How much should I charge?

LouiseWDesign

LouiseWDesign

New Member
Hi, happy new year everyone!

I have been asked to design a logo and basic website for a potential client, but since this is my first piece of freelance work (as well as professional work), I have no idea how much I should charge for my services.

I would appreciate any advice you could give me.
 
Hello, Happy New Year to you too!

Only one person can truly answer that question and that's you.

These questions may help you to get to the answer:

How experienced are you with logo and web design?
How much do you value yourself?
How much would you like to earn p/h and does this hourly rate equate to your own value and experience?
How long will it take you to complete the brief?

Once you know these answers add an extra 50% on top of the total, and you'll have a good idea as to how much you should charge.
 
Thanks.

What I found online is the usual rate for a fredlance designer is about £20-£40 per hour, depending on experience. Since I am a graduate, I was thinking the bottom end of this price range.

Based on this, I was thinking of charging around £500, do you think this to be fair?
 
Whoever designed that tool is a tool! You can't double your quote just because it's an interesting job, unless you've got plenty
of work on already. Most times they would just go elsewhere.

Pricing is always difficult when you're starting out, it comes with experience. I still get it wrong and I've been doing it 20 years plus.
£500 sounds ok because you're low on experience, as long as the site is basic. You can always build in another 30-50% or so if they
are likely to make changes.
 
I double my quotes for awkward clients. They usually pay it - but I'd never do it for a good client.

Once, I tripled the quote for a client I didn't want to deal with and they flipped at the price. Alas, they came back and requested I do the work, and I quote, "Because nobody else is will take our job on!"

==============

Work out a fair hourly rate that you're comfortable working at. Just because they're a friend or family or friend of the family doesn't mean you should work for less. But you can give a nice discount.

If they don't like the quote they can go ahead and get competitive quotes from companies - they'll soon come crawling back for your discounted services.
 
Wardy said:
Whoever designed that tool is a tool! You can't double your quote just because it's an interesting job, unless you've got plenty
of work on already. Most times they would just go elsewhere.

Pricing is always difficult when you're starting out, it comes with experience. I still get it wrong and I've been doing it 20 years plus.
£500 sounds ok because you're low on experience, as long as the site is basic. You can always build in another 30-50% or so if they
are likely to make changes.
Click to expand...

Doesn't it do the opposite? It decreases your quote if it is an interesting and highly beneficial job and increases it if it in boring and will do nothing for you in the future. I think the idea behind that is to earn more for jobs that are likely to be long and drawn out, party due to the lack of enthusiasm you have for the brief. Not the way I go about my quotes but there you go.

I must admit, since I have raised my fees this year, that tool doesn't quite work out for me. Last year, before I increased my charges it was pretty much spot on with my quotes. I have never used it for working out a quote, just compared it to quotes I gave out in the past, out of curiosity.

hankscorpio said:
If they don't like the quote they can go ahead and get competitive quotes from companies - they'll soon come crawling back for your discounted services.
Click to expand...

Or they will find out about a site like PPH and get it done for 50 quid...
 
CLHB said:
Or they will find out about a site like PPH and get it done for 50 quid...
Click to expand...

Or their neighbours dog walkers dogs cousins owners son who has photoshop and will do it FoC!

Get what you pay for. I've had people do that then come back saying it's not good enough for them.

Sometimes they don't come back at all - which is fine with me. I'd rather people who respected me enough to pay the bill.
 
CLHB said:
Or they will find out about a site like PPH and get it done for 50 quid...
Click to expand...

If they do that then they were never your ideal client anyway. If they're happy to pay £50 for something you quoted £500 for, then they clearly don't understand what you bring and therefore are not someone you want to be working for. Let them go. Good riddance I say!

I had a 'discussion' on another forum with someone who complained that templates and themes were killing the industry and making it hard to find design work. He couldn't understand that these cheaper options are for clients who don't need, can't afford, or simply won't pay for, a professional design service. If they tick one of those boxes, then you would never have secured the work anyway, so they were never your target market. It's like me going to look at Ferraris with the budget for a clapped out old Fiesta.

