the going rate?

[curious monkey]

in your professional opinions, what is the standard going rate for a website? I have friends that are charging, what I see as being extermly high rates, for very little work.? I have been researching it and see that in South Florida where I am the prices range.? I just need to get so more opinions.?
Thanks....


Blue!!!! just wanted to add some neon to this, as i know this forum's affinity to neon blue things

[Taz]

For very basic (HTML 4.01 valid) I won't get out of bed for less than ?7.50/?10 per hour, if they want anything more than very basic HTML/CSS they can expect to pay much more cos it means I'd have to use my brain.  & if graphics are required and other trimmings the price rises with each new idea or notion they start having till they get the message more costs much more.

I don't and wouldn't charge by the page or do a deal for a whole site as a whole deal always changes once the pages start showing up on a test server, I'd rather work the hourly rate.  Let's them know how much work has gone into it so they feel they get a fair price for the time and effort going into the work I put in.

I also slap extra cash on the hourly rate for problem customers or time wasters and especially "I want this I want that's" because they have had a chat with a friend who "Knows their stuff" when the stuff they know is 5 years out of date or just really bad ideas.

[curious monkey]

so that's about $14-$18 per hour USD.... ok he's WAY over priced.... he's saying that a lawyer around us paid $70,000 for his website! so that's about ?37,975 for a single site... 

[Taz]

You have to remember that the size of the site, the complexity and type of code involved can change the final costs drastically.  The above is my bottom line, the upper limit on what I could charge, well think of a number and keep on doubling it. 

I just need to find the clients who want these huge arsed sites and are prepared to pay the earth to get it done. 

[curious monkey]

makes sense... i still think that he's over priced for small relativly easy sites... he charged his OWN BAND for a site... who does that...

[Caz]

Estimating time/costs is the hard part of setting up - the technical side is a doddle compared to that. 

You are on the right track of researching the opposition, especially if you are aiming at local business but don't forget that what you bring to a client has to be easily differentiated from what they do. Think about accessibility, standards compliance and overall customer service. There are an awful lot of DW jockeys out there who can knock out an eye-watering site in Flash, all the other bells and whistles but their work is not viewable without javascript enabled/IE/huge monitor resolution or any other combination you can think of.

As Taz said, costs depend on what you have to be able to do to get the site working - and don't forget the time that has to be spent in cleaning content sent to you when it has originated in Word/Powerpoint etc.

Essentially though the price is what the customer is prepared to pay. 

[Taz]

makes sense... i still think that he's over priced for small relativly easy sites...

The hardest part of this line of work is getting people to hand over cash for what they think is easy work, if someone has made a small mint doing what they do fair play to them.

[curious monkey]

that's what i'm doing... i'm trying to figure out the price structure. but he's talking about $10,000 for a tattooist's site that they(the tattooshop) didn't  spend a dime on and are happy w/ the crap that they currently have. i can't see how he is justifying that figure! I'd do it for much less.... but i'm a newbie and he's not i'm business and creative he's the tech & art.  oh well...
thank for the input!