That's kind of irresponsible though - or maybe that's a strong word.
You're offering a business a cheap website just "because you can". You don't understand how to build functionality in, because you can just install a plugin.
That's great for the client until something goes wrong - if you don't understand what you've given them, how can you provide support?
From your point of view you're entering a potential minefield because you're not capable of supporting the work you're selling, essentially leaving the client high and dry.
From the clients point of view, their business website could be down, they won't have an adequate developer to sort it out, and they turn to a developer who CAN sort it out and think they're being ripped off when the developer tries to charge a lot more than they're expecting, thanks to you and your prices devaluing the work. This has the effect of giving freelancers a bad name.
You say yourself you're not interested in setting up a professional studio or something. You're the online equivalent of a guy going around putting plumbing or electricity cables into a house on the cheap with zero responsibility when things go wrong.
For what it's worth, I think you're ignorant of the industry and the people in it. Who do you think develops these "Plugins" that you use for functionality? People like me. Except I don't build plugins for people, I build bespoke functionality which performs actual business tasks, not just something shoehorned to fit.
There is a whole world of difference between installing a calendar on WordPress and say, creating an ordering system for an e-commerce website which then integrates back and forth with Sage.
Your argument about people being able to do it by themselves is completely wrong by the way. A simple Wordpress website, perhaps, but a full booking system? Who, running a hotel for example, is going to spend their time learning how to do it, integrating it with their website to facilitate online bookings?
It's false economics.
They could spend months figuring it out for themselves and end up with something insecure and flawed, or they could hire a freelancer for a month or two, spend about 5 grand and have a top of the line, bespoke solution tailored exactly to their business needs, with someone on-hand who can support it if something crops up.
I dare you to do that for 300 quid.
Just as an aside (edit), I don't have to deal with people wanting websites "cheaper and cheaper". Most clients see value in what they're wanting to create and so after spending time researching, they're happy to pay since they know the work will pay for itself in the long term. Usually people who have established businesses, or those who have made seriously good startup plans and know exactly what they're after.
It doesn't help though, that some people think they can get bespoke functionality super quick and cheap just because some student thinks they can do it for beer money. The amount of people I've dealt with who have been sold up the garden path and ended up not being able to speak to their developer when the shizzle hits the fan is absolutely unreal.
So you've basically wrote this on the assumption I don't know anything. Which is completely wrong, so thanks for that. You say on your site you built your first website in 1997? I built my first website in 2002 I think, so you have 5 years on me? Difference is I was 11. So 9 years ago an 11 year old could build their own website, think what an 11 year can do now!
If required I will code a full site from scratch, but if it's not necessary then I just suggest WordPress, because otherwise I would be ripping them off. For the sites I build under this offer it's mostly brochure/information websites, so it's fine. When a client needs extra functionality there is 9/10 a plugin for it that works fine. Should i say oh no, sorry, you need to pay me £500 for that? If a plugin doesn't exist and I can build a custom plugin for them, and have done.
When things go wrong with a plugin I go to the website behind it, where other people have likely had the same problem and the developer has released a patch. I update the plugin and it's sorted. If theres a problem with your "plugins" you will spend hours fixing it (Keep in mind it's your poor coding that caused the bug), then send the client a fat invoice for the time spent fixing your mistake.
You call me irresponsible for leaving people high and dry, which I don't do, ever - Though i can see your point, other people might do. You sell people things they don't need, how is that responsible?
The nice thing about writing code is that your computer usually has a copy and paste function, so replicating this code is really simple. So when a developer builds that bespoke booking system and sage eCommerce stuff they can just take that code and reuse it, maybe with some alterations for the specific task. Is it fair to charge each client the full cost to develop that software when really you could just replicate and reuse it? No, no it's not.
I pointed out SquareSpace earlier, it's systems like this that are becoming more and more popular. They let you just add these features to your website without having to know anything about them. Is that a problem when it goes wrong? No - Because that feature is run from one central piece of software, you update/fix that and suddenly all of those sites that developed the bug have been fixed. This is a better solution than going round each site you made the mistake on and charging them for the hours spent fixing each installation? Better for the client at least.
I don't want to join a studio because then i'll be working in the same way as you. Which i honestly believe is the wrong way. The job of a web developer didn't exist 20 years ago, whats to say that it will in another 20 years? All the easy stuff can be replicated, so that puts anyone who just sticks to the basics out of a job. But if the easy stuff can be replicated, so can the harder stuff. In the end only the people who REALLY know what they're doing will have the job. Look at web development courses right now, most of the ones around here still teach you to use tables! How do those graduates compete?
I'm 20 years old and I can already do everything you can do and more (I'm assuming, but thats ok because insulting assumptions are ok now). I also still have a year and a half left of my Computing Science degree. Is that not worrying? It should be, because only this semester have i started learning ANYTHING to do with web development, so everything else is self taught.
