What to charge for website maintenance

genetic

genetic

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I recently started doing freelance web design as a hobby and landed a fairly large job for a large company to design and maintain their website. They're talking about frequent updates and changes to their website.

How much should I charge as a maintenance fee? Or rather, what is the going or industry standard rate for maintaining websites? Is it charged per hour, or is it a flat fee?
 
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Well, for a big company (more than 2 employees) the going rate at minimum is around R300-350 per hour. My fee's are on average R150-R175 depending on the size and difficulty of the client. (I'm the only one working in my company :D)
 
Thanks for the replies!
I guess charging by the hour is the best bet. I expect they'll be requiring a lot of additional changes to be made as time goes on.
 
genetic said:
Thanks for the replies!
I guess charging by the hour is the best bet. I expect they'll be requiring a lot of additional changes to be made as time goes on.
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By hour is definately the best bet. What I usually do is I have a 40 hour maintanence contract with my client and they pay me x per month no matter what. It covers 40 hours worth of work. Any hours spent on the project MORE than that they pay for per hour. Out of bundle rate :D

This ensures guaranteed cashflow in a month for me plus I have some wiggle room because not all clients require the full 40 hours. The reason why the initial contract (in bundle? lol) is cheaper is because I'm playing off it that they won't use all of their required hours in a month.

So a 1 man show like me can space out 4-5 clients like that without losing the ability to acquire new clientele and provisioning enough time for it.

then again I work weekends and most week nights till around 12....
 
AcidRaZor said:
By hour is definately the best bet. What I usually do is I have a 40 hour maintanence contract with my client and they pay me x per month no matter what. It covers 40 hours worth of work. Any hours spent on the project MORE than that they pay for per hour. Out of bundle rate :D

This ensures guaranteed cashflow in a month for me plus I have some wiggle room because not all clients require the full 40 hours. The reason why the initial contract (in bundle? lol) is cheaper is because I'm playing off it that they won't use all of their required hours in a month.

So a 1 man show like me can space out 4-5 clients like that without losing the ability to acquire new clientele and provisioning enough time for it.

then again I work weekends and most week nights till around 12....
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Good idea, and as you mention 4-5 clients and still enough time.

I knew a tech support company that went bang because they took on too many clients and promised 24 hours turn around times - when we had those first power failure in Cape Town 3 years ago, his clients all phoned him up for blown PCs (mostly Power supplies). He did not have the time and there where power supplies available that week in the whole Cape Town - ruined his name and last I saw his business closed down.
 
Yea, have a monthly retainer with an SLA. My sla is usually 24-36 hours. Retainers are awesome because some months they wont want any work but you'll still make cash doing nothing. :D
 
monkeeh said:
Yea, have a monthly retainer with an SLA. My sla is usually 24-36 hours. Retainers are awesome because some months they wont want any work but you'll still make cash doing nothing. :D
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+1 on this.

For a small place you can't charge a lot, as there are people willing to do it for less. For a larger, better known place, I'd go for around R350-R500 per hour, obviously depending on exactly what they require.
 
Hi,

This thread is one year old tomorrow :) but by chance I now have the same question: What is the going rate for website work in terms of maintenance i.e. uploading content, fixing bugs and adding new content?

Would you offer different rates for uploading content, fixing bugs, changing existing features and building new features?

And if so, what would be a good rate for those activities?

Thanks in advance.

Nick
 
Website Development Rates

nic777 said:
Hi,

Would you offer different rates for uploading content, fixing bugs, changing existing features and building new features?

Nick
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No it would be an administrative nightmare if you charge different rates for each service offered. Stick with one hourly rate, you can use an average rate. I would suggest between R350 and R500 per hour if you don't have an SLA with the company in question.
 
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nic777 said:
Hi,

This thread is one year old tomorrow :) but by chance I now have the same question: What is the going rate for website work in terms of maintenance i.e. uploading content, fixing bugs and adding new content?

Would you offer different rates for uploading content, fixing bugs, changing existing features and building new features?

And if so, what would be a good rate for those activities?

Thanks in advance.

Nick
Click to expand...

First off: What is your time worth to you? R5 an hour enough to keep you going? Sweet... then charge that.

So now we've established you're a 5 dolla-hooker... the time it takes fixing a bug or uploading content would all be just that... time-based. So if the client requires 50 hours or your time during a month, they pay you R5 x 50. If they require 2, they pay you R10 etc

If they want to put you on a retainer, it's a whole different ballgame, because you could actually be busy the entire month just on their stuff (trust me, maintenance is a time whore) or not keep you busy at all, so my rule of thumb is (max hours per month i can work * 0.85) * rate I charge = retainer cost per month.

Don't try and charge R900 per hour, because they'll laugh at you, cater for what your time is worth, and charge based on that, not industry standard... because you're not trying to compete with Didata here, you're doing this for yourself (or your company or something)
 
What you charge is most definitely, and should be, in comparison with the level of quality and speed that you provide. This can be anything from R150 to R500+ per hour, depending on the size/monetary worth of the client.
 
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