Web Design Contract

[Jackimalyn]

Ok couldn't find anything on this sorry if its out there **Im not asking for any prices!!**

I have my initial pricing for web design. However, Im designing a website right now for a school and information will be regularly changing in the future. How can I charge for being the webmaster?
Should I charge per correction or addition to the site? And per hour? Or Per word? What if its a simple word change?
-or-
Should I charge a monthly upkeep fee?

I know these are probably more personal preference but what do you guys do??


Last- They want an area where teachers can post homework assignments and things. I have tutorials and stuff on how to do this but my customer wants to know how much it will cost, so what I need to know is how much work and maintenence it is if anyone knows so I can charge accordingly. Thank you guys again!!

[Eraser Nubbin]

Personally I would say go by hour, and set a minimum. If you charge them a lump sum per month for an undisclosed amount of work they will be bugging you with a myriad of little changes.
If they know that everytime they bug you with something it costs them they may think twice. And know that you will charge them a minimum (say 1/2 hour regardless) then they will be more likely to organize there changes and give you several at a time instead of bugging you 8 different times on the weekend for 8 different changes.

[EC]

Honestly I don't do maintenance anymore, it's such a pain. If you charge by the hour, make sure there's a minimum. Those 15 minute changes are more trouble than they are worth by the time you send them a bill, get the check, take it to the bank, blah blah.

Consider a content managment system for something like this. Then, charge them for your time to train them how to use it, and for technical support for a certain amount of time after the project is complete (hourly thereafter).

[Jackimalyn]

well, thanks, Ill see what happens. Thanks again...

[lokki]

I wsas going to post a similar thread as I am moving towards more freelance web work.

you bother with 15min charges???

Surely you just charge a minimum of 1 hour???

[princess275]

hi

i'd agree with EC on this one, maintenance is not the way to go unless u can charge substantially for your time. Recommend them a CMS. Web site maintenance may not seem bad intially but you feel the pinch when you have a lot of jobs on the go and you get the dreaded maintenance call from the customer when you're working on a nice new lucrative project.

Secondly, charge by the hour, minimum 30 mins work.

[budafist]

Allow enough to cover youself for really annoying clients.

I have REALLY painful customers that tend to do their proofreading 1 word at a time. They like to send 1 email per spelling mistake and then a phonecall to follow-up. This is for my day job though so I get my normal wages. If it were freelancing I would charge insane amounts I think....

[Drazan]

If you are maintaining the site for the client, then set a scheduled update time with them. This could be daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly or whatever they prefer. I have one national account that tried the "could you just change this..." a couple times a day. I said that he could email me all the changes that he wants and on Friday I will make the changes. I had to be firm on this and within a couple weeks things were worked out very smoothly.

Whether it's 15 minutes or 8 hours, I can predetermine the time I need to work on the site throughout the week. Sometimes if there's a lot of changes I give a quoted time and charge and a two week period. I also surcharge for changes that "must be done now!" because it interupts the flow of work for other customers and that starts at a minimum one hour time charge.

There's another commerce site that I maintain for 1/2 hour to a couple hours a day. The customer is charged an hourly rate to do this.

Maintaining a site doesn't have to be done using an "on call" status. Scheduled updates are a great way to maintain the sites and give good service to the customer. Explain to the customers that well organized updated benefits them by saving money and having a cohesive website. If the customer does want to have daily updates make sure that they are scheduled within your timeframe, whether it's right away in the morning or just after lunch when it's quieter in the office. Accomodate them to your schedule and you won't feel that insane need to choke them. ;)

If someone wants to maintain their own site I charge a 4 hour "class" that I give them the tools. I go to their business if possible and show them the tools and how to write for the net. I don't teach them how to build the site or code, just how to run the site and write copy for it. After the class if they still need help they are charged an hourly rate same as if I was doing the update myself. Some eventually said "here you do it" and found that our hourly rate is not so bad as we can usually get it done nicer and faster than they could.

[undressedmonster]

I am the webmaster for a school district and all I can say is good luck. I hope it's not a large school.

I would set up a content management system, train them on how to use it, and then bill them a minimum of whatever per month for technical support. And then pray they're technologically savvy enough to do most updates on their own.

As for the homework posting, will each teacher have their own area to post homework? I'm assuming you're not going to be manually posting the homework for them every night.

[Jackimalyn]

Thanks for the response everyone.
No, underdressed. I would be setting up a bulletin board for teachers to post their own work. Its looking like they will hire their own webmaster; they want the site to be in spanish and english which I dont know spanish. (This is an American school in Costa Rica) SO i think theyll be hiring someone bilingual after I design it. Thanks for all the comments everyone

[JustAGuy]

Doing updates is also very boring. I did it on the side once, but I was still in college and had time to do it, it was a nice way to earn an extra buck, but if I was doing it professionaly I would make a CMS rightaway. Later on in the same project I designed a very basic CMS so the client could update the newsand product sections.