[Fyodor]

I've been doing freelance web design for about a year. I recently caught an awesome big-fish client who has hired me to do PDF to HTML/CSS work on a large corporation's website.

I've been hired at an hourly rate and given a max number of hours that I can bill for weekly. My rate is on the lower side of average for what an experienced US developer would usually charge, but quite high compared to what I can usually get. I'm not complaining.

I am being given medium-simple designs to convert to their HTML template. It seems like a reasonable web designer would charge about 5 to 8 hours per page, but this is just a guess as I've never worked with other designers directly. I'm spending about 20+ hours per page, however, due to being a bit green and also due to the very high QC standards they require.

So now I'm putting together my first invoice for my client and am nervous about billing for my full hours. I know that in six months or a year it will probably take me far less time to do this kind of work. My client certainly has the money, but I don't want them to think that I'm a bad deal and go hire a more-experienced developer with a higher hourly rate but a faster turnaround (and ultimately the same cost). I would really like to keep this client.

Here is an example of a page that I've recently done:
A company directory page with 100+ listings in three tables that are retrieved via Ajax in in-page tabs (didn't have to build to Ajax tabs -- just integrate). I also had to write a small amount of jQuery for a dynamic breadcrumb menu. They asked for inline styling (crazy, I know) so the css was ultimately labor-intensive. Honestly, I probably spent 25 to 30 hours on this - but wow - that seems like an awful lot to charge for a single page.

I'd love to know how much a professional developer might charge for the above example. How much time do you think that would have taken you? When you were in your first year of freelance work, did you adjust your hours for the "green-factor," or did you just charge a lesser hourly rate than the average professional?

I really appreciate any advice anyone might have. Thanks.

[Glowbridge]

There are two ways to handle this and I think it depends entirely on how you judge your relationship with the client.

Option 1) Stuff 'em. You agreed on a maximum billable hours, you aren't going over it. So what. Occasionally undercut yourself just to make it look like you are more or less on the limit.

Option 2) Communication, Honesty, Good Intentions

Tell them it's taking you longer than expected but that over time your turnaround will go down. Tell them exactly why that is, you haven't fully streamlined your process specifically for them and you've been putting in a bit of extra effort to get things perfect. As a courtesy for their understanding your first bill will be reduced rate.

Like I said, depends entirely on how you judge your relationship. Do you think you can trust them to be understanding? Option 2. Do you think they've already accepted what they'll pay you and aren't really bothered so long as you don't go over? Option 1.

[mrchristoph]

Good answer Glowbridge, I would go for option 2. If you remain totally transparent they are more likely to respect you and you can develop a good working relationship.

[pandadoodle]

Depends on your hourly rate and how many pages you done. Days of charging per hour are long gone.

I'll make a few assumptions here :

If your hourly rate is $5 and you spent 25 hours things are not that bad. If you rate is $25 and its taken 25 hours per page then things are not going to be very nice for you and that company considering they would have had experience in dealing with developers and designers in the past.

So say you done 5 pages each taken you 20 hours @ $25 that's $2500. Now if you are honestly nervy about billing that the simple answer is something is wrong someplace. So what I would do is work out how much your week is worth. If you figure out all your monthly outgoings for business and personal (assuming your a sole trader) add them both up and that gives yous you say $2000 / 4 that's $500 a week. Add your profit margin and a bit of spending money your looking at $1000 for a weeks work.

However if you have been honest from the get go and used things like "I" and not "WE" and they know in full about your experience how long you been going etc etc and to me there is no reason to why they don't, then bill the full $2500.

Without knowing more about you, the company, your pitch to them (i.e why they chose you) and your rate of pay, and work done to date everyone is going to assume something different which may not actually help.

This post has been edited by pandadoodle: 17 October 2011 - 05:38 AM