Average turnaround time?

[SmartChic]

Hi everyone... I am starting a virtual assistant business and wanted to offer web design services. I'm really confused on how to charge for the web service. Like do you charge a flat rate or per hour? and what is the normal turnaround time? Do the client tell you when they need it and you make that deadline?? I'm confused....

I didn't want to charge too much and them make them wait forever for the site....on the same token, I didn't want to cut myself short and work for pennies.

I need a little enlightment please . TIA

[MikeF0421]

You can do either a flat-rate or per hour. I don't think it matters too much.

I do a flat rate, but I don't talk about prices up front. I have a pretty lengthy discussion with the client about their business or organization. From there, I give them an overview of the design and services I recommend. At that point I quote a price.

I think people like knowing exactly what they are going to have to spend. There are tons of people that do the hourly rate with great success too, so I don't think it will hurt you either way.

As far as turn-around time... It depends on the size of the project and the amount of work that is already in the pipeline. Most of the time, we tell our clients it will take six weeks, but we have always delivered within 3-4 weeks. If it is something they need a really quick turn around time for, then that goes into the price. We can have a site up in 3-4 days, but it is going to cost them a lot more.

[SmartChic]

Got'cha... thank you sooooo much, this has help me make my decision!

[mybrokengnome]

I do the hourly rate, and have had more success with it than I did with flat rates. My problem with flat rates is, even though the client may tell you what they want up front and you quote them a price based on that, the reality is the client is only telling you what they think they want. You should always look at it from the perspective of the client has no clue what they are talking about thats why they are coming to you. There's a lengthy thread on this forum about this from a month or two ago, you should find it and read it, it would give some great insight. If you do what they tell you to, chances are they won't like it, and you will either end up doing the extra work for free because you're still charging them what you already quoted, or you'll have to charge them more and risk them getting upset by it. I charge hourly and give them an estimate of how many hours I think it will take to do exactly what they told me they wanted. This works out a lot better, in some cases I end up making more money because they keep changing things around, but because it's an hourly rate they know its going to cost them. On the other hand, something might be quicker than I had imagined and I make less, they pay less, but because of this they are more likely to be return customers. I pride myself on being very fast at what I do, and that makes a lot of customers happy.

As for turn around time, like I mentioned above, I'm very quick. It's rare that a site takes more than a week or two. But I give them the option of telling me when they want it done, if they say "oh it doesn't have to be done for 3 weeks" then that's great, it won't be. If they say "we want it done yesterday" I'm going to tell them it's going to take at least 5 days to do.

My opinion on the subject tends to differ than most people on this board though, and I think it's because I'm geared more towards the programming side of things (though I do a lot of design as well), which affects my outlook on the whole subject.

[harry12]

Thanks to share the valuable information.