Just wondering how much I should charge a client for a web design using wordpress, drupal or any open source CMS for use in schools, nurseries, or brochure type company website.

 

I know the usual guideline is based on how long this would take but this may very depending on the designer's experience. One may code a single page for an hour when others may take 5 hours.

 

Is there a rough guideline that I can use? For overall theme design? Per unique page layout etc...

Depends on the design and its complexity tbh. What do you charge ph * the amounts of hrs spent = what you charge

You can either charge by the hour or work out a fixed fee for all the work that needs doing. Don't forget to include all costs associated with the CMS that you choose to use!

You can either charge by the hour or work out a fixed fee for all the work that needs doing. Don't forget to include all costs associated with the CMS that you choose to use!

 

1. I think it'll be a bit tricky to charge per hour when you're not very experienced yet as you may take twice as much time compared to someone who has years and years of experience.

 

2. Any rough guide (price range) as to how much should be charge for a 5, 10 pages or more?

 

3. What do you mean by CMS associated costs? I'll probably just handcode brochure type websites but for CMS, most likely wordpress or drupal which are both open source.

1. I think it'll be a bit tricky to charge per hour when you're not very experienced yet as you may take twice as much time compared to someone who has years and years of experience.

At first this will be a bit of a hit and miss affair and you'll probably end up undercharging. But, when you have a few projects under your belt you'll have a better feel for it.

 

So at first figure out an hourly rate then guesstimate how many hours you'll need to work out a total cost. If that works out at a ridiculous amount then lower it to what you think the client will find acceptable, eg think about a flat fee for the job.

 

2. Any rough guide (price range) as to how much should be charge for a 5, 10 pages or more?

That really depends on the amount of work involved but for a start work on something like £50 or £75 per page.

 

3. What do you mean by CMS associated costs? I'll probably just handcode brochure type websites but for CMS, most likely wordpress or drupal which are both open source.

You may not pay to use the software but you still have to allocate time to install, configure, build templates, etc - all that time is chargeable!

That really depends on the amount of work involved but for a start work on something like £50 or £75 per page.

 

Thank you very much indeed BlueDreamer. You're helpful as always. I think £50 to £75 per page is excellent. Here is my only issue:

 

When we design, we ensure that the layout is consistent. More often than not subpages would most likely inherit the layout of other pages, the only difference being the textual content itself, or an extra table or perhaps just a different subheader image to spice it up. Is it justifiable to charge £50-£75 per additional page on this matter? Even more so if you have to you use a cms like wordpress to create additional pages with the same page layout.

 

Obviously, if you have to edit the copy itself, that is another matter.

No probs

 

Charging "per page" is really the same as charging a flat fee but gives you the flexibility of charging a bit more if the client turns round and wants an extra page (or a bit of extra work).

 

If you're doing a 5 page site at £50 per page that works out at £250 for the whole site, so even if you spend 90% of your time just building up the structure/templates you still get "paid" the remaining 10% for adding the content. Make sense?

If you're doing a 5 page site at £50 per page that works out at £250 for the whole site, so even if you spend 90% of your time just building up the structure/templates you still get "paid" the remaining 10% for adding the content.

 

Is £250-£375 a fair charge for a 5 page website that allows them to add extra pages and posts via a CMS like wordpress for which page and post template will be inherited? Or is this a little cheap?

Is £250-£375 a fair charge for a 5 page website that allows them to add extra pages and posts via a CMS like wordpress for which page and post template will be inherited? Or is this a little cheap?

 

Is £500-£1000 a reasonable charge for a 5 page wordpress/cms website, if it is a good quality design?

Sounds a little steep to me... I'd go for £500 max

I charge £30 per page, maybe i should up my prices....

 

S

Some may charge £250 for a 5 page site. Some may charge £1000. It depends on the quality of your SERVICE, after all it is a service as well as product (web design) your providing.

 

If your giving them a CMS with the ability of updating the site themselves, have a high standard in design, are offering them ongoing support, stock photography etc then £250 to me, would be rather cheap.

 

At the end of the day its about what YOU'RE HAPPY WITH. People charge different prices for the same thing but after a while you'll start to realise how you work, what you offer compared to other web designers and therefore how much you should charge.

 

Some clients appreciate quality more than others. If you can look at some of the top sites and know you could create something as appealing visually and functionally then that MUST show withing your pricing.

 

I've seen a lot of designers and companies charge HUGE amounts for work which looks really amateur as well as designers (normally new to the design 'business') offering high quality work for really LOW prices simply because they don't have confidence in their work.

 

Its about these 3 things - QUALITY, FUNCTIONALITY and SUPPORT.

 

If you have high standards in all three, £500 - £1000 sounds reasonable. If you need the money and think the price may be off putting to some clients don't 'sell yourself cheap' just offer them room to negotiate. Let them know what you offer and justify the costs.