How to quote price for website?

[Krass]

Any aussies here? I got a web development job from an aussie company but not sure what the market rates are for ecommerce sites in australia.

Plus any tips on how to decide on pricing and stuff is much appreciated.

 

[jamessmith110]

Your asking the wrong question...

Let me ask you this If some guy quotes $100 for a website, its a simple website, all he has to do is install Magento and some theme, then the websites worth $100, but what if i told you the client would have happily paid $1000 for that same website, not one single change, which is better?

The fact is there are millions of web designers, some cheap, some premium, forget about them, what are you worth?

Then forget how much your worth for a second, and find out how much the client can and will pay, and then if that figure works for you do the deal.

 

[Krass]

Your asking the wrong question...

Let me ask you this If some guy quotes $100 for a website, its a simple website, all he has to do is install Magento and some theme, then the websites worth $100, but what if i told you the client would have happily paid $1000 for that same website, not one single change, which is better?

The fact is there are millions of web designers, some cheap, some premium, forget about them, what are you worth?

Then forget how much your worth for a second, and find out how much the client can and will pay, and then if that figure works for you do the deal.

Thanks for this man. Yeah I'll just charge whatever I think the project is worth to me and see if they can pay.

 

[Kris]

I'm an Aussie and I've done a few websites for businesses.

The way I quote is I come out to them and go through absolutely everything they want. I then can gauge roughly how many hours are involved to build what they want and work out my price from that.

Also another aspect to keep in mind, set some guidelines about how the payments will be made. ie xx% up front deposit and then another 3 monthly installments or something. A couple of my clients were an absolute nightmare to get to pay up so make sure you set the ground rules from the get go.

 

[Michael]

Also another aspect to keep in mind, set some guidelines about how the payments will be made. ie xx% up front deposit and then another 3 monthly installments or something. A couple of my clients were an absolute nightmare to get to pay up so make sure you set the ground rules from the get go.

@Kris hold the power - if it's a wp site don't hand over the admin login details until they pay (or any platformfor that matter). Give them normal access then upgrade their account later on to full admin.
Or leave an entry point back to their site if they screw you around... like having their CPANEL details, and only handing those over when you've been fully paid

 

[jamessmith110]

@Kris hold the power - if it's a wp site don't hand over the admin login details until they pay (or any platformfor that matter). Give them normal access then upgrade their account later on to full admin.
Or leave an entry point back to their site if they screw you around... like having their CPANEL details, and only handing those over when you've been fully paid

OR Never hand them over unless they ask so you have sole full control and any change have to go through you.

IMHO most companies don't really care/don't need/know what to do with this access, so why give it, it only increases the likely hood someone's son who did some college course in Drama, and apparently knows their stuff tries to change something and breaks it all, which is a plus for you because $$$ to fix, but also means that if they did know what they are doing they can cut you out, even for simple changes this reduces your bottom line and means no retainers etc.

I guess it depends on how you sell it really if you sell them on the benefits of WordPress or w/e vs selling them on how great a job your going to do whole different game.

 

[Rageix]

Any aussies here? I got a web development job from an aussie company but not sure what the market rates are for ecommerce sites in australia.

Plus any tips on how to decide on pricing and stuff is much appreciated.

Not an Aussie but been web development professionally and as a freelancer for 5+ years. Don't really think the Aussie part is relevant though.

There are already a lot of decent replys here but I will give you my thoughts:

• Go through the project as much as possible and try and determine the aprox hours. If you haven't done this before (and it sounds like maybe you haven't), your estimate is probably way off. Everything takes longer than you think it will. When I first started I would say I was typically off by 3-5x. This will vary.
• If you aren't sure how to price, avoid fixed price work if possible unless you can get some healthy overhead. If possible try to offer the client the best / worst case hourly. If you do go through with something fixed price, get everything up front in writing. It's pretty simple really, the client has no real idea what is involved and can and do change their minds on stuff. It'll keep you out of a bad situation.
• Charge what you think your time is worth. It's easier to say than to do when you start. If you want to charge more than market rates, you either have to be good and have a good reputation, or get lucky with the client.
• If you don't have a relationship with the client, and they approached you, make sure to get something up front. Remember that estimate you made up? Try to get 50% up front. That's a loose number, for larger projects you might negotiate less with more consistent payments along the way. If they aren't willing to put up anything up front, that is a very bad sign, move on.
• Set up your own server to host the work on so you can show the client. If you haven't worked with the client before I wouldn't release the site to them until I was payed in full. Most people are actually not trying to fuck you over, but a few are. If you're comfortable working with someone then you probably don't need to do this.
• Communicate everything as clearly as you possibly can to the client. Communication is probably the biggest key to getting paid. If the client understands what you are going to deliver, and you communicate the project status clearly, and handle and other issues there should be no problem getting paid.

 

[propipper]

As @Rageix mentioned, always add a buffer because something you didn't foresee will ultimately always come up.

I don't know the specifics of your potential clients' needs but think about the bigger picture too. By doing their website, you're getting your foot in the door.

Think residual.

What about other services for an e-commerce site? Hosting, updates, social media integration, social media marketing, etc.

I've built sites before in the past where I've done a monthly "maintenance fee". It's good because they oftentimes don't use it unless they do something stupid so you're banking every month on an automatic rebill residual payment. But, clients will gladly pay it because they know if something goes wrong they can call you. This is when you need to be fast about addressing their issues. Once they have to call you in an "emergency" and you fix it right away, they'll see the value in that right away - especially for an e-commerce site.

 

[eliquid]

This doesn't always hit every situation, but

• full blown site like ecom or something that might take several weeks? $10k + min
  
• 6-10 page site, $6k
• 1 page website, $1.5k

If you really are good at what you do look at the value you provide. If you are in an industry where 1 sale for your client could be $1M, you should be charging $100k as the value you provide for them would be tremendous. You can't pull this off if you suck though.

In Higher Ed, one student signing up and staying all 4 years is worth thousands and thousands for a college/university. I wasn't charging chump change for that doing their PPC and helping roll out a new website for them since I could be helping them get 100's of prospects/leads a month.