What's a reasonable price to ask for making this site?

[yhelothar]

I just made this site for my neighbor.. http://goldenamerica.org

What do you guys think it's worth?
There's an entire chinese version too.

 

[Rip the Jacker]

Your markup could be improved heavily... weren't you the iframe user before asking about the advantages/disadvantages?

Anyway... 2 languages no dynamic content or admin or anythin... I dunno 250-400? (I don't have any freelance experience though lol)

http://goldenamerica.org/images/uni3lg.jpg

What typeface/font did you use for the "We can help your dreams" ?

 

[troytime]

depends on
1. what you used
2. how long it took you
3. what you're worth
4. what your free time is worth
5. how deep are the clients pockets

just kiddin about 5 haha

the site looks clean and nice, good job
one concern though, why make the navigation LOOK like a pipe seperated list of words when its really graphics?

listamatics are your friend

 

[yhelothar]

Yeah the markup is a bit messy.
It's basically a very heavily modified template.
I used textpad to edit the code. I know very basic HTML.

This site took me about 15 hours to make. I spent a lot of time tweaking it and trying to improve the looks. It's the 3-4th site I've ever made, so I'm not exactly a pro level guy at making sites. I would guess someone more adept would make it in 2 hours probably. However, it did take me a lot of time looking for the stock photos and editing them, and I'm very good at editing photos, it's my specialty. here's the original of the main image
A lot of the time(probably 2hours) was spent on me trying to figure out how to use the stylesheets. I ended up learning how to really customize the stylesheets to use it to my advantage.

Well the guy offered me $125 after I was done. I felt that was a bit too little. I was expecting $300 if not at least $200.
Is that unreasonable?

 

[troytime]

i would say 300 is probably around the lowest i'd charge, even if i was you

you spent a lot of time on it, a lot more than 300 worth in my opinion

why wasn't the price determined before you did the work?

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: troytime
i would say 300 is probably around the lowest i'd charge, even if i was you

you spent a lot of time on it, a lot more than 300 worth in my opinion

why wasn't the price determined before you did the work?

I really didn't know how good of a job I was going to do, and I had no idea how much work it would take.
At first, I thought it would just be a quick download of a template, and type the content in. But it really ended up to be A LOT more work than that.

 

[pstylesss]

With my rates it would have been $1350 for hours only, not including extra charges like an idiot fee.

You do not build a website for $8.33/hr EVER. You are the reason people try to lowball me.

You also should not build a website for $20.00/hr, but that is a bit better.

You should have figured this out before you did the work. Did you reg the domain and get hosting set up? That right there he should pay a premium for. I would say if he hands you 1500 you hand over the website. Just ask yourself what your time is worth to you, don't make the mistake I make and feel bad for people or feel like you're ripping them off, because you aren't. 125 is an insult.

 

[Rip the Jacker]

$1350 for that? WTF? There's no way that's over $500.

 

[pstylesss]

Originally posted by: Rip the Jacker
$1350 for that? WTF? There's no way that's over $500.

Yeah, are you kidding me? It's not worth it to me to make a website for only $300. What's easy for me to do is not easy for them to do and that costs them. Of course, I would have valid code.

If you want to charge someone $500 for that, then be my guest.

EDIT: Don't undervalue yourself.

 

[Rip the Jacker]

Validation doesn't mean shit, your code could still be crap even if its valid.

And a site like that is SMALL, what 6-7 page static content... you'd be overcharging for anything 500 (unless you yourself had to purchase high rez stock photos).

Btw, I think that orange top square should extend to the full width of the main site wrapper and maybe lower the height.

 

[pstylesss]

Originally posted by: Rip the Jacker
Validation doesn't mean shit, your code could still be crap even if its valid.

And a site like that is SMALL, what 6-7 page static content... you'd be overcharging for anything 500 (unless you yourself had to purchase high rez stock photos).

Btw, I think that orange top square should extend to the full width of the main site wrapper and maybe lower the height.

I'm saying with the time he spent on it. I wouldn't take me that long, but thats because I've been developing websites for years.

