When To Pay
50% Upfront, At Proposal Signing
Every website project starts with a proposal. The proposal outlines everything included in the project (the scope), the timeline, and the total investment cost of the project. You'll know exactly how much the project will cost at the beginning of the project. 50% of this will be due once you sign the proposal.
30% At Design & Development
We begin work on the project by designing the main look and feel of the website - usually this is the design of the home page - along with any critical functionality needed for the site. Once this is complete and approved by the client, 30% is due before moving to the next stage.
20% Before Website Launch
Approval happens in stages along the way. Once the final version of the website has been approved, and we are ready to launch the website, the final 20% is due. This is also the point where you'll sign up for a care-plan if you elect to use one.
Wondering How Much You'll Pay?
In short, we can't say without more information. We need particulars on your project in order to create a proposal. Every project begins with a proposal that outlines the exact cost of the website, a timeline, and an outline of everything that will be included in the website - things like website structure, number of pages, and if any special features are needed like e-commerce, extra search engine optimization or, maybe booking capability.
In order to provide a proposal (which is free by the way), we usually start with a phone call where we can ask questions to fully understand your business and what you'll be needing for your website. Having this understanding lets us recommend the best features and structure that fits your business needs. If you're ready, just give us some information to get started.
Why We Don't Do Hourly Rates
We prefer proposals/quotes over hourly rates. We create a proposal before every project which outlines a fixed cost for everything outlined in that proposal. This ensures that you know exactly how much the project will cost before making the decision to make it happen. It also incentivizes us to provide exactly what you want the first time.
On the other hand, hourly rates are in our opinion a horrible way to do business in the web design industry. We consider these points as reason enough to never accept hourly work:
- Hourly rates incentivize time wasting and many revisions. Clients often times don't quite understand what they want or need in a website. Our experience often allows us to suggest and implement exactly what they want the first time! If we were charging hourly, getting things done quickly wouldn't make sense from a financial perspective.
- Inexperience is more expensive than expertise. Our experience and expertise often allow us to accomplish tasks very efficiently, regularly predicting the client's needs. These same tasks may take 10 times as long for an inexperienced person. It doesn't make sense that a client should pay 10 times as much for someone who doesn't know what they are doing.
- Hourly rates incentivize dishonesty. We at Tolle Web Design hold personal integrity with the highest importance in business, giving it spiritual significance. However, the very nature of hourly rates incentivizes lying and procrastination - which ultimately only hurts the client.
- Hourly projects often go "over budget". Providers will often "estimate" how many hours a project will take. Providers who overestimate the number of hours risk out-pricing their customer's available budget. The result is that the prediction is often too low, and the client ends up paying more than they expected and budgeted for - sometimes much, much more.
Providing pricing up-front eliminates all these problems. Up-front pricing incentivizes a quick and timely delivery of exactly what the customer wants, and reduces wasted time and resources. You won't end up paying more if we take longer to do something than we expect. Up-front pricing creates an environment of honesty and places the risk of going "over budget" from a time and resources perspective on the provider, not the client.