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How to Build A Web
Design Quote
Note: One
of the most common questions new web masters have is “how
do I quote a website?” This
article is designed primarily for free lance web
designers who are just starting out and looking for
tips on creating web design quotes for clients. It's
not an exact step-by-step description of
how to create a web design quote, but is intended
to bring up points and ideas that web designers can
use in their quoting process. The hourly estimations
provided here are only for discussion and are not intended
to be used as a benchmark of any kind.
While the creative side
of web design – the graphic
design and web programming that goes into building
a website – is usually the most enjoyable part
of being a web designer, good project management and
foresight is the key to becoming a successful freelance
webmaster.
To keep client and web designer relations as smooth
as possible, it's important to manage expectations.
This means you should provide a complete web project
outline stating the specific tasks you will perform,
how much they will cost, when payments are due, and
when the project is to be complete. You should also
outline what items and content the client is required
to provide for the web design project (photos, text,
credit card information etc.) and what content you
as the web designer will provide (stock photography,
photography services, graphic design, copywriting,
consultation time etc.)
The Web Design Quote Breakdown
As a service provider,
a web designer only has so much time each day to
earn a living. That's why
it is suggested
you should base your web design quote on an hourly
rate and then multiply it by the estimated hours
it will take you to complete each of the components
of
the project. During the project, it is then important
to record the time you spend on each component
so you can tell how long it takes you, and then you
can become
more efficient in developing quotes and managing
your time in the future. The more projects you
do, the more
efficient you'll become and the more profitable
each
project will potentially be. You'll find what used
to take you five hours, may now take you only three.
Note:
For the purposes of this article, we will assume
the client wants a fairly straight-forward
10 page
website with the addition of a few bells and
whistles. We'll also assume that the client is providing
the copy they wish to place throughout the website.
While
the actual time quoted for each component of
a
website will vary and is highly situational,
sample times
are provided below simply as a general point
of discussion.
The Web Design
Most websites have a general design, with
one or more web templates, that carries throughout
the
whole website.
Often this includes a navigation system with
links to the various pages of the website,
and a general
header and footer design. Some clients also
request a Flash intro, or some other type of
stylized start page for their site.
When developing
this part of the quote, it's important to consider
the client will probably
have change
requests. You may want to estimate your
time and then multiply
it by 1.5 to accommodate the time you will
likely spend editing the design.
For the
purposes of this article, we'll estimate it will
take us 6.5hrs to develop
the design
for the generally
straight-forward website. We'll then
multiply this by 1.5 to cover potential client changes.
Our site
will use one general web template throughout
the website without any special intro
pages.
6.5hrs x 1.5 = 9.75hrs
The Website Pages
Generally, most websites have a specific
number of static pages in addition
to any dynamic
or database fed pages. As we mentioned
earlier, our sample
site
has 10 static pages. To make it
simple, our site
won't include a database.
Most pages
often contain a few images and text. When quoting
these pages,
be sure
to consider
the actual
content that will be going on
each page and what you are expected
to contribute. You
should also
consider the client will probably
request some changes. A
general
estimate may be one hour per
page, so
you may wish to multiply this
by 1.5 to cover
potential
changes.
10pgs x 1.5hrs = 15hrs
Special Features
Every site is unique, and the
client will probably have
special feature
requests. These may include:
-contact
forms
-shopping carts
-inserting products in
a database
-database configuration
-blogs
-built-in content management
systems
-javascript functionality
You should make sure
to itemize these add-on
features
separately
in your
web design
quote. Be sure to
protect yourself. Sometimes
even the smallest feature
that you think won't
take you long
at all can end up taking
as long
as
the rest
of the
entire
web project.
Be
sure to charge for
consultation time, especially if the
client wants you to
perform research and then provide
customized solutions.
For
our basic website project, we'll assume
the client
simply wants a
single contact
form and
no additional
consultation time
is needed. We'll also
assume it will
take .75hrs
to set it
up on one of
the website
pages
and test it. There
are many ready-made
free
CGI, PHP
and ASP contact
form scripts available
to
choose from
which you could use
to install this functionality
on the
site.
Web Host Configuration & Domain
Name Registration
Web hosting configuration is also
a very important part to include when developing your
website quote. Some clients will already have a web
hosting account, others
will want you to sign them up for a new account, and others will want you to
transfer an existing domain name from one web hosting account to another.
