Charging clients for edits to their websites

nellipope

nellipope

Member
I recently started freelancing. Graphic design / web design etc. It's all been going fairly well, steep learning curve, but I'm getting there. I was wondering what sort pricing structure other freelancers use for when clients want you to make amendments to their website.

My websites have an in-browser editor, some clients are quite happy to use it, other's not so sure, and obviously there are always some edits which have to made by the designer.

So what sort of terms do other designers use? I was thinking working off my standard hourly rate, some edits are quite small (an hour maybe), simply moving a text frame or increasing the amount of images in a slideshow for example. Whereas other edits are quite big, involving new pages.

The pitfalls I keep encountering do seem to stem from client in particular, but I can see this issue applying to a few others down the line. The client in question will want some changes made to her online yoga timetable, she will send these changes over, I assess them and make a rough guesstimate at 1.5 hours work. She agrees, we are all happy. But the next day I will receive an email telling that she got Monday's classes wrong and needs further changes. Then the formatting will be wrong because her partner can't agree on when to take lunch on a Thursday! Who knew Yoga was so complicated.

Anyway, I am attempting to put together some T&C's for my clients so they can get a good idea of my charges, what sort of costs they may incur, what they are capable of doing themselves and most importantly, how to keep me happy by giving me all the information in one go. Right first time. So any suggestions would be great.
 
Can you not give them a calendar that is linked to an ical or something. That way they just need to update the calendar on their computer or phone and it updates on the website?

My charges are simple - 1 hours work minimum.

Changes are per hour - therefore working 1 minute over 1 hour = 1 extra hour (2 hours work)

I allow minor changes up to 3 revisions per job.

Thereafter, hourly rate applies, even if it just changing a word, time or other.


They soon cop on that changing 3 words every 2nd day is costing them a lot of money.
 
Brilliant Hank thanks for that, that's exactly the sort of structure I was planning to use.

As for this client, I suggested Google Docs or something similar as you suggest, but apparently it's too 'complicated' for them. I recently set up emails for them using Business Catalyst, so simple it hurts, I set up the email addresses and BC sends out an invitation email to allow each user to set up an email account using web mail. If you can use hotmail or order Yogapants from matalan, then you can use web mail. But once again the clients are claiming it's too complicated!
 
Last edited:
I'm only strict on the worst.

I'll let half hour slide for good clients.. because they're worth it.

But the contract states that - so once they agree for me to proceed that's what they pay.
 
I have to admit I let the odd half hour slide too, but only with regulars, and generally only my print work. But I'm with hank, I've had a couple of clients that will insist on you changing the colours of their website from every shade imaginable, just because they want to see what purple text looks like on a brown background. And you just know they will go with the first option in the end. I will be honest I am advising clients to 'use my services wisely'.
 
It's all geared towards giving a fair price, and getting them to think about their changes before sending them.

It's not a threat, or a way to extortion them.

I let them know the rates before hand, and if they ask for changes that take a minute to do I'll remind them it's 1 hour minimum, and quote the fee - and they usually say hang on until we have a few more changes.

I use it in a friendly approachable way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top