What Are The Going Design Rates?

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics the mean hourly rate for design in California is $25.34 an hour.

http://www.bls.gov/OES/current/oes271024.htm#st

This is the average rate for professional design. People who charge these rates should and are likely to have some form of related educational background and or experience.

I couldn't image anyone but an entry level designer working for anything less then 16 an hour. Design and web page coding take time and a tremendous amount of education and practice. IN addition it requires thousands of dollars in software and training. This is a professional occupation!

Why many firms do not post their rates?

Simply for the main fact that many clients believe the cheapest rate/price is the best way to go. They will simply go to competitors asking for a lesser and lesser price. The fact is the cheaper the price the cheaper the service. This serves true though out the entire globe time and time again and especially, especially in this industry. Web design services are not comparable to hard good values and rates such as the price of produce or the fair market value of a home. This is a intellectual property business where there are a mecca of good and bad service providers. The underlying fact is good service denotes the above rates in the first paragraph at the least.

Deisngers are very aware that clients are price oriented which can hurt clients in the long run. What firms do instead and understandably so in many cases is charge by the project after they attain the scope of the clients needs. This way they can play around with price better and try to fit budgets. It is a win/win situation for both clients and design teams that allows people in the industry to compete on price in a rational way.

How the quote process works (in most cases)

This I believe is the best way to approach a client when quoting on the price. It is critical to attain the whole spectrum of the clients needs even for the smallest of projects as sometimes people leave out (unknowingly) seemingly small details that actually have a big impact on the project. For example after quoting a client on a 5 page family site with photos for $550 she came back to me asking for a integrated component where she can do her own uploads. I told her in order to make this an integrated component I would have to redesign the entire site, everything costing her an additional $800.

This is what we call Scope Creep. So the pre-design interview before quote is not just integral, but critical. This kind of stuff happens all the time in the industry. No different then a doctor web coders and designers need to know everything about the client before they go to work.

How Should Pricing Be Divulged?

Everything starts with a friendly casual first call conversation. This is the beginning of the interview. Questions are asked and depending on how large the project is a quote can come during that first conversation to a day or two later. The reason for the potential delay is that we must be absolutely sure of the entire scope of the project.

Why Bargain Hunting in This Industry Can Get You In Trouble.

Unless you know for sure you just want a quick slap job then you probably don't need a designer at all. There are countless places where you can get a free web page with neat widgets. But do not expect fire works.

More realistically my clients and many of my competitors deal with small to mid size businesses who need solid working solutions. Unfortunately tho many potential clients believe they will get the same design service for less. So they bargain hunt for the cheapest price.

The trick is to match portfolio work with service and price. If you base your chosen web design firm just on price you will not only be able to do it quickly but you will get quick service! So quick in fact by the time they send you your link to view you will get a very bad taste in your mouth. You will not find professional work at discount rates in this industry.

The larger companies know about all this above. They suck you in with the lure of a 5 page design at rock bottom prices and you are in return dissatisfied because you were left in the dust in one fashion or the other. The larger corporations are very good at this. They know darn well about Scope Creep while you do not. No other place will you find hidden charges for additional services then the larger corporation sites. They know more about you then you do yourself concerning websites.

If you care about your sites presence you will definitely shop around with many designers but you will not base your decision on price. You will expect to pay going rates and most important you will be well aware that WHAT YOU PAY FOR IS WHAT YOU GET.

So What Are The Going Rates?

Well typically here in the San Francisco bay area for a 5 page site with a contact form and depending on the quality of the design you need your going to pay anywhere from $450 to $1,000. There are many elements I can not go over because of the diverse needs out there. This business is very subjective it depends a lot on your design interview. And you can bet for sure that there is going to be a huge difference in the quality of service and features between a 5 page restaurant design for $450 and the a 5 page restaurant design for a $1,000. And to be completely honest, for top notch 5 star work and service you should expect to pay well over $1,000 to nearly $2,000. But again you will find prices for design and servie in the $5000 range as well. These firms and freelancers are well versed in thier craft and their portfolios and testominalsn and referasl reflect it.

In Summary

There is no doubt why we see a wide spectrum of price ranges out there. In reality you get what you pay for but not with out good investigation. Please do compare in price, but not price alone. Look at their past work, their past clients and make a well informed decision. Never feel pressured during free consolidation's and make sure you ask as many questions as the designer asks you.

The point is to be able to distinguish good design work from bad design work. So please investigate thoroughly.