How should I ask for fee charge of developing one ASP.NET website?

Question

I have a customer who wants me to develop him a website which is related to health. The website will provide only the information about health only. The main structure of the site will be similar to MSDN library which user can search the menu on the left side and break into subcategory which can be update in the database, and at the right site will be provide the information of the each category that has been selected. So, for me as a developer of asp.net, I will choose asp.net to develop the site but I have some doubt which I'm really concerned about.

I would like to know that:

How should I ask my customer for the charging fee?

How should I tell him about the why is this price reasonable?

Please give me some recommendation.

One more thing is I used to have experience of asking one my last client about this charging fee by hour, I have told them I worked for this 35 hours already, and I told him one hour is $5. Then they asked me that, how can I know if you come and tell me that you work 100 hours, so I have nothing to tell him. Because my problem is I'm working in my room because I'm a still a student and work a part time job as a developer with my school IT department, that's why I don't know how to prove to them. So, Should I really used the method of charging by hour, again for the new customer, or any other advices. Thanks you so much for involving.

Answer 1

There is nowhere near the amount of information necessary here to help you work out your pricing for projects.

The best advice I could give you is to work out what you consider a fair hourly rate for you to do some work, add enough to cover your expenses and then bill for the duration of the project in hours.

This is dependant on your ability to accurately judge timescales - if you are unsure, it probably means you should triple your best guess :)

EDIT: oh - and don't forget about the tax-man!

Answer 2

When you ask someone to do some work for you, how do you expect them to respond? Don't be shy. Ask for what you should get, and don't explain why it's reasonable, because that will just make you sound weak and inexperienced. It's the rate and that's it. If they want to haggle over price, then say, "sorry, but that's my rate." Now it's up to you to decide what you are worth.

If you value yourself too low, they will think you are no good and will pay someone else more money to do the same job, because they get the impression that cheap == bad.

Answer 3

stackoverflow.com: What are the main pitfalls you’ve faced when negotiating contracts for commissioned software?

You probably need to think about broader issues than just how much to charge.

Answer 4

Simply put: How much is your time worth? Is it work $10 and hour or $150?

Answer 5

Unless you fall into one of the following:

• You make html web pages (charged by the page) that are really just text on pre-built templates
• Your program is created by inputting a set of parameters (or you are providing a service that really just involves running a program)
• You are charging a flat fee greater then an average persons annual income for a 4 month or less job

You should charge by the hour, period.

Anything else and you'll end up with a client who constantly adds/changes the specifications, and then expects the result to be produced under the originally agreed to price. Even if you establish the "specifications" in advance, they will just reinterpret them far more broadly then originally understood.