handing over website management and designs...

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Hi Janice, I've run into this problem myself where I've created a really kickass site and charged a piddley sum for it in the hopes that the ongoing revenues from updating it would pay off in the long run..... one thing I know is I will never to that again!!!

It will rarely work out the way you want. Now the good news is is that your interpretation of who owns the design and framework is not completely right. Even without the written agreement you still had a verbal understanding that you would perform updates to the site in the future and unless he has a reciept stating that he owns the design of the site outright, you actually own it. He does own any content represented in the work you did, but the design etc. is all yours.

Typically if someone wanted a one off like that you would sell them the property rights along with the work, but all he's paid for is your time and not the design in this case.

I'd offer to sell the property rights at a fair amount to cover your design time, but don't let up on the service contract, if you can get him to sign a service contract it would still probably work out better in the end.

Hope that helps,

Cheers and good luck.

Kev.

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What to charge is a question as old as time but whatever you do, don't undersell yourself. If you do good work, someone is doing worse work and charging more for it, so you can get away with being a little greedy....but just a little. Flash is a somewhat specialized field so you can charge at a premium, really it all comes down to, do you charge by the hour or by the project, did you originally do a quote of some sort?

I cost my stuff out at $50 CDN an hour for regular stuff and $80 CDN for premium work such as database, etc. (I think that's around £25 and £40 respectively). Sometimes going by the hour can be a little more expensive to the customer but your guaranteed to get paid for your time, I find I learn some things as I go and so I deduct time spent accordingly in those cases. I try to avoid fixed prices because it gets difficult to modify when the customer changes a feature, particularily if to the naked eye it seems an easy one but to the developer means an extra 4 hours of work.

I'd do a little research and find out what others are charging for similar work, find a rate you're comfortable with and set it. If you've got to compromise on this one, like you said it's still a nice site and something you can host. I would deffinately try and maintain your 'created by' tag if you don't charge him full price though.

Cheers,

Kev.

Okay well this is pretty simple, what you two had agreed on is what happens. If you agree to design him a webpage and he pays you for it, then it's set. What makes things more clear is WHAT he pays you for.

What I mean by this is, did you two agree that the payment would be made simply after everything is done? If so, then you obviously owe him nothing else, as he has paid you for the services. The agreement being "I will pay you when you are done and I am satisfied." He paid you obviously saying that he WAS satisfied.

Now as far as how much you shall charge for your work from the source files. HA. With what you are saying you've done, you charge no less than $1,000 USD. But of course I would honestly have to see the webpage, as many do make their works sound greater than what it actually is. You charge $200-300 USD to your grandma or mom whom you're making a website for. If you have at least 6months+ experience and have the talent to show it, there is no reason at all why you would even stubmle to charging less than $2,000... Simple. And most designers don't understand that. If you feel that you have the talent as many of the other design studios out there that is making quite a bit of cash, yet you just don't have the confidence in the backend or the overall mood of your work, then spend your time working on your weak areas and stay away from clients that charge you less than $500. Once more I'm getting all of this because of what you had said you've mad for them...

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