Do you even factor in what the design is worth? I don't know if he just used a template for the design or made it himself. If you want to charge 500 go for it. You can charge a lot more with no problems, though. Unless the person is a complete tightwad in which case I wouldn't do business with them anyway.

People know what they are getting into beforehand with me. I charge between 80 - 120/hr depending on what and what client.

 

[troytime]

i charge 100-175 an hour, and could probably do that website for 300
would i? depends

there's 3 factors that i consider
price
client deadline
quality of work

if their budget is tight, and i give them a price break, the quality of work is going to go down and/or the deadline is going to be changed (drastically)

if they have an insane deadline, quality will go down and/or the price will go up

sometimes i'm ok with doing lowball sites where i don't make a lot of money, but i consider them back burner sites.
i won't really design them, i'll snag a template from opendesigns.org, maybe add a navigation from listamatic, and all work time spent on it will be low priority filler time.
In other words, if a real client is paying me for real work, it will take priority over the 300 el cheapo site

Sometimes I even outsource to a rentacoder hehe. Offer 100 bucks, i'll pick the template and the nav style and have someone build the site out with the clients content.
$200 in my pocket for about an hour of consulting time.

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

It messes up in Safari. I'd suggest you DL Safari to see. The lady with the phone is covering the China Office info.

 

[George P Burdell]

I am both amused and annoyed to find my school's logo here:
http://goldenamerica.org/schools.html

Be wary of using those logos without permission.

 

[Rip the Jacker]

Originally posted by: ZeroIQ

Originally posted by: Rip the Jacker
Validation doesn't mean shit, your code could still be crap even if its valid.

And a site like that is SMALL, what 6-7 page static content... you'd be overcharging for anything 500 (unless you yourself had to purchase high rez stock photos).

Btw, I think that orange top square should extend to the full width of the main site wrapper and maybe lower the height.

I'm saying with the time he spent on it. I wouldn't take me that long, but thats because I've been developing websites for years.

Do you even factor in what the design is worth? I don't know if he just used a template for the design or made it himself. If you want to charge 500 go for it. You can charge a lot more with no problems, though. Unless the person is a complete tightwad in which case I wouldn't do business with them anyway.

People know what they are getting into beforehand with me. I charge between 80 - 120/hr depending on what and what client.

Link2sourcecodeplz (curious).

To the guy who charges $100-175 per hour.. you don't get much projects, do you? That's a motherfucking absurd amount.

"i'll snag a template from opendesigns.org, maybe add a navigation from listamatic"

Wow. You charge $100-175 per hour and just take others work?

 

[xtknight]

At least $300, and maybe $500 if you spent a few years trying to get the skewed language that is CSS to work properly.

 

[pstylesss]

Originally posted by: Rip the Jacker

Originally posted by: ZeroIQ

Originally posted by: Rip the Jacker
Validation doesn't mean shit, your code could still be crap even if its valid.

And a site like that is SMALL, what 6-7 page static content... you'd be overcharging for anything 500 (unless you yourself had to purchase high rez stock photos).

Btw, I think that orange top square should extend to the full width of the main site wrapper and maybe lower the height.

I'm saying with the time he spent on it. I wouldn't take me that long, but thats because I've been developing websites for years.

Do you even factor in what the design is worth? I don't know if he just used a template for the design or made it himself. If you want to charge 500 go for it. You can charge a lot more with no problems, though. Unless the person is a complete tightwad in which case I wouldn't do business with them anyway.

People know what they are getting into beforehand with me. I charge between 80 - 120/hr depending on what and what client.

Link2sourcecodeplz (curious).

To the guy who charges $100-175 per hour.. you don't get much projects, do you? That's a motherfucking absurd amount.

"i'll snag a template from opendesigns.org, maybe add a navigation from listamatic"

Wow. You charge $100-175 per hour and just take others work?

Source code to what, I create dynamic websites, nothing all that exciting. I have converted a program written in basic to PHP but I cannot give out that source code. Sorry.

Designing websites is a business and we're doing it to make money. There is a demand and we can supply. People pay me what they pay me because they know me or they know people that know me. 100% my business is through word of mouth.

