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Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2002 5:04 pm
by Gath
The thing is: i can't ask $2000 cause he already refuse some proposal, made by some programming firms. Since i work in a place that also makes webdesign (and programming, if needed), i kind of know what prices they problably asked. And those were, for shure, above 1000€. And also know that that guy is very attached to his money, so i can't ask alot, or else i'd loose the job. Also, i have no work made in PHP or similar, to show... meaning, i nned this work to get more work... Also, i'm doing it 50/50 with a friend of mine, and the client happends to be his brother-in-law, that's also starting out his business... so we are all trying to help eachother.... But i dont want to make a cheap price, or, yes, it wouldnt pay the trouble...

And about the $2000 stuff: the place i work is going to expand to another city, in witch the "leading" webdesign company ask for atleast 5 times the price that is used in our city of origin... So, very bottom line: price is relative... very relative...

I just saw a new CD-RW 40/12/48, of a known brand (cant remember witch), to be sold for less then 75€ (€ is +/- the $)... Some of you may say it's too low, some may say it's expensive... it's relative...

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2002 5:08 pm
by phice
EvilWalrus wrote:make a good name for yourself, and people will pay anything :)
Very true. ;]

Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2002 5:18 pm
by JPlush76
well gath you definately need to build up that resume of code before you can charge the big bucks for sure, so do this one cheap so you have something nice to show your next client :)

Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2002 1:27 am
by Takuma
That'S what I did.... :D

Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2002 5:55 am
by mikeq
Gath wrote:The thing is: i can't ask $2000 cause he already refuse some proposal, made by some programming firms. Since i work in a place that also makes webdesign (and programming, if needed), i kind of know what prices they problably asked. And those were, for shure, above 1000€. And also know that that guy is very attached to his money, so i can't ask alot, or else i'd loose the job. Also, i have no work made in PHP or similar, to show... meaning, i nned this work to get more work... Also, i'm doing it 50/50 with a friend of mine, and the client happends to be his brother-in-law, that's also starting out his business... so we are all trying to help eachother.... But i dont want to make a cheap price, or, yes, it wouldnt pay the trouble...

And about the $2000 stuff: the place i work is going to expand to another city, in witch the "leading" webdesign company ask for atleast 5 times the price that is used in our city of origin... So, very bottom line: price is relative... very relative...

I just saw a new CD-RW 40/12/48, of a known brand (cant remember witch), to be sold for less then 75€ (€ is +/- the $)... Some of you may say it's too low, some may say it's expensive... it's relative...
It sounds to me that you want this job and it is nothing to do with what it is really worth, if you are not going to be realistic with your pricing you should probably do it for nothing because thats all that will really happen. The customers demands will increase on what he is getting for the little money he is spending, you will feel obliged to do it and bingo lots of work for little return. Seen it happen to others many times.

As soon as people start charging realistic prices for stuff, the customers might start expecting to pay realistic prices. As long as someone is willing to undercut at every opportunity we will always have this situation. I would charge a realistic price for this, if that means not getting the job then so be it, just move onto the next job that does pay what it is worth.

If you just want to increase your portfolio then do it for nothing.

Break down the project into tasks and price each part accordingly, if you present that to the client along with timescales for each part he may just accept a realistic price from you. If you do this then if the client wants to pay less you can go through the tasks/functionality with him stripping out anything he is not willing to pay for (you really find out what someone actually needs when you ask them to cough up cash for it). You should then have a proposal that both you and the client are happy with, he gets what he wants for the cash and you get an appropriate fee for the work undertaken.

Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2002 6:05 am
by Johnm
Point of Order:
If you do this cheap, how will you ever be satisfied with your pay for future work he wants you to do? This will set the standard for all future business with this customer.
I agree with mikeq. Be fair in your pricing and Itemize it. Let him cut the cost where he deems necessary.

Direwolf

Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2002 8:10 am
by jason
Reputation goes along way too, as EW pointed out. Not only do I work with PHP professionally, but I also run PHPComplete, I have my names on a few books, and run these forums (along with my fellow PHPDN'ers). Accordingly, this reputation has helped me out tremendously, and even helped land me this job (that along with other reasons).

Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2002 10:42 am
by JPlush76
I also feel that if you charge a normal price you will work harder for the larger amount of money you're getting.

I just built a website for a client and charged $2500.00 for 20 pages with graphics and worked really fast on my free time to finish it quickly and professionaly.

I have another client that needs a couple new pages made to their site and I was charging $100 just to be nice.. well 2 weeks later its not even close to at the top of my head.

