Web Design Packages (UK)

“So what exactly does a website cost?”.

Depends what’s under the bonnet mate?

Building a website is like fixing a car. Until you get into the detailed workings and specifics of the thing you are never quite sure how long the job will take. The customer doesn’t understand what a web developer does – pretty much the same as a mechanic. When you asked the mechanic to fix your car’s clutch you (or he) couldn’t be precise as to how long it would take … so you get an estimate (and a sharp intake of breath… “it’s gonna cost ya mate!”).

Web designers are in the same predicament. It’s the hardest part of the project…

Price is important but VALUE IS MORE IMPORTANT. Of course both parties (customer and designer) are interested in the price of building a website. The customer wants it as cheap as possible and the designer wants at least the going rate of his/her per hour/day’s work. That’s fair.

In reality, even though we may give an estimate of the website cost, it REALLY does DEPEND on what the customer wants and changes during the website build…
More often than not the final result usually costs more. WHY ???? – In our experience the customer rarely knows exactly what they want, they have a vague idea, refuse to or cannot write a detailed specification AND when they see the site in development NEW IDEAS and requirements seem to ‘appear’. And a good designer will also spot ‘issues’ and solutions that the customer will get value from.

It’s very difficult to price a website based on expected hours of work. It just is NEVER that scientific. The designer has no way of knowing in advance how many times the client will want to change something before sign-off. Some of those changes add hours to a project.

Change of Mind Costs

Of course the odd tweak or small change is no problem but often the customer wants to change/add whole new pages, new graphics, Flash, a more detailed contact form, etc.

Of course these changes may add greatly to the work time of the web designer/developer and productive hours are usually what he/she gets paid by. If we are giving our time away then we don’t get paid.

What about Fixed Priced Web Packages?

Fixed priced jobs rarely work as they restrict what the customer can have, the brief is open to too much interpretation and the skilled web designer / developer is reluctant to give value / advice if the budget is limited. Thereby the customer is loosing out on valuable experience and ideas that could quite easily make the difference between the success and failure of their site.

Match The Website to Your Business Goals

In our experience businesses think cost, think brand and think ‘cool’ when wanting a website. It’s wiser to think problem/goal and how can the website help the business/our customers to solve/reach that goal. The design can come later. Let the web designer help you get more from your website instead of putting the 30th Million brochure on-line. Get results, get return on investment.

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