Took me three tries to figure out how to bill a client for a 40 hour project

I picked up a gig back in May for a local bakery in Austin, needed a new website and some menu graphics. Quoted them a flat fee of 800 dollars thinking it would take maybe 25 hours tops. Well after the first week I was already at 30 hours with revisions and them wanting to swap out photos twice. Ended up being a 40 hour project and I only made 20 bucks an hour which is way below my normal rate. I spent another 4 hours just trying to renegotiate after the fact and they weren't having it. Has anyone else had a flat fee project blow up like this and then had trouble adjusting?

3 comments

3 Comments

joseph4821h ago

I remember my buddy Mark took on a flat fee gig for a local coffee shop in Denver last year. He quoted them $1200 for a simple website and some social media graphics. By the time they were done with revisions and adding extra pages it was over 50 hours of work. He ended up making like 24 bucks an hour and was so frustrated he nearly quit freelancing. He tried to renegotiate too but the client just kept saying "that was the deal" and wouldn't budge. It sucked watching him stress over it for weeks after.

dianawilson19h ago

Shook my head reading that, 50 hours for 1200 bucks is just painful. Mark should have put a cap on revisions in the contract, like 2 rounds max, and charged extra for any new pages beyond the original scope. That coffee shop owner knew exactly what they were doing, they milked him dry and hid behind the flat fee. Hope Mark learned to write a scope of work with firm boundaries next time.

danielowens16h ago

Yeah, totally agree with @joseph48 about his buddy Mark. Flat fee gigs are basically a trap I've fallen into myself, once spent 40 hours on a $800 logo that ended up being a literal circle with text. Did Mark at least get a free coffee out of it or was it just pain and regret?