Price plans?

[Love2c0de]

Good evening all,

 

When deciding on prices for clients, would you create price plans as a generic outline or do you tailor each price to each clients requirements?

 

For example:

 

1 page website = £200 (made up)

Fully dynamic website = £500 (made up)

 

I have been searching and searching websites which offer web design/development services and to answer my own question......it looks like it would be No, as I haven't found one which does it yet, but I wanted to be very clear from people who are professionals in the field and get real feedback.

 

If the answer is no, is it possible/viable - and in my interests - to provide the user with an estimated quote?

 

Imagine being quoted £200 by code dependent on provided form data only to speak to an employee to find out it will actually be £300.

 

Wouldn't be a very happy chappy I wouldn't have thought.

 

Thanks for taking your time to help and advise me.

 

Kind regards,

 

L2c.

Edited September 9, 2013 by Love2c0de

[KevinM1]

An estimated quote is normal, but only after the developer and client figure discuss what the site should be. Estimates should always be 25%-75% higher than what a developer thinks it will cost in order to take into account bugs, testing, unforeseen consequences, etc. That way, the developer doesn't run the risk of going over and pissing off the client. If, for some reason, the developer gets close to the upper limit of the estimate, they should talk to the client.

 

This is all common sense, business 101 kind of stuff. If you want to have clients and keep them happy, you need to communicate with them. Status updates, with screen shots if possible, that sort of thing. There is never a legitimate reason to quote a client a certain fee, not communicate with them, and then charge them more when the project is completed. People who do that make it that much harder for qualified, responsible freelancers to get work.

 

So, with that said, I don't think I've ever seen a reasonably qualified developer have price plans. Each site should be tailor made to the client, even if it uses frameworks or templates you already have.

 

Price plans make me think someone's going to install WordPress and one of 5-10 themes they have access to, and simply change the name at the top of the index page. There's nothing wrong with that per se, but I wouldn't consider such a person a developer.

[Love2c0de]

Good evening Kevin,

 

Firstly, thank you very much for the detailed response.

 

The idea came to me when I saw a gap in the market for companies with very low budgets to spend and no web presence whatsoever. I wouldn't say I'm 100% technically eligible to be classed as a web designer/deverloper, including the fact I can only work part time on this (at this moment in time), I realize that I cannot charge expensive prices for what I can deliver so it's imperative to undercut opposition. Sure I can write some PHP and jQ and the other required languages and can create semi-decent sites, but I still seek help regularly on a range of topics from various online forums - possibly for problems you would find very simple, which would indicate I'm not quite there yet.

 

I do believe I can give value for money for the type of businesses I will be targeting ( generally I would assume they would be mostly static pages with some dynamic and interactive functionality, to the extent which I believe I could cope, nothing majorly over complicated ), which is why I have decided to do this to generate some extra income - in need of desktop!

 

I really just wanted to know whether for certain types of sites such as basic static pages if there was a 'general' price you would initially have in mind to give the client. A static HTML website could be coded in a night or 2 going fully at it - with the assistance of coffee and many multi-packs of crisps of course - so I wouldn't see the need to charge  the 'standard' price, rather reduce it.   

 

I'm guessing there is no definite answer for the question I'm asking, you generally price the website dependent on the client needs and taking into account the problems you stated above with bugs etc?

 

Thanks again,

 

Kind regards,

 

L2c.

Edited September 9, 2013 by Love2c0de

[KevinM1]

I'm guessing there is no definite answer for the question I'm asking, you generally price the website dependent on the client needs and taking into account the problems you stated above with bugs etc?

Exactly. Every client's needs are different. Some might need extensive graphics work. Some might need a lot of JS. Others may want a responsive design with elements from the previous two scenarios. Short of going the "I have 5-10 templates that fit most needs" route, you're going to have to build a fair amount from scratch. A hard price cap will inevitably cut into your margins at that point.

 

So, if you want to market yourself as a discount developer that can provide quality while undercutting the competition, go for it! That's exactly what you should be doing at this point in your development. But pricing should be determined after conferring with your client. A hard cap is just too limiting for all involved.

[Love2c0de]

Thanks again Kevin, answered my question precisely.

 

Kind regards,

 

L2c.