Please help, any advice is appreciated.

I design websites for small businesses in the town I live in. I haven't had any complaints, and everybody's liked my designs, so I don't know how to handle this situation.

I began a large project, with a law firm in town. It was a total revamp of a Joomla template, to make it feel less-template-ish. The initial design took awhile to build, and it doesn't stand out for them, so they are currently looking for other solutions, and want to put this project on hold. Along with this, they want to know what my current bill is, to pay me.

My estimate was $1100 for the entire project, thinking it would take about 20-30 hours. I've spent about 10 hours on it, which at $30/hour is $300. I feel guilty charging that much, for a website that is completely useless to them. Or, should i go ahead and charge that? Any opinions? What do you think?

Never feel guilty about charging for your time. Your time is just as valuable (probably more since your service MAKES them money) so never balk when charging a customer for a design job. If you undercut yourself then it makes you look bad. What's the worst that can happen? They try to negotiate and talk you down to $800? You're still $500 ahead.

I'm sure they wouldn't lose any sleep if they charged you $5k for something that only took them an hour to do. Look at attorneys for great example of this. They file one piece of paperwork and charge $500. You know they have it in a Word Document and just do a massive find and replace. 15 minutes max and they charge $500. They offer a service, you offer a service.

Have confidence in your design and service and look them dead in the eyes when you hand them the invoice for $1100.

By the way, no well respected web developer, especially someone familiar with CSS and PHP which you needed to know to customize a Joomla site charges only $30 per hour. I charge at least $50 an hour and that doesn't include any Flash or intense programming.

I hope this helps.

Also, it's not your fault they decided to stall the project. You deserve what was originally negotiated. When they decide to move forward then they can contact you to fulfill your agreement. Until then, get your money.

One of my pet peeves are companies that try to undercut us web developers like we're some talentless lawn care providers (no offense to lawn care providers). Like we can magically make these websites appear without any knowledge or skills and it all happens in mere minutes.

Originally Posted by LanceUppercut

Never feel guilty about charging for your time. Your time is just as valuable (probably more since your service MAKES them money) so never balk when charging a customer for a design job. If you undercut yourself then it makes you look bad. What's the worst that can happen? They try to negotiate and talk you down to $800? You're still $500 ahead.

I'm sure they wouldn't lose any sleep if they charged you $5k for something that only took them an hour to do. Look at attorneys for great example of this. They file one piece of paperwork and charge $500. You know they have it in a Word Document and just do a massive find and replace. 15 minutes max and they charge $500. They offer a service, you offer a service.

Have confidence in your design and service and look them dead in the eyes when you hand them the invoice for $1100.

By the way, no well respected web developer, especially someone familiar with CSS and PHP which you needed to know to customize a Joomla site charges only $30 per hour. I charge at least $50 an hour and that doesn't include any Flash or intense programming.

I hope this helps.

Great, thanks for the input.

Yes, I did Flash, and some basic PHP and advanced CSS too.

Thanks for the help.

I agree with Rob. Don't feel guilty. Your time is valuable. In the future always ask for a non refundable deposit. And in this case $300 would have been a reasonable deposit to charge.

I agree too about your rates. Rates do depend on your experience, but you can probably get $50 as a minimum. You can probably get close to $100 if you really wanted. I've known people who couldn't design or develop a thing charging and getting more.

Don't undersell yourself. The sooner you see how much value you have to offer the sooner everyone else will see it too.

I don't do web design for a career.

I do not know of any professional or even semi-professional that charges less than $30 an hour for anything.

Best wishes.

I agree with everyone else; your time is worth money, too, as are your skills. You're actually lucky they're at least willing to pay you for your time. I wouldn't feel bad taking it. 300 sounds pretty fair, IMHO.

Don't feel bad; Charge anywhere from $150 - $300, you used your time working on it, and did your best, most people would not pay but if they have done unlimited revisions with you and are still unsatisfied, refer them to some better or similar companies that may be able to help them, since you are already in the market area.

I am not a web developer by profession but I agree totaly with what everyone else has said - take the money.
In order to protect yorself for the future, if it is a large project you should charge at staged intervals (I am gussing at the moment you charge on completion) charge a small none refundable deposit, in order to secure their commitment to any projects (you are going to commit to it, so should the client).
If they will not commit any money, how can they expect you to commit your time, although I appreciate you are part of a small community, most professionals and business owners on the whole will work to the same principles so you should not have many objections if you put it tactfully. It may hekp if you put together a generic terms of business letter (TOB) and a set pricing schedule, outlining what you do, when a fee is payable and what specialist skills you bring to the table etc, etc,

After they have your TOB you can then quote for the work involved as outlined in your TOB (that way it wont look like your inventing prices) and you will be putting accross a more professional image. Even if it is a small town, you will be able to forecast income much better this way.

You should also decide what your time is worth, if you dont do the work how much is it going to cost clients to get the work done elsewhere? Never undersel yourself, I have seen deals lost because they went in to cheap. Have you heard the saying that you get what you pay for, this is very true. If your good and you know your good then, within reason, your pricing policy should reflect that (with that said, we all have clients we go the extra mile for, and I'm not a web developer).

Just some thoughts, hope they help.

Sometimes the client>developer relationship doesn't work. Don't blame it on yourself, they've given you a try but it didn't work out, that's all and life is like that sometimes.

You're lucky as they seem genuine and want to pay you for your time, some clients try to duck out of it. Send them your bill with a nice letter saying "thanks for the business, sorry it didn't work out this time" - you never know they make come back to your one day!

I want to echo what blue-dreamer said. Sometimes the relationship doesn't work and it's no ones fault. Two people with two different visions or two people who have different styles of working.

And I agree this client seems genuine. Many would be trying to get away with out paying and a few might not pay and still use your designs.

It's a lawyer. Look at it this way...they've got the money, and if they don't spend it on you, they'll spend it on something useless...like additional research in order to sue someone. That, and $300 to them is about $5 to the rest of us.

You also did some work, and they didn't give you the chance to modify it or fix it to their liking...you're entitled to be compensated. But that's pretty well what everyone else said.

Just my two thoughts-
1. They are Lawyers, and have no problem charging $200-$300 an hour.
2. Don't try to overcharge them, they are Lawyers and sue people for a living.

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

It's a lawyer. Look at it this way...they've got the money, and if they don't spend it on you, they'll spend it on something useless...like additional research in order to sue someone. That, and $300 to them is about $5 to the rest of us.

You also did some work, and they didn't give you the chance to modify it or fix it to their liking...you're entitled to be compensated. But that's pretty well what everyone else said.

I agree with Adam. Every design I have ever done has involved some feedback from the client and an opportunity to modify it to their liking. If you put in the time and can show that you've done work for them, then take what you've agreed upon. If they really don't want to use it, you've still saved them the expense of the additional $800 they would have paid.

Originally Posted by keith204

I've spent about 10 hours on it, which at $30/hour is $300. I feel guilty charging that much, for a website that is completely useless to them. Or, should i go ahead and charge that? Any opinions? What do you think?

Don't feel guilty, you are working cheap.
Personally, I don't take freelance work for less than $150/hour.

A general rule of thumb for contract work is to charge at least double what you'd be making as a wage slave.

Originally Posted by willcode4beer

Don't feel guilty, you are working cheap.
Personally, I don't take freelance work for less than $150/hour.

A general rule of thumb for contract work is to charge at least double what you'd be making as a wage slave.

That's some expensive beer.

I would still request $300+, unless the site was crap. That's for you to determine of course.

Charge 1 trillion dollars...