Anyone doing freelance web design?

[samalex]

Hey Guys --

My wife and I are putting together a business plan to start a freelance web publishing business, and I'm curious to know how many of you are also doing this. Our plan is to just charge by the hour for everything instead of having some crazy chart breaking down a site by number of pages or even worse the number of words on a page which I've seen some people do.

My goal for now since we're just getting started is to create about 5 demo sites in various industries and create a mock quote for each so customers can get a rough cost of what a site runs. Being a huge fan of SCRUM all quotes will basically be a Product Backlog showing the number of estimated hours for each item, and the customer can choose which items they want to roll out now or wait on.

I already have a reseller hosting plan setup and we're working on two projects now, so it's exciting. Hopefully our core website for the business will be up in a month or two, but we're focusing on the client sites for now since it'll be nice to have them on our Portfolio page.

Thanks for any experiences, suggestions, Do's, Don'ts, etc...

Sam

[sydbat]

Set a minimum for a basic site (3 or 4 pages, your choice), then anything extra is per hour...such as major design changes, adding content, adding pages, etc.

For example - $1500 for a basic site, $40/hour thereafter.

[_outlawed_]

I used to do freelance web design, but that was years ago. I've kind of been wanting to start into it again for some reason.

[Phrea]

I used to too, but mostly for free [as in beer]. It's been a lot of years since I last did it. Can't say I miss it.

[user1397]

All I know is that there is a lot of competition out there so you might not want to charge as much at first, until you get a decent portfolio going.

Maybe something like $500 for a small website (just a few pages, xhtml+css+ minor javascript/flash), and anything after charge an amount per hour like $25 or $30/hr

I only have a little bit of experience in freelance web design, but I definitely understand how tough the competition can be (aka I was turned down by potential clients many times due to the competition being better in terms of quality of websites and/or pricing :()

[_outlawed_]

[as in beer].

A light bulb just appeared above my head.

[Dry Lips]

Here are some freelancer horror stories for your consideration: ;)
http://www.computerarts.co.uk/in_depth/features/freelance_horror_stories

How to Catch clients:
http://www.computerarts.co.uk/in_depth/features/catch_clients__and_keep_them

[linuxforartists]

Loved those links Dry Lips posted! Useful reading.

Ah, no thread about web design is complete without that infamous comic from The Oatmeal: How a web design goes straight to hell (http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell).

I'm in the same boat, getting started in web design. One thing I've heard a lot of pros do is create a detailed client survey. The client answers lots of specific questions about their business and goals for the website.

If a client refuses to fill it out, the web designer won't take on the project. If the survey is filled out, the web designer then uses that to write a proposal and cost projection. Both sides sign off on it, and hopefully that document will prevent future misunderstandings.

This really comes in handy when the client inevitably asks you for extra work in the form of "little changes." You can point to the document and say you'd gladly do more work--for more pay.

Good luck!