Pro tip: I lowballed my first web design quote and regretted it fast

Charged $150 for a whole site rebuild for a local bakery in Austin. Took me 18 hours and I made less than minimum wage. How do you figure out your hourly rate when you're totally new?

3 comments

3 Comments

lucashenderson2d ago

Stop treating it like a life lesson and just raise your price next time.

rowanw912d ago

Wait, @lucashenderson is right but there's a whole other layer to it - you gotta factor in the time you spend just talking to clients too, not just the coding hours. For a bakery site, did they want like 5 rounds of "can you make the cupcakes bigger" edits? That stuff adds up fast.

margaretc422d ago

Learned that one the hard way myself. Last year I did a site for a small restaurant and the owner kept changing the menu layout almost every other day. I'd finish coding something and she'd call saying "actually, can we put the specials before the appetizers?" Happened maybe 6 or 7 times before I had to put my foot down. What finally worked for me was adding a flat "communication fee" into the total price upfront. I told them it covers up to 2 hours of calls and emails, anything over that costs extra. @lucashenderson is right about raising your price but I think you gotta be specific about where that money goes so the client doesn't feel blindsided. Makes the whole process less stressful for everyone.