What is the going rate for a days work for someone experienced in programming/web design?
I’m not looking at hard core designing/writing new programmes kind of work, just updating and maintaining existing (and fairly basic) web code, and some database upgrade and maintenance. The database is currently in Access but I’m open to suggestions if there is something that is demonstrably better for my needs.
Feel free to chip in if you think you may be able to help with this. It’s just an idea at the moment but without knowing what the potential cost is I can’t move it on from there.
It depends on experience of the webby person and if they are to just follow instructions on functions, or you give them a result and they have to come up with the functions.
I charge a day rate based on the level of the work I’m doing, I can charge up to £1000+ for some of the very complex stuff that you are paying for my experience with. For web alterations, I would ask to see sample of the current code as how quick I can pickup how things have been done affects the timescale of completing a task. Roughly, between £200 and £300 a day. I prefer to quote for a ‘task’ based on an estimation of days, then it gives my clients a buffer of confidence that I know I can complete what they want within a maximum ceiling budget. Sometimes I win, sometimes I lose and have to spend more days, which is why the initial briefing document of what is going to be acheived for the spend is so important.
One of my current projects didn’t do this, and during development have asked for many new things. Three parts to the project, I was to do one of them - I’ve ended up with all three and I’m sticking to the same day rate for all three, even though the other two are a lot simpler on brain effort but will require more lines of code.
Jest aside, and if you can do it mate - yeh, sorta Getting hold of the work can be tough. It sounds lucrative, and keeping up to date on the latest code and the business practises can be a lot of hard work that you aren’t paid for.
When you’re negotiating a fee - assuming there is room for negotiation, and it’s not fixed fee work, y’gotta keep in mind the gap between contracts. The pay sounds a lot, but you don’t always know where it’s it’s coming from next. Not without a lot of hard (and unpaid work).
Thanks for all the comments guys, certainly given me something to think about. £1500 a day is an eye watering amount and off the scale for the kind of work I’m toying about with here. I work with ‘contract gaps’ myself so understand the fact that you’re not just paying for that item of work. It’s the scope of knowledge that costs.
Whatever I decide I’d like to think I was paying the person using the keyboard and not for the blonde to answer the phone or the MD’s new Merc etc.
I’ll consider it some more, although I’ve a feeling I’m looking for something a bit more unorthadox than ‘here’s a job - how much to get it done?’
the computer consultancy market is getting real tough, and with a lot of people putting these types of tender out to auction now, I’m sure guys are doing this work at a loss now. Reputation is everything, and some glowing references
All depends on the task TBH and the skills required can be anything £30 per hour upwards.
As a medium / big business as mentioned it can consist of paying £1000 to £1500 per day per person required on site and really to a large company its peanuts vs the benefits of having the work done.
I know from where I have worked that is standard practice from when we had various companies in to do re-programming work / upgrades & training aspects.
Same levels here in States. We normally charge 1000.00 daily for a level one person. Level 2 gets in around 750.00 daily and Level 3 is around 500.00 daily.
Level 1 = Senior person 7+ Years Level 2 = Middle person 3+ year Level 3 = 1+ Year
The real question is how fast, and often because a level 3 person can work at similar speeds if its the basics. What you pay for is knowledge always. Like the FRAM guy tells us you can pay me now or you can pay me later…Doing things twice because first guy was cheap but got it right 75% right is never good on critical projects that’s for sure!
I should do that ! lol
Getting hold of the work can be tough. It sounds lucrative, and keeping up to date on the latest code and the business practises can be a lot of hard work that you aren’t paid for.