Be
very careful with the clients that want you to transfer
an existing domain name they own to a new web hosting
account. Performing this task can be a time-consuming
black hole. Often the client won't know where their domain name is registered,
so you'll first have to track that info down using a WhoIS search. GoDaddy.com
provides a good tool for this. Then, once you find the domain registrar company,
you'll have to obtain the login information. Usually you'll then end up going
to the registrar company's website to fill out a “lost username/password” form
or have to call the registrar company directly. Because of privacy issues, the
domain registrar company will probably only send this login information to the
email address they have on file. Hopefully it will be an email address that your
client is still using. If not, you'll have to get the client to speak with the
registrar directly. Then you'll have to get your client to transmit this login
information to you. Finally, you'll have to login to the domain name account
and update the DNS settings to point to the new web server. In short, it's a
long process that is best avoided if possible. Because of the large amounts of
time I've spent performing this process in the past, I'll usually have to charge
three to five hours worth of billable time to carry out this process for a client.
Usually it may just be a good idea to charge this service at an hourly rate for
as long as it takes to complete the process. Unfortunately, a client may not
understand why this step can require so much time or can be challenging to do – so
it can be hard to justify the cost to the client.
For our sample web design quote
though, we'll just assume we will be setting up a new web hosting account for
the client with an outside service. If you are
setting up a new account with your own web hosting service, you might just
do this for free since you'll be earning revenue on
monthly or yearly web hosting
fees. Otherwise, you might just charge an hour to set up a web hosting account.
You may wish to add 15 minutes for each email address the client wants you
to set up. Keep in mind you'll have to provide the
client with login information
and test the accounts as well.
Our total for our sample web design
quote will include two email addresses. So we'll assume
our total
for web hosting will be:
1hr setup + .5hrs for setting
up two email accounts
The client also wishes to have
a domain name registered for them. Usually you can
register a domain name at
the same place you set up the web hosting. We'll
estimate a half hour to register and configure the domain name.
Web Design Quote
Total
Now that we've itemized the general
tasks for building a website for our client, here's
the hourly
total for
our hypothetical 10 page web design quote:
Web Design:
9.75hrs
Web Pages: 10@1.5hrs each = 15hrs (when providing the
web design quote outline to the client you'd probably
want to detail each page that will be created)
Special Features: 1 Contact Form @ .75hrs
Web Hosting Setup: 1hr
Set Up Email Addresses: 2@.25hrs each = .5hrs
Domain Name Registration: .5hrs
Total Project Hours
= 27.5hrs
You may also consider charging for
administrative time which will cover time spent handling
the account
(accounting,
meetings etc).
Simply then, take the total hours
and multiply it by your hourly rate to reach a total
fee.
Make Sure the Client is Serious About
the Web Design Project
Once the web design quote it
agreed upon, you want to make sure that the client
will come through on their
end. While you can have a client sign a contract,
a great way is to simply ask for 50% of the amount immediately to initiate
the project. You can they state that the remaining 50% will then be due upon
completion
of the stated tasks in the quote. This is a great way to identify those clients
who are serious about the project, and filter out those who may duck out of
the project and disappear after you've already invested a substantial amount
of time
on the web project.
Time to Completion
Be sure to include
a statement in your quote about project time completions.
If the client has yet to
provide you with required materials, specifically
state that you will complete the project by a specific time once the required
materials
are received. You may also consider including a statement that deposited funds
may be forfeited if the required materials are not received by a certain date.
If a client initiates a project with you and then doesn't get around to getting
materials ready for several months, you'll end up spending a lot of extra time
in customer service and discussions since you'll have to revist the project
and get both you and the client up to speed on what has been done and what
has yet
to be done.
On-Going Updates
Your web design
quote should also contain a statement about how future
updates to the completed web project
will be handled. Some designers offer a fixed
monthly maintenance fee for performing updates. Over time though, usually either
the
web designer or the client will become unhappy with this type of situation.
Either the client will request so many updates that the web designer will feel
taken
advantage of, or there will be so few update requests that the client feels
they aren't getting their money's worth with the arrangement. Instead, it is
often
best to provide future updates at a set hourly rate. This way you'll get paid
for the work what you deserve and the client will only pay for what they need – more
of a win-win situation.
Summary
While the web design field
can be exciting and rewarding, it's important to
have sound business practices
in place. Developing a system for generating
web design
quotes efficiently is a great way to help manage your client relationships
and keep projects on track. Clearly stating terms and expectations in your
web design
quote from the start is a key part of running a web design business.
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