I need advice from veteran web developers

I've been assigned to do a big time project by a businessman.

Here are the specs:

>>
3 primary technology sites
2 primary sales sites to promote the tecnology sites

5 secondary pages inside the primary sites
1 third page for every secondary page

8 PDF's for site design documentation

These sites include the following:
1. Folder and tab based navigation scheme.
2. Left menus and pull down navigation for another site with right information zones on home page
3. Folder tab design with "Table Columns and Rows"
<<

Based on these specs, I'm only charging the businessman $100 (a mere hundred). Then he asked me to reconsider my charge.

He thought I was imagining ONLY a single site to develop. But I only increased with an additional $50. Now my question is:

Is $150 enough charge for his demands? :confused:

I'm from the Philippines so I'm not really familiar with the purchasing power of the dollar. And if this charge is too low, my client would probably think I'm ludicrous and I will probably lose my credibility. :o

Well, I've never done freelance work, but $150 dollars is not a lot of money, at all. Depending on your skill level, I'd charge based on how long it would take to do the project. The project doesn't seem to be that big, though. I'd say it would take about 40-50 hours to get all that done, depending on the amount of content he want per page, which is half of a week's pay. If he doesn't want you to put any of the content in and just wants a framework, you should handle that in less time.

So, let's say we're talking 45 hours at $15 an hour, you should be expecting $675 for this. Though if you aren't that good, then you might want to lower that a respectable amount. I'd also consider suggesting the to the guy that you wished to get paid by the day (eight hours), you could probably get more money out of it if you suggest it in pay periods rather than a lump sum.

Shouldn't you be charging in cake?

Nice try cheez. Cake won't be much compared to money. More income, more fart. :p

Anyway, I actually told him that I will deliver the complete websites in seven days time after he emails me the necessary data and stuff.

How much does website developing "normally" cost anyway? I've already done a lot of web projects mainly for my own purposes. This is my first time ever to have a real business move.

Besides, I don't know if my client thinks I'm good. I just show him my credentials.

Hmm, if I have to do it, I will charge *at least* $20/hour; but likely I will ask for more because of my expertise and my experience. Anywho, I will seek for advice here http://www.freelancers.net/forum.php

generally, the cost for a site by the design companies is $500.00 per site.
for what you listed:
5 sites times 500 the cost would be $2,500.00

It's never a good idea to charge a flat fee for a website. What if you do it, get your $100, and he asks you to change something? Or fix a bug, or do something different because he changed his mind? This happens all the time, and you end up working for nothing. I'd recommend an hourly fee ($15-25 is still a pretty low value, but it depends on your skills).

Besides which, 7 days for $100? Even if you only spend 40 hours working on the site (and believe me, with most customers, you won't) thats $2.50 (= slave labour).

I charge a small web company ~$2500 for an extension to their CMS. $150 is nothing.

Regarding what stovellp said, another option is to charge flat rate for the site, and in advance fix a maintenance fee, whether that's an hourly rate, a per-change thing, or a maintenance contract that just means monthly fixed payment.

Rez, you have no idea what you're doing, eh? I'd abandon this project before starting the way you're going at it. 7 days?! hahaha. you should spend seven days (at least) writing down proper specification requirements and design documents.

good luck...

and the price, well - it all depends on the requirements. After you "think" you get a time frame, multiply it by two and maybe you'll get it done on time ;) I'd charge around $40-$60/hr

I normally charge between $40-$60/hr like axon said. And you should include a maintenance contract as well. I charge a flat fee of $350 (and that's cheap) for a design for one site... if you're designing the look of 5 sites... well, you do the math. Everything else beyond the design has an hourly rate for me.

a per page rate, you are talking 55 pages for these sites.

5 primary sites = 5 pages
5 secondary pages per primary site = 25 pages
1 third level page per secondary page = 25 pages

25+25+5 =55
figure you will put 40 hours per site.

200 hours total

lots of work for such a small amount of money.
give the person you are dealing with credit, he knows you are undercharging him and made you re-think the amount.

> I'm from the Philippines so I'm not really familiar with the purchasing power of the dollar
So 1.00 USD United States Dollars = 1.66840 SGD Singapore Dollars
You really need to qualify "dollar" on international forums like this.

> Is $150 enough charge for his demands?
No idea - to me, it seems very cheap - like it buys a couple of hours in the US/EU.
On the other hand, in your locale, it might seem like quite a lot of money (say 1 month's average salary).
You can only really compare it against what other people are charging for similar work in your area.

If you're young/inexperienced, this pushes the price down.
If you're the hot thing in town, people turn up to ask you to do stuff and you turn them away because you're too busy, this pushes the price up.

Good will and reputation can be bought by exceeding the spec for the work you do, so that word gets around about how good you are.

If you want to cultivate a long term business relationship then a lower fee now may get you a steady stream of work later on. Smaller changes are easier to state and therefore easier to quote a fixed price over.

You also need to decide who gets the source code, particularly if you think you could re-use part of it for other potential customers. At least insist on a "site designed by" link to your own page.

Thank you for your input guys :) You're actually quite correct Salem. $150 dollars here in my region is quite a lot. I'm just not sure how my potential foreign clients would react to such amount though.

I've been regularly checking my mail but he never made any reply yet. By the looks of it, I think he got turned off :o Dammit.

Yeeeeeeeeyyy!!

My client sent me a contract :D Looks like my work's cut out for me huh?