure out how much you wish to charge per hour. Unfortunately, there’s no universal “going rate” for this. Some charge $15/hr. Others charge $80/hr. It’s up to you and what you reckon you’re worth.
2) Assess how many hours you reckon the site will take you to complete. HOWEVER….pad your hours, especially if this is your first project of this type and you feel there will be a “learning curve” of sorts. If you reckon it’ll take you 30 hours to complete the whole project, add an extra 10-20 hours. Trust me, projects always take longer than you assess. Things go incorrect….annoying errors happen.
3) Write up a full and complete paper for your client detailing EXACTLY what each page on the site will contain. This is a very vital step. You need to clarify that the fee you’re quoting is only for the items proscribed within the paper. This way, when the client comes back after the site is complete and says they need another page built or extra content added, you can clarify to them that that’s fine, but that’s not part of the initial project, so it would be an additional fee.
4) After you’ve completed the first 3, you can now calculate your final fee for the client.
5) Have your client sign a contract to prove they acknowledge the fee and exactly what content you will be providing them. I can’t emphasize the need for a contract ample! Even if you’re doing this site for a friend. I’ve been burnt in the past by so called friends who I made sites for with no signed contract in place up front. The contract doesn’t have to be anything extravagant. Just something that states the fee and and that the client acknowledges this fee is for the work performed on items proscribed within the paper and how any additional work the client questions for will be at an additional cost.
Hope that helps.
figure out how much an hour you want to make. when construction the site only 50-70% of your time is billable. If you are doing it for a friend I would say charge $25-$35 /hour. See what other web designer are charging in your area and thing in your skill amount.
I make a living as a web designer and I charge between $50-$65/ hour depending on the job. If it includes basic HTML or flash, etc.
Excellent luck.
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