Would anyone have called me if i didn't come here..?

Anyway, listen to wantanseller (my assistant analyst) and goldfries (my fish in my bowl). LoL! Just kidding.

But they are right in what they're trying to explain. Countless times we've tried to describe to many people around here that a standard pricing isn't easy because in web design and development, it's based on different criterias having to do with design and development.

However, even if we ask ourselves or others first, what is a basic/standard website design/development? you won't get the same answer cause there are the companies, the freelancers and the 'wanna-bes'.

Standard to me would be HTML and CSS, template design, 5-10 pages.

That itself I normally I start from RM1000 or more (no less) and work my way up. The only time I bring down the price is after I've digged up the background of the client.

So the conclusion is, weigh yourself in all aspects of design and development skills against the freelancers then try to think about your price.

Just to give you a head start, I normally charge clients anywhere between RM30-50 an hour.

Cheers.

@rissband
www.templatemonster.com

buy it..

Tm89:
well, unless all your clients only want HTML.. I suppose you don't need a developer.

unless you know how to program in those languages.. then i would say, yeah.. you'd need to outsource the work.

The article that I think you wanted to share was this one:
http://muidlatif.blogspot.com/2005/06/welc...-designers.html

Muid's one if my buddies in work and a normal friend. Whatever he says is true, and come to think of it, I even just blogged about something like this not too long ago..

http://www.dannyfoo.com/archives/2005/11/f..._of_client.html

earthkid:
I find that pretty reasonable as long the quality that comes out is good.

crynobone:
I think I too need to start quoting on pages and images especially when it gets too much to handle some times.

it's like some clients don't even have digitized logos or photos.. headache..

great question benison.

some say 5 pages (full A4) to me means the content to be placed is at full A4 x 5.

some count opening a new window (popup) is equivalent to 1 page. in other words, it's counting the links.

I still think the best way to calculate is by the hours because you can then multiply the rate by how many hours you spend on the project. But of course you can't quote a client after project.

So maybe what you could do is have a rough figure by seeing how long you'd normally take for a single page that might include 1 popup or more than 1 popup. Take your hourly rate and multiply the number of hours then you have a rough figure to work with.

I feel like I need to quote clients how many A4 pages of content and how many images or else it might get out of hand sometimes.

Price hike because of petrol prices ar? LOL!

Anyway, if the website is huge and the clients wants you to do all the content insertion for them on the first launch then of course it costs more because you're required to take time in the planning, developing and data entry.

As for the 2k not worth the time, you can't really say this for everyone out there. To a student, 2k is a lot of money and unless they're developing a project as big as the one you described, than maybe they could price it higher but not to what you're pricing.

It's like a company. Your prices are high as well because you have a team involved. You need to pay their living. Since sharing is in the equation, pricing high is a must. Also, because you're involving each individual's time, if you calculated their hourly rate then it just might equal up to what you need to charge.

hope all that made sense.

the best methods of starting without a budget is tell your friends and family members that you're on your school break and you're just too much an IT addict to not do any work during the holidays and you're looking for website projects..

maybe you could leave out the IT addict part but yeah.. spread news to friends and relatives..

chowsc:
what do you mean non-transactional? first time I'm hearing someone describe a website with that term. anyway, if it's a single page and nice design with a database, I suppose the price is determined by who you find for the project.

if you were to hire a professional, they might charge you RM500-RM1500 just for the project. if you find a student, well, it might cost a lot less.

brotherhoe:
if you were a student, that might be alright but if you were a company. I'd say that's a little on the very low side. don't forget, you'll need to add the content in later and if all 15 pages have content (text + images) to be placed inside, it'll take time to do it.

I think I would charge a minimum of RM1500 without any maintainance. And what do you mean 'not redesign'? Meaning the website has no design at all and you'll just use the CSS styling to make the website?

Cheers.

Maintainance I'll normally tell my clients that I charge based on an hourly fee.. but because most of our clients opt for a CMS, we don't have any maintainance.

Well, the client doesn't know how much is it charged for just the design since normally what we do is introduce the whole 'package' to them of design + development. Only when the client says they want just a design, then I'll charge them accordingly if the template changes per page or it maintains through the content pages.

But even when I do that, clients are held down by my T&C of not being allowed to change more than 30% which is also considerable by me. Also, I've already informed them first hand that they will not get the work file (PSD) because they'd have to pay almost double to get it. After all, that's the only intellectual property I have as a designer.

As for backup payment, so far 50% before project and the remainder after has been fine with me.

LoL! You could try.. and it is an interesting concept since Malaysia doesn't really have that.. just hope it won't deminish the market as it is.

Well, the CMS isn't alterations of an existing CMS. We've got a custom built one to provide to our clients actually. And because most corporate clients wouldn't maintain that much items except for updates to small content, images or sometimes jobs, our CMS is built for those reasons.

There have been reasons we've customized our existing CMS to the customers needs but those really pay a lot more than what we'd charge.

of course.. just start a new thread with a poll of either asking us how much we think it's worth or how good it is.

the price isn't determined totally by the client but through your own honesty. however, if you're a damn good marketing person who could tell the client they'll get a million return after using your stuff, then you are good. :roll:

Well, the whole explaination above wasn't to scare or request for everyone to not be a designer. Just that if you want to be one, it's more challenging and you need more than just copying styles or following what some are doing in their methods of business.

Besides, it depends which segment of a business you belong. Are you an employee, self-employed, business runner or merely an investor?

All this you'll realize through experience and you'll know when you're ready.

Cheers.

Malaysia.. we're doomed.

About that graphic designer thing, if you're looking for people to design websites.. please make sure they know about websites before even asking them to design a website.

Or in the end, you'll just end up with one of those templates that will create a website without value later on.

Cheers.