HELP URGENT, costing up work

[gibbo_ap]

i have been asked to do a site for someone, colleague of a friend of a friends friend, so not mates rates.

 

i have never done a proper quote for a site, always mates rates so am stuck, dont want to over proce or under price

 

i have prepared this so far:

 

I have read through the spec and have come up with the following;

 

• Joomla based site, (would need hosting supporting 200mb + storage and 1x sql database)
  this would facilitate easy article additions, components such as galleries, discussion boards etc
  
• Theme development; design of the site,
  
• The spec sounds like it will be (eventually) a large portal to other sites, if this is so then this solution would make this easier to implement.
  

 

Price

 

basic site setup/install and content : £200

Theme : £25 (this would be for the initial 'rush' job and a more refined theme would be post initial job @ £75 but set under a developers terms of design*)

 

subsequent work would be charged hourly @ £10per hour or in bulk loads dependent on the job. with unforseen technical problems (ie hosting issues) charged @ £7 per hour.

 

Training will need to be given to a designated person on how to use the back end which will be charged at @ £10 per hour on a 2 person per session basis. if the client prefers myself to take control of updates a monthly fee on £25 for up to 4 hours.

 

i can not provide a full job quote without more information on the job and thus am providing a hourly rate at present

 

please help! PS i have not proof read yet

[jamesreedersmith]

Well under priced - look at commercial offerings for ideas - Joomla site of that size id be looking at £800 - £1000 for set up and design, and £20+ an hour.

[gibbo_ap]

sound better?:

 

basic site setup/install and content : £500

Theme : £40 (this would be for the initial 'rush' job and a more refined theme would be post initial job @ £100 but set under a developers terms of design*)

component install and configuration at the hourly rate below

[jamesreedersmith]

Much - Makes you look more professional if you price it right too

[localzuk]

£10 an hour is not much, I have to say. I'd be looking at £15 - £20 an hour myself.

[steveg]

I'd def look at around £20 an hour for all the extra work. - Remember if this isn't just a small job for a mate but one that you're going to be invoicing for then you will need to register as self empolyed (if you aren't already) so after you take tax etc off of your £7 or £10 an hour, you're not going to be left with a lot.

 

Also worth checking with you're employer if you're ok to do the work - some contracts don't allow second jobs. Sure it wouldn't be a problem for most employers, but worth covering yourself.

 

Steve

[apoth0r]

Depends on what you can do?

 

You can't just charge a fortune if you are learning on the job yourself, a little unfair for the customer. As it is your first proper job (not for mates - "that'll do") I would give them a lower price. You may get subsequent business from it.

 

Also don't forget to sort it out Tax wise!

[ForbesD]

When making the site, who will be supplying the content? Also with Joomla some basic functionality needs extensions that normally need to be purchased or come with links to the devopler which you should take into account.

 

How many pages are they requiring you to do before the site is approved and goes live? I have found it is best to give a rough guide of what they will have at the end of it, if you say £500 to make the site the customer may expect a lot more than you are planning.

[Oaktech]

When I rent myself out for real money - either doing AV install, Sound Engineering, or IT work I charge £30/hr up to half a day/ 4hours. After that I charge a flat day rate of £180 for up to 9 hours work, or in the case of work like sound engineering which can often be long days I charge £200 for up to 12 hours work. Travel more than 50 miles is charged at cost.

 

If I set a website up for someone, I will charge hosting at face value but I look to make 10% on anything I purchase for the project such as software or hardware (latest version of Artisteer for template design, paid for modules, microserver if they want to host themselves etc.) and then my time is charged at a flat rate somewhere near my normal rates for however long I think it is going to take me to create the basis for the site. I will then offer to transfer content into the site or offer training for them to do it for a fee worked out on how much they have to transfer, or how difficult I think it is going to be to explain it to them. Once the site is live, I make it quite clear that I will give free unlimited support for 1 month as a gesture so the customer becomes familiar with the site. After that we are back to ordinary rates as above. Never ceases to amaze me how busy people keep me even with those terms!

[salc]

Undercharge and they won't trust you, overcharge and you won't get the job. £20/hour is still on the low side for a professional service.

[southhamster]

Agreed. I charge around £28 an hour or £180 per day plus travel mileage. I have several thousand pounds worth of tools and kit to fix problems quickly too. Less of a problem with software only support I guess.