$170 is not an absurd amount IMO, it all depends on where you live.

People like to work with me because I'm honest with them. A good tech is worth their weight in gold and can literally save a company thousands upon thousands of dollars. Businesses are willing to pay a premium for great service and a person who delivers.

 

[troytime]

Originally posted by: Rip the Jacker

Originally posted by: ZeroIQ

Originally posted by: Rip the Jacker
Validation doesn't mean shit, your code could still be crap even if its valid.

And a site like that is SMALL, what 6-7 page static content... you'd be overcharging for anything 500 (unless you yourself had to purchase high rez stock photos).

Btw, I think that orange top square should extend to the full width of the main site wrapper and maybe lower the height.

I'm saying with the time he spent on it. I wouldn't take me that long, but thats because I've been developing websites for years.

Do you even factor in what the design is worth? I don't know if he just used a template for the design or made it himself. If you want to charge 500 go for it. You can charge a lot more with no problems, though. Unless the person is a complete tightwad in which case I wouldn't do business with them anyway.

People know what they are getting into beforehand with me. I charge between 80 - 120/hr depending on what and what client.

Link2sourcecodeplz (curious).

To the guy who charges $100-175 per hour.. you don't get much projects, do you? That's a motherfucking absurd amount.

"i'll snag a template from opendesigns.org, maybe add a navigation from listamatic"

Wow. You charge $100-175 per hour and just take others work?

i get plenty. I turn away more clients than clients who turn my quotes away.

and for the record, i don't use opendesigns for most clients, only clients who have a beans and rice budget

i base my price on my skills, my experience, my customer service, and the value of my personal time.

absurd is leaving cash on the table

 

[alpha88]

I get paid $100/hr for my work (ColdFusion), and I'm currently drowning in projects (but I'm currently a med student, so I'm still broke).

I'd say all the html/css code is probably worth $100. I suck at editing pictures, so I'd probably value that at $100 too.

On a side note, I think I live really close to you. I might be looking for someone to do some picture editing. (so like PM me)

 

[VenomXTF]

I'm with ZeroIQ and troytime on this. Everyone who says charging $100-175 is insane, you really have no idea. That is the minimum you will find professional consultants for. Maybe someone starting out with not much experience should settle for 30-50/hour, but that is the bottom end of the pool. The higher end of the consultants charge $250+ an hour.

Our last client had a consultant do their website at $75/hour and ended up with crappy results. After spending $3,500 (2/3rd of which was for meeting/planning billable hours) on maybe 10 pages of static HTML content, they hired us. We designed the website from scratch that was not only 10 times better looking, but included some dynamic pages they wanted. I won't discuss our hourly rate because it's project dependent. My point was that regular consultants charge $75/hour.

Check some average rates.

Another way to calculate your consultant fees is to take the hourly rate for that type of job at a company and triple it. I'm a software development project manager in Manhattan. I'm not going to waste my time on a website for 500 bucks. That's more like the cost for a single page.

 

[troytime]

Originally posted by: VenomXTF
I'm with ZeroIQ and troytime on this. Everyone who says charging $100-175 is insane, you really have no idea. That is the minimum you will find professional consultants for. Maybe someone starting out with not much experience should settle for 30-50/hour, but that is the bottom end of the pool. The higher end of the consultants charge $250+ an hour.

Our last client had a consultant do their website at $75/hour and ended up with crappy results. After spending $3,500 (2/3rd of which was for meeting/planning billable hours) on maybe 10 pages of static HTML content, they hired us. We designed the website from scratch that was not only 10 times better looking, but included some dynamic pages they wanted. I won't discuss our hourly rate because it's project dependent. My point was that regular consultants charge $75/hour.

Check some average rates.

Another way to calculate your consultant fees is to take the hourly rate for that type of job at a company and triple it. I'm a software development project manager in Manhattan. I'm not going to waste my time on a website for 500 bucks. That's more like the cost for a single page.

exactly, on all your points - thanks
a lot of my clients are actually from some of the bigger cities.
To them, my rates are more appealing. I live in a city with no skyline, no major sports teams, not a lot of tech jobs.