View Full Version : Site Maintenance costs & retainers
creospace
3rd March 2006, 14:04
All these co web designers on here I wondered do you charge maintenance fees on a monthly basis or a retainer for regular clients to pay?
How do you treat clients who regularly use your services for whatever reason, I don't mean lots of sites but upkeep etc, little titivations here and there etc?
And what constitutes a small change if you offer 'free small changes'?
Do you have a minimum charge?
Also with hosting do you take blame if a host is poorly performing or say it's down to the client to speak to the host with regard to their hosting account?
Gary
BlackBerryUK
3rd March 2006, 14:12
we tend to charge by the hour when it comes to maintenance stuff...
creacom
3rd March 2006, 15:34
To be honest it all depends on the client and the amount of chages and updates they preview ( if possible ) to do.
When we send out a quote initially we include a few annual updates.
There we have just finished a site for a printer who will need to update his special offers every month but he prefers to pay for this on a monthly basis.
We dont charge for the smaller jobs like adding links and that sort of thing. Then again sometimes as a freebie i throw in some updates and this is appreciated by the client.
With regards to the host, again it can be played in two ways. If you help the client choose and include the price for this in the initial invoice then of course there is a level of responsibility to take. But its really important to get on writing at some point that this is a 3rd party who is doing this and there is a risk. And thats another reason to not take the cheapest hosting possible and go with someone that is reliable.
Jacqui
:D
creospace
3rd March 2006, 16:25
Does anyone charge a monthly fee in exchange for gauranteed service levels?
Gary
creospace
3rd March 2006, 20:26
This is odd, this forum is crawling with fellow designers and no one really can add anything to this thread?
Gary :shock:
Jayne
3rd March 2006, 20:30
This is odd, this forum is crawling with fellow designers and no one really can add anything to this thread?
Gary :shock:
They don't want you to pinch there secrets :lol:
Why not do a poll or survey on it?
Jayne
creacom
3rd March 2006, 21:51
Does anyone charge a monthly fee in exchange for gauranteed service levels?
Gary
A monthly fee for that the website works correctly or for updates ?
Jacqui :D
creospace
4th March 2006, 08:28
gauranteed service levels?
Well if you are busy an existing client might have to wait say a couple of weeks to get there changes done.
creospace
4th March 2006, 08:31
They don't want you to pinch there secrets Laughing
Why not do a poll or survey on it?
Jayne
Yeha funny isn't it , nobody likes talking about money :)
I'm interested as i'm not sure i'm charging enough, and wanted a feel for the market rate for changes and charges or service standards etc.
Gary
DuaneJackson
4th March 2006, 08:40
Most of the stuff we do involves an admin panel for updates.
We charge an additional 20% if they don't host with us (although this is sold as a 20% discount if they do(. I much prefer to work on my own server when intelligent 404s, etc are needed.
We accept no liabilty for performance issues if hosted elsehwere - totally up to the client to deal with the host.
We fix any problems that arise within 3 months of the completion date. Anything else is supposedly charged for, but if it's minor then we usually do it free.
HTH!