How to price a custom build. This is a pretty daunting thing when starting out, it’s something your business should really always be refining and fine-tuning. We discuss our different approaches, how our pricing models have changed since starting out, how a business model can affect how you price, and even dive a little into maintenance talk. We also talk about methods for introducing pricing options to clients and Geno Quiroz of Monterey Premier has kindly shared a website quote template with some included examples for visitors to have a peek.
Hosts Present:
- David Elster – Explain Like I’m 5: WordPress
- Tammy Grant – Sunflower Creatives / FB / @yourblogplace
- David Blackmon – Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc
- Shannon Shaffer – Purple Finch Studios / FB / @purplefinchfoto
- Leslie Bernal – A Girl and Her Mac / FB / @agirlandhermac
- Olga Summerhayes – Infinite Imagination / FB / @OlgaSummerhayes
- Tami Heaton – Undeniable / FB / @undeniableSTL
- Sarah Oates – Endure Web Studios / FB / @endureweb
- Geno Quiroz – Monterey Premier / FB / @montereypremier
Just finished listening and I have to tell you that was the best episode yet (and I’ve listened to all of them). I feel like you could have multiple future episodes on many different aspects of pricing, contracts, maintenance plans etc. My model is pretty similar to Leslie’s and others: a flat quote and then an hourly rate for out of scope and future changes. Often the long term hourly stuff is where the real money is, especially on bigger sites. Also, I love Tammy H’s comment about “non-negotiables” like photography. Nothing screams amateur website like amateur photography. But it begs the question Tammy, do you hire the photographer? Do you art-direct them? Or do you say “hire a photographer and get me these shots”? Also, for those who are billing by the hour, how do you account for the fact that you are probably three times more efficient than many website developers out there? If you bill a flat rate, you make the same if it takes you three hours or nine hours, and there is no shame in that. The value you provide is the same either way. And what about simple sites that DRAG on because you are waiting for content. Do you charge more after a certain time? I had one of those recently and it was painful. ANYWAY, great episode, so much to talk about, and thanks to Geno for the template. He is just the gift that keeps on giving!
Hi Annemarie – I do not hire the photographer, but i do recommend to the client who they should hire. The thing being that you can’t *force* anyone to use a photographer they don’t want to use… you can only make recommendations. Then I work very closely with the photographer during planning – I go over the wireframes with them in detail, I show them how and where the photos will be used in the site, and I go through the site palette (colors, fonts, textures, etc.) so they understand what the aesthetic we need is going to be like. We decide on backgrounds, since those can completely change the color scheme of a shoot. Then I work with the client to pick out wardrobe and props. (Yeah, I make them take photos and send me ALL their options. LOL.) If I’m able, I also attend the shoot – a lot of my clients live halfway across the country, so in those cases I cross my fingers and hope for the best. I’ve only had one shoot not turn out as expected, and it was the one that resulted in these strict rules on my part – I had to actually redesign an entire website to work around the photography when it was all said and done. I prefer to not get started on the actual site design until I’ve seen the final product in terms of photography, as a result.
Hope that helps!
Tami
Thanks Annemarie! And I absolutely agree about the non-negotiables, I love that us hosts learn from each other when we do these podcasts.
You bring up a good point about some sites dragging on, I’m actually dealing with that now on a site I’m building for a friend. What I do is break the payment up in three stages so even if that last stage has dragged on because I haven’t received everything I need, I’ve already been paid 2 payments for all the work I’ve done up to that point. I don’t go chasing after clients if I stop hearing from them and the site isn’t done, it’s their business and I can’t care more about it than they do. Ya know what I mean lol, that’s my take anyway.
Thanks so much for listening, we want to try to be as helpful as possible and always try to give really actionable advice 🙂
“Scope Creep”. I never heard that term before so had to Google it. Yep, I’ve experienced it too, lol. Thanks for increasing my vocabulary!
Thank you very much to Geno for sharing his website quote template.