How to calculate a website cost?

Keep it clean but fun.
Post Reply
User avatar
vitinho444
Posts: 2825
Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2011 4:54 pm

How to calculate a website cost?

Post by vitinho444 »

Hey guys, I've started creating websites for clients and I got my first contract a few days ago.

But I would like to know if you guys know how to calculate a cost based on the features of the website.
I've based myself on this website: http://www.webpagefx.com/How-much-shoul ... -cost.html
but I'm not sure if it's legit or not.

What you guys think?
My Company Website: http://www.oryzhon.com

Skype: vpegas1234
User avatar
a_bertrand
Posts: 1537
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2013 1:46 pm

Re: How to calculate a website cost?

Post by a_bertrand »

That's the price they would ask if they was doing the work. But it all ends up if it's just a design and content website or if you are writing custom code for them. In the first case you can count on the number of pages and the type of site they want. In the second case it's a lot more complex and depends on the site they want to develop. If I was to commission a site like my latest engine I doubt it would cost me less than 150-200K$ just due to the code behind it (example of expensive site but not so many pages). On the other side you could easily have 100 pages which use all the same template for a relatively low price.

Price calculation is extremely complex, and I strongly suggest to ask more than what you would ideally think as customers will always ask more than initially asked.
Creator of Dot World Maker
Mad programmer and annoying composer
User avatar
vitinho444
Posts: 2825
Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2011 4:54 pm

Re: How to calculate a website cost?

Post by vitinho444 »

Wow... that's quite a lot :O But yet again, it's a full engine.

I was wondering like the normal 20 page website with basic DB stuff + multi-language and control panel. I asked for 1500$ + tax for it. You think it was underpriced or overpriced?
My Company Website: http://www.oryzhon.com

Skype: vpegas1234
User avatar
a_bertrand
Posts: 1537
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2013 1:46 pm

Re: How to calculate a website cost?

Post by a_bertrand »

Under-priced for sure.
Creator of Dot World Maker
Mad programmer and annoying composer
User avatar
vitinho444
Posts: 2825
Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2011 4:54 pm

Re: How to calculate a website cost?

Post by vitinho444 »

a_bertrand wrote:Under-priced for sure.
Dang it! xD Oh well... we learn from our mistakes right? :/ What would you say for a price? 3000$?
My Company Website: http://www.oryzhon.com

Skype: vpegas1234
User avatar
Jackolantern
Posts: 10893
Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2009 11:00 pm

Re: How to calculate a website cost?

Post by Jackolantern »

Yeah, these website price calculators are only a bare starting point if even that. Estimating projects is a tough skill that even very experienced developers can screw-up from time-to-time. And unfortunately those estimates are almost always wrong by being under. It really can't be done with any decision-making software. The software is basically just an adaption of the old "X thousand lines of code" estimation method which is notorious for poor estimates.

The best thing to do is set a baseline rate per hour of work for you. A lot of developers tend to under-value themselves, but know that $25 per hour is very, very low for an experienced developer. But in professional settings it is common for clients to pay around $70 - $200 per hour for developers depending on experience and that is about standard for the industry. Next comes the though part, where you look over their requirements and try to estimate how many hours it will take. You have to keep breaking it down into smaller and smaller tasks until you can look at one and say "I think this will take X hours".

Keep in mind that giving a lump-sum estimate up front is only one method of being paid for development work. Another that has gained a lot of popularity over the last decade because it is seen as more fair to both developers and their clients is to sell chunks of time. You give a loose estimate in either weeks or months of how long a project will take and the client buys first a one- or two-week block of time from the developer to start. At the end of each "commitment", the client decides if they want to buy another. This is oftentimes better for the client because they don't have to promise a giant block of money up-front for an unknown quality of work, and it is better for the developer because it promises money for all hours spent which avoids the common problem of underestimating.
The indelible lord of tl;dr
User avatar
a_bertrand
Posts: 1537
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2013 1:46 pm

Re: How to calculate a website cost?

Post by a_bertrand »

I would also strongly suggest to not be too cheap. Anyhow for your customers whatever price you ask it will be always too much, while for you it may not cover your fees. If you think that later on you can increase your fees you will always have somebody saying that you had another price before and can even hurt you after years.

When I was still doing some outsourcing work I was asking 100$ per hour and getting those. 1500$ would be 15 hours (about 2 days of work), do you think that's how much you will do? If yes fine, but I doubt any custom website will ever take so little time.

Want just to add that as Jackolantern is fully right, trying to estimate a work (and then a price) is always difficult.
Creator of Dot World Maker
Mad programmer and annoying composer
User avatar
vitinho444
Posts: 2825
Joined: Mon Mar 21, 2011 4:54 pm

Re: How to calculate a website cost?

Post by vitinho444 »

Wow I f*cked up really good then... I signed the contract saying I would do repairs (when needed) for 8$/hour :( I thought it was "good"...
I'm really under valuing my work..

Yeah it didn't take me 2 days but it wasn't a full week either, it was a fairly simple website but I need to re-evaluate from now on.

About splitting the tasks by hours, I can't even do that.. One day I can make a website in 2 hours, next day I can spend the same 2 hours with a wrong semicolon (it's not true but it's a metaphor :P ).

It's tough to be a programmer man.. :/ I'm losing money!!
My Company Website: http://www.oryzhon.com

Skype: vpegas1234
User avatar
Jackolantern
Posts: 10893
Joined: Wed Jul 01, 2009 11:00 pm

Re: How to calculate a website cost?

Post by Jackolantern »

Every developer loses hours for stupid things. I spent 2.5 hours day before yesterday because I capitalized an ID on an element (I NEVER capitalize IDs) and I was using an old-school jQuery library that attaches to the ID and will fail silently if it doesn't find it. I looked at that ID probably 30 times but didn't catch it.

In general you can add a bit of that time into what you are charging (I would charge a LOT of it at $8 per hour), but in general it is expected that some of that dead-stopped-over-stupid-stuff time is on your own dime.
The indelible lord of tl;dr
User avatar
a_bertrand
Posts: 1537
Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2013 1:46 pm

Re: How to calculate a website cost?

Post by a_bertrand »

I'm not 100% convinced that you should not charge all your time, even debugging time where you stare at your screen without doing anything really. Why? Well simply put if those people would hire you as external for a couple of days, weeks, months or whatever they would pay all those hours. Why would it be different if your work on your own and just give back the end result?

For the 8$ hour you ask, sorry it's completely wrong. While salaries in Portugal (that's where you live right?) are smaller than where I live, you would still be advised to not be too cheap. There is online website where you can hire a coder for a specific task, and it doesn't matter much where this person is, the price will not drop too low. There is no reasons you would be payed less than those online prices even if you work for somebody within your country. Second thing is: how much is payed somebody working there as developer? Full time I mean? If this person is payed around 20$ then you must ask at least 40$ as you need to consider that you are payed ONLY for the hours you work, not for holidays, time you search your next contract, not for the days your are sick, you don't even cost the location and computer. You see the point?

Finally, if you can get work for 50-100$ hour online by working for people outside of your country, why should you even consider picking jobs in your country which don't pay somehow the same?
Creator of Dot World Maker
Mad programmer and annoying composer
Post Reply

Return to “Off-Topic”