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How much to bid on website design?

I am a hobby PHP/HTML/SQL website developer. I got a phone call, a major real estate company wants me to design and maintain a web site for them, but i’m unsure what to charge or bid for the service since i’ve only built major systems for charity. Its going to be database driven, and list homes with description and picture, it will also need an administration area…i assume they’ll want me to upload the photos and keep it up to date. I can host it myself, i know thats cheap…i guess the bid will be on design and maintainence. The person who got me the job says that money is no object, its for a gold/ski resort company selling cabins, etc. What/How should I charge on this job and still make sure i get the business. My contact tells me no other’s are bidding on this project at this time.

Unfortunately, I can’t give you a number, but I can give you advice on how to find your numbers.

I say numbers, because you will need two, perhaps three.

The first number is for the design, development AND hosting of the site. Just because you will be hosting it yourself doesn’t mean you can’t charge $19.95/ month.

Another thing, don’t sell yourself short. If you are good at what you do, don’t be afraid to charge for it. Use a calculation like this:

(Estimated Time to Dev + 30%) * Hourly rate for a person of your skill level. (I develop .Net, so my rates may be different, but I, as an expert would start out at $120 / hour).

If you are intermediate, maybe $60.

The second number is an hourly charge for maintaining the site (same hourly rate, but per hour, not an estimate.) The minimum charge though, no matter how small the change should be 1 hour, that will encourage them to group changes together and not call you 10 times a day. (That would be 10 hours billed for 10 calls, actual time billed with a minimum of 1 hour for 1 call).

I would stick with those two numbers to start with, that should get you pretty close to what you want to charge. If the number seems shocking to you, just remember, your time is worth it. If you go low your motivation to continue the project will wane and the quality will suffer.

The other thing is, with your estimates, project that over a time frame. If it would take you 40 hours to finish, but you could only put in 10 hours a week, schedule payment accourdingly.

If it takes three months, get paid in thirds, etc. You want to give them a couple payment frequency options, but all of them have a percentage of the money up-front, in the middle and at the end.