Pricing, cost evaluation for a site.

[CrAz3D]

http://www.ramcoauctionsinc.com/

I originally signed up just to do it for fun, got way into it and got a lot of help from a few of you all.  In the beginning my bud talked about paying me, now that it's pretty close to finished he wants to talk about paying me for the site as well as paying me to maintain it.

I've never done ANYTHING like this before.  I know my friend charges $1,200 or so for pages she designs (intricate design, little content).  My problem is that I, for the most part, didn't design the layout, merely modified it a fair amount.  Should I just create a new design and then charge the ridiculously high amount  (That seems stupid, I doubt I'll do that)

I'll probably end up guesstimating how many hours I put in, reduce it by a lot since there was a fair amount of "research" and then charge an hourly rate.  Ought I charge the same hourly rate to update?  He said it may need to be as frequent as daily; just whenever they have new properties to add, info to change, and things to create (I plan on still adding a few more things to the site to make it a bit more user friendly).

Since some of you HAVE done this sort of thing, what ballpark figure might I want to ask?  And because I'd feel bad otherwise, what would be a fair amount (from the main payment to me) to pay those of you who helped me out?  (Sidoh especially comes to mind as being a tremendous source of useful and helpful information).


Thanks for any suggestions y'all!

[Sidoh]

I guess I've never done web design where you charge a static rate.  I've always charged by the hour.  I think I started out at $15/hour and have ranged up to $25/hour for various sites, but all of my web design jobs have been more steady jobs than they have been contract work, so I'd imagine I could get a lot more if I was just doing random jobs I found off RaC-like services.

To be considerate, I'd try to estimate how much time you spent on the site and let your friend know.  I'd come up with a rate and give him a range (like "calculation +/- 10% of that depending how satisfied you are").  It's also important that you make sure you're allowed to use the template you have under the conditions of the site (I assume it's commercial?) and probably fair that you mention that you didn't design it yourself.

[CrAz3D]

Everything I understand in the license says I can use it so long as I give credit and a link, which I've done.
My friend knows it is a free design, he picked it out and sent it to me to work over.

Maybe I'll ask $10/hr and guesstimate 10 hours put into building the site thus far (I know I've put in WAY more time, but so much of that has been trial and error, researching, and just getting help).  $100 firstly, maybe, and then for updating the $10/hr

[trust]

Fuck that charge the hoe 20000 and adgvjvegive me half lol give me half for giving the diea that was supposed to be 20000 two thousand.

trust

[CrAz3D]

Fuck that charge the hoe 20000 and adgvjvegive me half lol give me half for giving the diea that was supposed to be 20000 two thousand.

trust

LOL!
You are fucking trashed

[Sidoh]

I don't think you should discount all of the hours you spent researching et al.  Sometimes, that's part of the job, heh.

That sounds reasonable to me, but I think you should reconsider ignoring all the hours you spent figuring things out, since I assume he "hired" (I use quotes since you made it sound less formal than that) knowing full well that you were new to web design.

[CrAz3D]

He IM'd me saying he was doing a banner for his site, I mentioned I could do something (I'd done a lot of photoshop stuff in the past for him for free).  Eventually I said I could help since I've done it, that developed to me doing it (he was put in charge of doing it at his company, either doing it or finding someone).  He said he'd pay me for my time.

WhiTExWeaZel (8:31:22 PM): when you have time i want to dicuss about paying you to help us with doing update
Banana Rules All (8:31:03 PM):  <3 bro
Banana Rules All (8:31:05 PM): thanks
WhiTExWeaZel (8:31:43 PM): cuz i will need updates like weekly or even daily
Banana Rules All (8:31:23 PM): ok, cool.  can do
WhiTExWeaZel (8:32:08 PM): i still need to pay you a flat fee for the the build too
WhiTExWeaZel (8:32:17 PM): so we can talk about it later when you have tiome
Banana Rules All (8:31:51 PM): sweet bro
Banana Rules All (8:32:17 PM): want to send me $5k so I can get the car?   j/k.

but yeah, I'll be on in a couple of hours then we can chat some more
WhiTExWeaZel (8:33:12 PM): ok you may possible make 5k in the long run
WhiTExWeaZel (8:33:12 PM): lol
Banana Rules All (8:32:58 PM): heh, would be nice.  off for a while.  adios bro

Maybe ask $10/hr 30 hours for main build?

[Sidoh]

Yeah, that sounds reasonable to me.

[rabbit]

You're underpaying yourself.  You shouldn't ask for anything less than $20/hour base.  I started at $10, and people kept asking me to do stuff.  I didn't have the time to do everything, so I had to turn down people, which is just bad marketing.  Once I raised to $20/hour, I got a lot less offers, but all of them were pretty decent.  Also, discounting friends suck, cause then they refer you at a low ass rate.

So, the moral of this story is: charge a crapload.

[CrAz3D]

Maybe $15?

My friend suggested $15 or so.  She charges something like $30/hr after the initial page setup fee (some God awful number like $1200+).

[trust]

Fuck that charge the hoe 20000 and adgvjvegive me half lol give me half for giving the diea that was supposed to be 20000 two thousand.

trust

LOL!
You are fucking trashed

haha wow...

[Sidoh]

You're underpaying yourself.  You shouldn't ask for anything less than $20/hour base.  I started at $10, and people kept asking me to do stuff.  I didn't have the time to do everything, so I had to turn down people, which is just bad marketing.  Once I raised to $20/hour, I got a lot less offers, but all of them were pretty decent.  Also, discounting friends suck, cause then they refer you at a low ass rate.

So, the moral of this story is: charge a crapload.

I think it depends on a lot more than you're considering.  I doubt this will become his steady job.

[CrAz3D]

You're underpaying yourself.  You shouldn't ask for anything less than $20/hour base.  I started at $10, and people kept asking me to do stuff.  I didn't have the time to do everything, so I had to turn down people, which is just bad marketing.  Once I raised to $20/hour, I got a lot less offers, but all of them were pretty decent.  Also, discounting friends suck, cause then they refer you at a low ass rate.

So, the moral of this story is: charge a crapload.

I think it depends on a lot more than you're considering.  I doubt this will become his steady job.

GOD no.
I still work for the lawyer (4 hrs/day) @ $8/hr and will continue this through school.
I just plan on doing web stuff (if any new things arise) in my way spare-time

[trust]

You need to factor in that this was also a premade layout though.

[CrAz3D]

You need to factor in that this was also a premade layout though.

See: post #1