August 15, 2009 - 9:58pm
Contract?
Steve,
My first thought on reading this was that you mention the issue of support, but nowhere do you mention a contract.
You might not necessarily need a full contract (although I feel that if you do this professionally, they're essential). But you do need something in writing so that clients don't think that support is free.
We view our work similar to a car dealership; you buy a car, and you spec it up with everything you need. But if you don't negotiate free service, you pay for everything extra that car needs after you leave the dealership. Your clients buy a website; they don't get free support after you've fulfilled your end of the contract.
We learned the hard way - we almost went out of business because we did too many charity jobs and gave too much free support. That doesn't help the good customers.
There is also the issue of security updates for packages such as Drupal. To be blunt - we don't do freebies. If a client hosts with us, part of that hosting payment involves keeping the servers secure, so we'll install security updates free. If they have a site support contract, we'll do the same regardless of where they host. But if they host somewhere else (rare for our customers), once the contract is fulfilled, they're on their own.
August 17, 2009 - 1:16pm
Break It Up and Don't Assume
A few things I've learned over the years in both web development and other industries.
First, don't assume anything. Ever. Get it in writing and say it.
Second, break up consulting, site building, and support into 3 different specified areas. This can be 3 different agreements or the same one. I say consulting because you will spend time consulting with them. Part of that you can roll into a site build or support. But, part of it might be up front before they are ready. This can give them some nice clean breaks without expecations.
For example, you could change them $300 (an arbitrary number I pulled out of my rear) to come on site for a day and help them work out what they need to do. Then, if they want to go further then can or they can go elsewhere. You get paid for your time and they feel like they paid for a complete service which can take pressure off them.
When it comes to support they can see what it will cost over time. You can't support all the sites you build and continue to make income. By pricing it out they can budget for it. This is important for churches. I would consider bundling some support/training time into the build plan and let them know this.
Third, there are overhead costs that don't jump out so fast. Things like taxes, an accountant, software, computers, and other stuff you need to account for. Plus, if you want to do right by them you need to take some time every week to continue to grow your skills. This is time you can't bill for but need to account for. It gets distributed to all your customers.
So, these are just a few things to think about.
August 24, 2009 - 7:35pm
Yes, there's a contract.
Yes, I learned early on to get contracts. I have never had a customer say "you didn't do THIS or THAT." I have found the issue to be the other direction. I get many small businesses and more rural churches and Christian schools. Folks have a tendency to commit all the way up to "we want a website and here's the deposit" but getting them to actually provide the information to populate that site is often harder than talking a pit bull off a ham bone.
My contracts have an escape clause that informs the client that they are agreeing to provide the necessary information about their business (school, church, etc.) within a predetermined timeframe and that if we reach that point with no input from them, I have the ability to pull out with payment due for all completed work. If they wish to continue the project, there is a continuation fee of 10% of the contract price each month until the work is complete.
I tend to be lenient with the enforcement of these clauses, perhaps too lenient, because I want to maintain goodwill in the community where I work. Word gets around in small town USA, and the customer will never say "we drug out the project for a year past the estimated completion date and Steve charged us extra to finish." They'll say that "Steve was unreasonable and charged us extra," so I only pull out the escape clause when I want to get out after it has gotten ridiculous.
As for the support, if it is a quoted package, then I usually include a couple of hours for service/training after the sale, but they must use that time within 6 months of the site going live. After that, it's an hourly charge. I don't do support packages.
Our little business has paid its own way since the day I started it. I've bought one computer, 2 monitors, 2 printers, and miscellaneous other small equipment, as well as paying all license fees and taxes as they come up. We pull money out as profit/cash to owner when we need to, and it has helped us afford a few extras.
Good comments so far. Keep them coming.
Steve
The question of "what should I charge someone to set up a web site using (HTML, PHP, ASP, ASP.NET, Flash, Joomla, Mambo, Drupal, pick your poison) has been out there since shortly after some wise guy asked if God could make a boulder so large He couldn't lift it.
The two questions have something in common. There's no right way to answer either one. Let's get some issues out of the way first though.
1) Are you doing it for profit, as a favor, or as a ministry?
I try to look at every project at the beginning as if it were a for-profit job. I pretend I don't know this customer personally, and they have asked for a quotation to do a site based on finding my ad in the phone book/newspaper/wherever.
The next step is to determine what kind of "break" to give this customer based on the relationship. If it's a ministry, then it's probably free. If it's a favor, or if they told you "we want to pay you something," then you have to decide on a percentage you want to knock off for the work.
Bear in mind, there's a weird curve that seems to be associated with support after the sale. Charge too little and they seem to come back to you expecting you to charge them too little for support, and you maight find yourself regretting the great deal you gave them. Charge a premium price (assuming they even give the job too you) and they might feel justified in calling you constantly for every tiny detail because they paid good money for the work. Somewhere in the middle is the balance of reasonable price and a reasonable understanding that you should be paid for followup service.
2) Are you developing a theme from scratch, modifying an existing theme, or plugging in a theme and moving forward?
Here's where I get a bit grey on the issue. I haven't tackled original theme design for CMS products yet. For HTML, I always draw a template in Photoshop and then split it up into blocks for includes-based PHP pages. With Drupal, I pick a theme that I feel fits the customers' personality and set to work on customizing it.
Some of you are super theme developers and you can start with a blank page and finish with a highly impressive site. Others are in my boat so the question remains... what do I charge?
Here's what I submit as a model. Feel free to make suggestions.
A) Hours estimated to set up the theme. - If it's original design, then it could be anywhere from 40 hours up, I imagine. For customization, perhaps it's 5-25 hours. For load and go themes, then maybe it's less than 2 hours to get the site up and ready for content.
B) Your hourly rate - I have a rate that I charge for any basic level work (simple HTML, adding content, cropping photos, replacing a video card, etc.) I also have an advanced rate for things that I don't feel the average computer geek can so. It's a touch higher. Because that would complicate this process, let's assume that you only have one hourly rate.
C) Discount given - You may want to have a few discount levels that you could apply. Very close relationships where the "customer" insists on paying something might get a 75% break. Groups you want to help out because you believe in what they do, but you don't have time for freebies, might get a 50% break. People who were referred by someone you respect who asked you to give their friend a good price might get a 25% break.
So, the discount formula might be:
(Hours of work x Hourly rate) - discount given [as percentage] = estimated price
40 [hours] x $50 [per hour] - 25% [friend of a friend break] = $1500
-------------------------
Now, you might think I posted this to help out, and I did, but I also need help on it. Like many people, I tend to undervalue my work and my time, and I have actually had a pastor who wanted to pay me tell me "I don't think you charged us enough for your work".
Part of that is because I have trouble keeping up with intevals of work. If I sit down for an hour at a time, 4 or 5 times a week, to work on a site, I don't always note the time spent, and I frequently multitask, so I know I am leaving hours out of my costs.
So, let me hear your opinions.
If you are creating a new theme, how many hours do you assume?
If you are modifying a pre-built theme, how may hours do you assume?
Thanks for any input you might have.
Steve