While clients come to me to answer their technical questions, the biggest one is how much will it cost? The answer is always: It depends. This post shows, as an example, steps to create a website and some rough hour estimates. It was influenced by two posts circulating in the knitting industry: The cost of a knitting pattern and The True Cost of a Pattern – revisited.
Steps to create a new website
Here are some of the steps that go into creating a new website. Many factors can either complicate or simplify each step. Have we worked together before? Do you have a firm idea of how the site should be or is it at the “I need something stage”?
- Discussions of functionality needs and initial sketches of potential layouts/modifications – 3-5 hours.
- Content building and site organization – 3-5 hours.
- Refine layout/graphics/theme – 5-7 hours.
- Create test site for review – 2-3 hours.
- Revisions to theme & organization – 3-5 hours.
(sometimes we agree to more than one edit stage.) - Create final style guide upon acceptance – 2-3 hours.
- Create production site and confirm security, updates, etc – 5-7 hours.
- Last minute changes & unexpected post-launch – 2-3 hours.
- Ongoing maintenance – 1 hour a month.
But what will it really cost?
Yes there are additional fees. These include but are not limited to:
- domain registration
- logo design
- web hosting
- theme & plugin fees
Nice try, how much do you cost?
I’ve been doing this for twenty years. My goal is to keep costs down, I want to provide service for those who think custom technology advice is out of reach. I don’t have significant overhead — I work from my home. There are software and equipment fees but I try to keep them limited.
I have a rate for services provided onsite, and one for remote work.
When we collaborate, you benefit from my twenty years experience in building websites and technology management. I’m confident that if we really want to work together, we will find an agreement that is amicable to both your budget and mine.
What can you do?
I enjoy clients who communicate. It may take us a bit to figure out the way that works best for us (phone calls, emails, chats), amount of information I provide, and the frequency. Projects fail when we resist communication for one reason or another.
I’m creating worksheets that can help both of us during the process.
I hope you found this brief introduction to how much a new website costs helpful. If you would like additional assistance please contact me.