Quotes please

Ok, i dont actually need a website making, i need an estimate on how much you would charge for the following project.

The project is for a bus company which will have about 5 pages including a CMS which will enable the administrator to
1. add / delete news
2. add / delete bus service information
3. add / delete job vacancies.

I have made a prototype, which shows the layout and how it will look when its finished. There is currently no dynamics as this is just for the client to see what the end product will be like and to give approval before i commence the rest of the work.

The prototype can be seen -> www.impulsive-solutions.co.uk/isbus

Now i have been given a budget but i was wondering, how much would you realistically charge for a project of this size. I estimate it will take me another day to complete it + the 5 hours it has taken me in planning and prototype design.

Thanks
Andy

Not sure if i have put this in the correct forum

I'd come up with an hourly rate for programming. Companies around where I live I've seen charge 800$ and above for static websites. Say like 50-75 an hour for it, that still comes out to be pretty fair.
Of course this is here in the us, not sure what its like over there in uk.

I reckon you should be looking to charge £750-£1000, what kind of budget have they given you?

< 100

Well I suggest they are taking the p!ss!

If it was purely a static site then a few hundred quid is normal. With a CMS though they are effectively making sure they don't need you to do any updates saving even more cash.

The only time I would do a site this cheap is if I was looking to build up my portfolio, but I wouldn't provide a CMS.

thats what i was thinking portfolio wise. It will look great on mine so i may opt to do it for cheap, hmmmmm decisions decisions. Plus i dont have any other work on the cards anyway...

But there's cheap and then there's really cheap! How about offering to do the intial site for 100 without a CMS?

Are you doing this work in your spare time or you trying to make a go of it full time?

spare time, although i would go forit full time if the business came my way

I'm the same with my company. If you think doing this job for a dirt cheap price would get you any more work then perhaps it's worth it.

It's your call but the danger of doing work too cheap is that people might regard you as a bit of a cowboy. Companies generally expect to pay a certain price for every product go too cheap and it could do more harm than good.

I see your point, i could opt for advertising as a method of payment but then another issue arises, see this post... http://forums.devshed.com/t286781/s.html

Andrew,
[edit link missing]
You can't really be considering this for £100, there's a serious element of urine extraction afoot.

Are you getting hosting, and domain registration, and support, nah forget it man.

If you don't charge enough, you'll never be idle ... if for nothing else, for you own self respect

well my original esitmate was £800 and since it has been confirmed i was pretty much spot on with that. There are a couple of reasons i would consider it

1. Its my first commercial website (i.e. for a proper company)
2. Advantages for my portfolio
3. Recipricol linking back to my page would increase the chance of further business.

Maybe i will just make it static and if they want the CMS installed, then i will charge extra.

Have a chat with them and explain that while it may be commercially advantageous to do the site at a knockdown price, what they're offering is simply laughable, and that you might settle for say £600.00

Estimates for stuff like that would run anywhere from about £500 to £1500, depending on client and requirements.

One of the reasons for cost can be attributed to quality, and quite simply, quality costs time, and time costs money.

If it's a legitimate case of cash flow on their part, you could agree terms where the balance is payable at say Christmas, or Easter, pretty much after they get a cash injection from school boards or the like.

Another option would be to take the revenue from advertising on their site. If it's a school bus company, then you could advertise bookstores, music stores, student cafes etc, etc,

Night links, for bars, pubs and clubs

In the long term the revenue from advertising has the Magic letter "R", followed by "esidual". Not a bad letter R, followed by esidual

When they hear your plans, they'll likely want to go after the advertising themselves, and now you can settle for the original estimate, plus an advertising module, and if greed, and cash effficiency is a factor, they'll pay it.

Or you could decide to split revenues from advertising.

The hard work is talking to the clients, so a bigger slice of the cake, for whoever brings in the business

Just an idea

I really like Axweildr's idea... I'll prolly take that one for my own business... ^_^ As long as you don't mind. =)

There is also a few techniques in a really good reference book called Webmastering for Dummies. I purchased the first edition and have purchased both editions. I purchased mine at Books-A-Million/Bookland/Books & Company (according to my keychain discount card) for $22 plus a frappe'. I'm sure Amazon will have it for around $19 or $20.

Just some info!
// Ryan

I think many of us have started in Andrew's same position. I know I have.

My first site was all Frontpage and looked ug-ly. The customer paid $500US for it.
My second site was all PHP/HTML4.01 and took way too long, and was way too bloated. The customer paid $900 for it.

I now quote prices based on the different "modules" of the site. Do they want news? Fine, $40. Do they want a hierarchical links section? Fine, $40. Do they want an RSS aggregator? Fine, $40. Do I have to create the layout? Okay, that's a little more: $100.

Now, before anyone laughs and says I'm crazy, let me explain why I'm so cheap.

I live in the rural part of the USA. More specifically, I live in a small farming community half way between Indianpolis and Chicago. Here, there are only a couple others who provide web design, and I believe I'm the only one who provides dynamic site development. In this area, the average income is something like $24,000 a year, and most of my customers are privately-owned businesses with (likewise) low rates. Thus, there is really no way I can charge "the going rate" for any of my work. At the same time, though, I have the plan of raising my rates after I complete 2 more somewhat large-scale projects.

Now, think about what I'm doing here:
- I am establishing a relationship with each of my customers
- I am making sure that I am talked about between business owners
- I am making a name for myself, offering high quality content at "bargain-basement" rates

Depending on your location and local economy, this may be a viable option for you. Also needing considered is the type of business you are dealing with. Is it a privately owned company? Is it a non-profit? Is it a government office?

All these things come into play. Do a little research and see what you can find out about your competitors. Compare the quality of their final product to your's, and make sure that your content quality will offset the cost, regardless of how much/little you charge.

Apologies for this post being a bit of a ramble. It's 11:36PM here and I've had a long week with no day off as of yet.