Charging for website updates

[tbow50]

Hi everyone,

I do website design and hosting and after initially setting up sites I often get asked to make small changes/updates. Usually I don't charge for these unless they are going to take a while but they do add up. Therefore I'm trying to come up with the best structure to charge for them. Obviously I could just invoice per update but people get a bit funny when you charge them for 5 minutes work (that's how long most updates take, give or take).

So, I would be interested in hearing how any of you manage this sort of thing, do you have structured update plans etc? How do the customers respond to them?

Any thoughts and ideas greatly received.

Cheers,

Tom

 

[dougiehunt]

Hi everyone,

I do website design and hosting and after initially setting up sites I often get asked to make small changes/updates. Usually I don't charge for these unless they are going to take a while but they do add up. Therefore I'm trying to come up with the best structure to charge for them. Obviously I could just invoice per update but people get a bit funny when you charge them for 5 minutes work (that's how long most updates take, give or take).

So, I would be interested in hearing how any of you manage this sort of thing, do you have structured update plans etc? How do the customers respond to them?

Any thoughts and ideas greatly received.

Cheers,

Tom

I found this to be a tough issue to deal with.

When my business focussed specifically on web design we used to give the first 5 hours free per year (included in their retainer).

However, now we provide monthly packages we provide all changes free of charge.

I know some companies give a certain number of hours included in their retainer. This is a good method. Then you just charge your usual rate after that. Be upfront with the client by stating how many hours it will take and stick to it.

Good luck and I hope you find a solution that works for you.

 

[Silk Media]

New websites get free changes for 30 days after launch, then it's an hourly rate with an itemised invoice & work report at the end of every month.

This seems to work best for most of our clients, and for us, as we don't have to send out invoices for half an hour here or there.

 

[amac]

I would recommend taking the consultant's approach - charge for your time.

 

[makeusvisible]

It is a very tough one to deal with. Most people will understand that your time is precious, and you cannot do things free of charge.

If the change is just a few minutes, such as changing a telephone number...we would not generally charge anything. If the work is more extensive, you have to be fair and charge for your time. Anyone who isn't willing to pay a fair price for your time is probably not worth retaining as a customer.

 

[maxh]

Subscription.

£50/mo get's them X number of tweeks etc..

£150/mo get's them tweeks + unlimited email support and one big-ish job per month (think installing a module, or a new simple banner image)

£500/mo on-going support, improvements + unlimited email support (add something else)

After that charge for your time.

Or they can get the 50quid one then top-up per hour they use you. Bill hourly not daily.

£15 an hour is a good price.

£30 an hour and you better be great.

£50 an hour and you better add insane amounts of value every time you write CSS!

 

[360interactive]

Even if it just takes you 5 mins, have minimum charges of say, an hours work. I keep to this rule as nothing ever just takes 5 mins. It's also the fact that you've had to break your workflow to fit the changes in, it's lost productivity.

The busier you get the more updates will be requested, unless they're on a retainer make them pay!

 

[Nuno]

A lot of professions charge by the quarter hour, most but not all with a minimum of an hour.
I find that using the minimum charge of an hour deters the taking-the-pissers, and charging other, nice user friendly clients, in 15 minute slots with only a 15 minute minimum helps customer relations and referrals.
Make both sets of clients realize that they are not buying themselves to the top of the queue.

 

[Mainland]

Our web designers meter runs every time we speak to him. Needless to say he won't be keeping our business for much longer. I agree that time should be paid for but sometimes designers take the mick. A major consideration when building a bespoke website should be how much reliance you will have on the developer after the site goes live. We are opting for a more open source platform now for that exact reason.

 

[Alan]

£15 an hour is a good price.

lol which country do you live in?

I don't know a single trade or semi skilled activity in the South East that works work £15 hour on an adhoc hourly rate. If you are doing adhoc work you can't expect more than 50% utilisation, take of employers NI and you are at an equivalent salary of £11,000 p.a. less than you can expect as a sales assistant in a shop in Leeds.

 

[paraleadogg]

Interesting discussion this is I am quite interested in how people pay for work on their websites. Apparently there aren't many options out there.

It seems you either pay a set hourly rate (which can be very expensive) or are locked into some kind of monthly contract.

All well and good if you have the finances but many small businesses need to watch the purse strings.

So what is the alternative?

Anyone have any other ideas on how you would like to go about things? A set fee? Pay as you go? Add ons? Pay by minute?

Any thoughts?

 

[tbow50]

I think it's a good point about the disruption in work flow, so the 5 minutes to do the change can easily mean a 15 minute job. Like others have said I don't want to put customers off by billing them for every second spent, turning the tables it would put me off.

I like the idea of charging in 15 minute chunks with a minimum of an hour, and then maybe creating some monthly packages or credit type packages to offer a bit of a better deal.

Interesting discussion, thanks for all the responses so far.

Tom

 

[makeusvisible]

I think it's a good point about the disruption in work flow, so the 5 minutes to do the change can easily mean a 15 minute job. Like others have said I don't want to put customers off by billing them for every second spent, turning the tables it would put me off.

I like the idea of charging in 15 minute chunks with a minimum of an hour, and then maybe creating some monthly packages or credit type packages to offer a bit of a better deal.

Interesting discussion, thanks for all the responses so far.

Tom

The other thing to remember about 5 minute jobs, is that they very often turn out to be 2,3 or 4 hour jobs! You can make a change for a client sometimes, and once they see how it looks in reality they change their mind. Thats not to say people shouldn't change their mind once they see things on a live-site, but you just need to be conscious it is your time.

 

[adamo]

I'm not a professional web designer myself, but as a customer I'd be rather annoyed if I was charged for an hour when the work only takes 5 minutes.

15 minute increments seems fair for both the web designer and client, although if it's just a quick change (such as telephone number as mentioned earlier), I'd say just do it for free..

 

[profscooter]

Yes, I do quick changes like phone numbers, prices, dates etc. free of charge, and then in quarter hour chunks, all itemised, but I might keep small bills on the slate for a month or two if i can see the customer has a hosting or domain bill coming up, and add it to that, rather than keep hitting them with invoices.