Charge what you need to to get by and make a profit. Don't drop your rates for anyone. At the end of the day, this is a business, and we're all in it to make a living.
 
Very true. Most people (not all) who want a website simply don't need a site that is 100% unique and custom made. Finding the right, professionally designed template and editing it to fit a clients content and needs is usually more than ideal, for both parties. (All the developers must be hissing at me right now lol). 7 years ago I worked for a company and all I did was design web templates every week. At the time I did not realise to what extent how beneficial they would be in the future. Templates for websites are the only time I feel it's 'ok' or even 'good' to use a template and generally speaking for most other type of design work, clients want something more original which a template cannot offer.
 
You may also want to research other freelancers who are offering website services, particular how much they charge and what is involved. For example the pricing difference between a single-page WordPress website verses an Ecommerce website.

Are confident to charge at an hourly rate or a flat rate?
 
Got a reply back from the guy who wanted the logo and website, he says:

"I think you are massively over estimating the size of the work. I only need a very basic website, I was thinking only a home page, contact page and about us page.
*
I can’t justify spending anywhere near £500 for it. If you can have a think about the price then we might be able to proceed."

I don't think he grasps the effort it takes to make a good logo (as he didn't even mention it here) and even a basic website takes knowledge and skill. Knowing him, he probably wanted me to do the whole thing for £50.
*
 
Give them a break down of all costs and why it's £500.

It should really be about £500 for logo alone.
 
LouiseWDesign said:
Got a reply back from the guy who wanted the logo and website, he says:

"I think you are massively over estimating the size of the work. I only need a very basic website, I was thinking only a home page, contact page and about us page.
*
I can’t justify spending anywhere near £500 for it. If you can have a think about the price then we might be able to proceed."

I don't think he grasps the effort it takes to make a good logo (as he didn't even mention it here) and even a basic website takes knowledge and skill. Knowing him, he probably wanted me to do the whole thing for £50.
*
Click to expand...

Send this back:

"Oh gosh, sorry! I didn't realise the site was so straight forward. I've adjusted the quote as follows: 3 page website - £200, branding - £300"
 
LouiseWDesign said:
Got a reply back from the guy who wanted the logo and website, he says:

"I think you are massively over estimating the size of the work. I only need a very basic website, I was thinking only a home page, contact page and about us page.
*
I can’t justify spending anywhere near £500 for it. If you can have a think about the price then we might be able to proceed."

I don't think he grasps the effort it takes to make a good logo (as he didn't even mention it here) and even a basic website takes knowledge and skill. Knowing him, he probably wanted me to do the whole thing for £50.
*
Click to expand...

Let the client dictate the budget but not your rates. And never be afraid to just flat out refuse the work. If you give in once you'll be expected to give in all the time, so nip it in the bud and focus on finding clients with budgets that suit your expertise more.

It's hard to turn money down, and it's even harder when you know the client before working together, so if you still want to do the work you have a few options;

1. Ask what they were expecting to pay and negotiate a price if it sounds reasonable to you. Perhaps break the project down into days to show that you're not expecting £500 for 10 minutes work. Don't forget to also factor in the cost of the software that you need, which despite popular opinion isn't free OR doing the bulk of the work for you.

2. Direct him to Wordpress.com, have him create the site himself, and avoid unnecessary stress and hassle on your part.

3. Send him to us and we'll give him some pro quotes that will dwarf yours.

The first few clients are always the hardest to work with because you have no idea what you should be doing, but hang in there, you'll learn something new from each one.
 
It's hinted at above but you do need to keep in mind that people with skills charge based on what they know as well as what they do and this should be reflected in your rates. When preparing a quote you should also be able to respond to any query with a broken-down justification of your method in arriving at it.
 
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