What is the price tag of a website?

I recently read a great article by Chris Coyier that got my brain spinning about the many ways people charge for websites, and the prices that go with a website.Â In my young web development career, I have had to quote a client on what a website would cost many times.Â It is a task that I don’t take lightly, as I want to make sure that I am not selling myself short, and on the other hand I want to get the work.

I know many of you web developers can attest that the following question gets asked far to often, “If I wanted you to build me a site, what would it cost?”Â Frankly this is about as vague of a question that can get.Â It depends if you want CNN.com or a small business site.

If pricing a website wasn’t hard enough already, you have to deal with the possibility of subcontracting work out; or having absolutely no time on your hands to start a new project.Â Chris Coyier points out that someone emailed him saying that he couldn’t figure out how to price something, because it didn’t cost him anything.Â He later goes on to say that it always costs you your most important resource of TIME.

The following are 3 ways that I see people charge for projects:

base price + $$$ per page
contract price (time of project estimated x $$$ per hour)
hourly – time taken x $$$ per hour

These are the most common ways people get to the final price, that the end client eventually gets.Â If you would like to share your methods and tactics, please leave us a comment!

Tags: pricing

Written by Brenley Dueck

12 Responses to “What is the price tag of a website?”

Scott Stawarz Says:
October 24th, 2008 at 10:25 am
There is a fourth way, the most difficult sell, but the most accurate.
Value Based price (% of value to the customer)
For example, if the customer is going to gain $50,000 in new sales. Then, you could sell the website at $10,000.
Another example, if the website saves the company $1,000,000 in internal processing costs. If you charge hourly or price per page, you are under-valuing your product.
Of course the challenge in this scenario, is figuring out what is the value. Companies generally don’t like to share.
This book provides good examples on value based project consulting:
http://www.amazon.com/Million-Dollar-Consulting-Professionals-Practice/dp/007138703X
Ali Al Lawati Says:
October 24th, 2008 at 10:43 am
well i would go with
base price + $$$ per page
i use that for static sites
for dynamic sites it is
bigger base price + $$$ per database table + $$$ per full CRUD functionality
i think this way it is much easier for me to estimate the work since counting time is not good in my case since the time i require mostly depend on my mood
admin Says:
October 24th, 2008 at 10:47 am
@scott – Yes, a value to the business should definitely be considered, but is a tough thing to do.
For example, if a company is selling cars. If one lead comes from the website that leads to a sale of a car, they have already got a good investment from the website.
@ali – this approach is probably the one I most commonly use as well. As well as taking other factors into consideration.
Arjan`s World » LINKBLOG for October 25, 2008 Says:
October 25th, 2008 at 9:47 am
[...] What is the price tag of a website? – Brenelz [...]
Sebastian Steinmann Says:
October 27th, 2008 at 9:57 am
We mostly use the estimated project time * $$$ per hour.
But the most important thing is know what the client wants. And a strict Spec. Without that you’ll work your ass off for nothing..
admin Says:
October 27th, 2008 at 10:04 am
Yeah, you always need to include something like “Any additional work is $$$/hr” so you at least get paid for additional changes.
Thilo Thamm Says:
October 28th, 2008 at 5:51 am
I find it weired to read of all this pricing. How much does a website cost. The question is as stupid as how much does a car cost.
What car? A small 10 year old second hand Volkswagen with nothing else but wheels and seats or a Toyota Hybrid Prius with all the latest technolgy? Most clients don’t realize that they need to define a briefing document and a budget to actually get a serious quote.
We have $30.000 and need a car that for a family with 3 kids, lots of space, moderate powered engine (cose we rarely drive into moutain areas) but a good stereo because all of us love music. The car must not be white, but if so, we’d appreciate that.
If you get an info like that, then you can find a product that suits the clients needs.
The question how much does a website cost, is stupid. Don’t be afraid asking for briefgings and budgets! It shows that you care!
LPent Says:
October 28th, 2008 at 11:39 am
In relation to the “value based price” as described in Comment #1: On what time-frame would you base such a price? A year, 2 years or the complete estimated life-span of the new site?
I base my prices on the client. Some can afford more than others. But never more than my normal hourly rate + additional costs (like domainname registration etc.)
Samuel Allen Says:
November 12th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
I found this a bit of a relief as these are the models I tend to use on my projects. I was hoping I wasn’t going too far off the rails in protecting my time.
One thing I’d add though, make sure you put in a fee not only for additional charges/time, but for a change in the delivery schedule. I’ve had clients ask me to deliver a product a week or two early due to a change in their schedules, or an internal miscommunication between my contact and their higher-ups.
It’s the same amount of work, but all of a sudden, they need it done in half the time which disrupts YOUR schedule. As I am often juggling 2-3 projects at once, I always make sure the contract states that a change in the schedule may be subject to a ‘special rate’; i.e. 125-150% my normal rate depending on the shift in time-frames.
I’m not against pulling a few all-night’ers for my clients if that’s what it takes, but I’m not going to do it for the originally agreed upon amount, and neither should you.
Earnest Gwilt Says:
April 21st, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Hello, really well thought out stuff, I’ve book marked your blog and I’ll be back
Rigoberto Helmke Says:
June 27th, 2010 at 11:37 pm
proffesional service is a must
Phil Schade Says:
April 16th, 2011 at 8:15 am
As a freelancer I mostly use the estimated project time for my pricing. But when you think about the time you are spending not with a special project but with improvement of your skills, knowledge etc. there will always be an extra amount of time (or money) you should calculate with.