matthijs wrote:Hockey wrote:I'll be honest, I'll not looking to spend more than $30-35/hour or about $120 for a PSD layout (header/footer/menu) and additional $50-75/page body thereafter. If I spend anymore I might as well go with a business that gaurantees me results, money back and on demand service.

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For my own site I'm looking to spend $300-500 CDN and need a logo I had designed, integrated into the new design (if it needs redone we can negotiate something). For clients (on basic packages) i'm looking to spend $80-120 on *complete* packages I'm looking to spend $300-$500 CDN.
Well, to be honest too, and it's perfectly fine if you don't agree, this seems cheap to me. Obviously there are different markets within the broader web design business. From $100 stock templates to $100.000 jobs. Everyone may choose which market to target.
But $120 for a custom design? Make that $1200 and I'll start thinking about it. These $300-$500 packages, are they templates you re-use and resell? If not, I personally find it rather cheap. If a company wants a successful web presence, there's a lot more needed then a $300 template. If you send the same proposal to the other web designer, this might be the reason you got no response.
Again, if that's what you want, crank out 6-8 sales a week, good luck. As a designer I would be burned out creatively within 2 weeks. If not after a few days

I put a lot of value on the whole process, from meeting a client, getting to know their business and building the website to putting everything online and following up. That process takes a lot more time then a quick morning of cranking out a template. It will cost a lot more. But in the end, the client benefits from that investment.
$1200 is steep, considering what I expect. All I'm looking for is to have a wireframe layout which I have sketched into a PSD/PNG. There is no meeting of clients, or constructing the XHTML, planning directory strutures, etc, etc...
It takes me several hours to hammer out designs in PSD, however I am not a designer and often little "niceties" like reflections or "cute" buttons, icons, etc can not be brought to fruition.
I would assume that a professional designer could hammer out designs faster than me, as I can hammer out code faster than an amatuer , keeping quality higher as well. Isn't that why we are paid for our experience?
Those $100 stock templates you refer to, is not really what I am looking for either. Yes they cheap, but they also usually include several page designs (5-8 pages) some pretty impressive flash banners and graphics works. I personally am loosing interest in that much "flash" and "jazz". Thus the reason I wantedweb 2.0 designers, they have slightly different approaches to design.
$35 CDN/hour is certainly on the lower end of hourly rates - globally for high quality designers. But thats what I am trying to figure out, what exactly is it going to cost me to hire a contract a quality designer. The problem is, I have had such a huge spectrum of quotes from both good and bad designers, it's hard to say. I have a local designer who has a nice portfolio and his request was $35/hour and at the same time, I've had less than appealing designers quote me at $75/hour when I didn't feel they worth that much. The last guy designed my current site charged $75/hour but gave me a deal as I'm friends with his sister.
I can get a unique design from
http://www.perfectory.com for $700 USD and $100/page thereafter. or $1200 for some kick@$$ flash header included.
They offer the security of a business and tons of flexibility and a portfolion I can pick and choose. Why would I want to hire a contract designer for less than that? I've done business with them in the past and have been pleased with results, but I'm looking to cut cost and retain quality, I figured contracting to a designer without going through a middleman would save me money and make a designer more money than having gone through a middleman???
Anyways, that is insignificant.
What is important, is that if you feel you can satisfy my requirements and demonstrate with a portfolio of at least 3 designs, we should disscuss as I am open to pay more, but I need to be convinced first.
Cheers
