Flat rate vs. hourly for a 3 month project I just wrapped up

I took a website redesign gig back in March for a local restaurant chain. I went with flat rate - $4,500 total - thinking it'd be clean and simple. Client kept adding features for two extra months. By the end I was making like $12 an hour. My buddy bills hourly and says he never touches flat deals. But I had a flat rate job last year on a small site that took 2 weeks and I made bank. So which side do you guys lean on for longer projects? Does it ever feel like a gamble either way?

3 comments

3 Comments

joseph_bailey2d ago

Had a buddy take a flat rate job for a bar's website. Three months later he was redesigning their online ordering system for free practically. He still swears by hourly but I remember him bragging about that one easy two week job.

the_lucas2d ago

A friend of mine got burned on a flat rate deal for a bakery website. He quoted them a simple site with a menu page and contact form. Two weeks later they wanted a whole shopping cart system with custom cake options and delivery zones. He spent like six weeks on it for the same flat fee. He still talks about that job like it was the worst lesson he ever learned. Hourly is just safer for everyone.

sullivan.quinn2d ago

Yeah exactly, @joseph_bailey basically nailed it with that bar story because honestly that's the trap with flat rate for longer stuff. I read somewhere that freelancers who do flat rate for projects over a month usually end up making less than minimum wage once you factor in all the back and forth. It's a total gamble because you never know when a client is gonna turn a "simple" site into a full blown ecommerce nightmare. The two week jobs where you hit it lucky are nice but they trick you into thinking it's safe. Hourly just takes the stress out of it for anything that drags past a few weeks.