Charging a reasonable amount will be better in the long run for everyone, unless you suck then you shouldn't charge alot :)

Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2002 2:45 am
by Skywalker
I moste of the time ask for static websites around 500 euro's and for a normal dynamic page 1100 euro's and for big website that are dynamic and are sometimes a pain in the arse I ask 1800 euro.

Don't ever forget to set all your details and things of your client on paper and let him sign it because once I had trouble with that. My client asked more and more. Finaly I charged that guy for 2000 euro insted of 2,500 euro.

The euro is about the same in Dollars.

Greathings

Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2002 10:14 am
by Love_Daddy
I think in this case you should weigh your experience. i.e If you're confident enough that
you'll do precisely what they're asking for, then charge them $2,000+. and remember that
clients will always tell you the same story, that they have other qoutations, there's nothing
like that, if so then why did they choose you. the reason is they know that you can do the
job for them. in a way they are testing your confidence...

Money is not the problem compared to what they'll make in profit.

Posted: Wed Sep 18, 2002 1:19 am
by DesignerSMS
In my experience, a person will never be happy with a product unless they pay for it and, the more they pay for the product, the happier they usually are with the end result. However, if a person pays nothing (or almost nothing) for a product, they will never perceive an value because they haven't invested anything in it.

We would commonly charge for a job such as this AU$7,500 to AU$15,000 (about US$3,500 to US$7,000).

If you think this is high, look at teenagers and the retail clothing market for example (sorry, to any teenages on this forum). It is a well known fact that basically every article of clothing on the shelves today costs less than US$5 to make. Even if you factor in marketing budgets, shipping, and other operating costs. The cost of a garment on the shelves should still be well under US$20-$50. Yet, clothing companies (such as Nike, Billabong, etc) still charge upwards of (well in Australia anyway) AU$80 for a T-shirt. Why, when there are products that have equal quality (without the name) on the shelves next to them selling at AU$15? Because these teenages want to show all their friends that they are priveleged enough to own/wear clothing that costs this quantity of money.

So just remember, always charge what you believe the cilent is willing to pay and make sure that if you charge them what you believe to be a large amount for the job, that you deliver on all your promises. When the client receives the end product they will be assured that the money they spent was well worth it and will (hopefully) recommend you to other people.

Never, never, never compete on price. If you do this you will end up struggling to make a profit for the rest of your life because your clients will continue to expect ever decreasing prices. If you charge based on the merits of your worth, you will always have opportunities to increase your prices. Wouldn't you rather work on 1 job a week and earn $10,000 than on 10 jobs a week to earn the same amount? Set yourself goals and work towards them. Clients are not (traditionally) easy people to handle. Make sure you compensate yourself for the time you have to spend keeping them happy.

Hope this helps (sorry I rambled in parts).

:: Wayne ::

$2000

Posted: Wed Sep 18, 2002 4:51 am
by pretty woman
Hi Guys...

In the Philippines, this kind of stuff can be developed using PostgreSQL/MySQL, PHP, Apache at a cost of $1000 more or less. This is going to be a dynamic web page not a static one.

Anyone of you there who would like to give us something to develop? This can be a very good opportunity to shave down your expense and at the same time have something that will meet your requirements.

Sure, we can software engineer this kind of stuff for you.

Pretty Woman
Philippines :P

Question for you guys...

Posted: Wed Sep 18, 2002 2:38 pm
by SonicSnoop
I posted here instead of a new thead cause its along the same lines, hope you guys dont mind..

I may be doing a project for someone, My best friends mom is a manager of a series of Antique malls and currently they are running old 486 pcs with win95 as their cash register programs and it of course crashes constintly. I proposed to her the idea of me building a linux server running apache php and mysql. and I then build all the pages to do the same thing as the old program they are using plus any extra features she would like. that way all those old machines can be formated and reinstalled with just the browser and just interface to this linux server and backups can be done regularly unlike with this old program. It would store all dealer info,codes, etc, plus invoices, rent for booths, mini email system for memos and notices, etc etc. And even set it up so if i have multiple servers in differnt locations they could easily sync up to one another.. Now im not a php genius like some of you guys i know enuff to get around and what i dont know i look up in my 5 books or on sites like here and figure it out. This is probobly the biggest project i will/have ever under taken. I live in the US, Virginia area.. Now My best friends mom is just the manager she wont be paying for this but its her boss that will .. Taking into account im not a great php person but can get the job done can you all give me an idea of what to ask for $$$ wise. I dont want to ask too much or not enuff.. Ive never really done anything like this.. thanks..