Need advice in maintainence rate

In a hick-town that is 7 years behind the rest of the world, I charge by
page for maintenance. Set price for new pages, set price for updated pages.
Easy enough.

--

Virginia
"Forgiveness is easier to obtain than permission."

<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.thedesignuniverse.com" target="_blank">www.thedesignuniverse.com</a>

"solitude" <solitude509.RemoveThis@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:15a1735a.0308030022.3bb75f20@posting.google.com...
 > Howdy!
 >
 > I'm pretty new to this field and my ever first potential assignment is
 > maintainence work to a website.
 >
 > How do you experienced guys go about charging for site maintainence?
 >
 > The company isn't sure of the scale of the maintainence work and how
 > do I go about charging it? Rate isn't my main concern( a newbie
 > looking for opportunities to build up portfolio)but i want to sound
 > right in my quotation.
 >
 > I can't possibly give them a flat $XX/month regardless of the volumns
 > of updates/maintainence? What about months that requires only a page
 > update?
 >
 > or is better to go for a per page approach? What if only a paragraph
 > is needed to be updated instead of the entire page's content? Do I
 > charge him similarly?
 >
 > So is advisable to go By pages? By bytesize? By frequency? or
 > .......etc??
 >
 > A newbie here, Please advice, millions thanks!!<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need advice in maintainence rate 

On 3 Aug 2003 01:22:02 -0700 solitude509.TakeThisOut@hotmail.com (solitude) broke
off from drinking a cup of tea at <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://groups.google.com/" target="_blank">http://groups.google.com/</a> to write:

 >I can't possibly give them a flat $XX/month regardless of the volumns
 >of updates/maintainence? What about months that requires only a page
 >update?
 >
 >or is better to go for a per page approach? What if only a paragraph
 >is needed to be updated instead of the entire page's content? Do I
 >charge him similarly?
 >
 >So is advisable to go By pages? By bytesize? By frequency? or
 >.......etc??
 >

I don't do web page support, but I did software for many years, it is
perhaps similar.

We always charged a fixed, paid in advance, "insurance" sum, which
covered a one year period (or six months) and up to a specified number
of man hours of work. Additional man hours being chargeable at a far
higher rate (usual rate), and the customer being fully aware of this.

You could do the same.

Matt

--
A massive matrix of concise, interlinked encyclopaedia information.
For when you just want to know, quickly and easily.
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com" target="_blank">http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need advice in maintainence rate 

On 3 Aug 2003 01:22:02 -0700 solitude509.TakeThisOut@hotmail.com (solitude) broke
off from drinking a cup of tea at <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://groups.google.com/" target="_blank">http://groups.google.com/</a> to write:

 >I can't possibly give them a flat $XX/month regardless of the volumns
 >of updates/maintainence? What about months that requires only a page
 >update?
 >
 >or is better to go for a per page approach? What if only a paragraph
 >is needed to be updated instead of the entire page's content? Do I
 >charge him similarly?
 >
 >So is advisable to go By pages? By bytesize? By frequency? or
 >.......etc??
 >

I don't do web page support, but I did software for many years, it is
perhaps similar.

We always charged a fixed, paid in advance, "insurance" sum, which
covered a one year period (or six months) and up to a specified number
of man hours of work. Additional man hours being chargeable at a far
higher rate (usual rate), and the customer being fully aware of this.

You could do the same.

Matt

--
A massive matrix of concise, interlinked encyclopaedia information.
For when you just want to know, quickly and easily.
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com" target="_blank">http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need advice in maintainence rate 

"Virginia" <vodine RemoveThis @direct.ca> wrote in message
news:viqkhcllts7815@corp.supernews.com...

 > In a hick-town that is 7 years behind the rest of the world, I charge by
 > page

Or length of dribble.
--
Charles Sweeney
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.CharlesSweeney.com" target="_blank">www.CharlesSweeney.com</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need advice in maintainence rate 

"McWebber" <mcwebber DeleteThis @my-deja.com> wrote in message news:

 > Usually by the hour.

As I'm really new to this, I hope you can explain further.. thanks for
your patience.

How do I prove to the client this and that requires XX hours and this
and that exceeds the XX hours? Are there ways to prove this and
recommended approach to clients to convince them the need of a hourly
charge?


 > Minimum charge, a portion of your hourly rate.

You mean I can still charge the client even there is no activity that
month?

Thanks<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need advice in maintainence rate 

www DeleteThis @probertencyclopaedia.com (Matt Probert) wrote in message news:<3f2d3ed3.3006390 DeleteThis @news.ntlworld.com>...
 > On 3 Aug 2003 01:22:02 -0700 solitude509 DeleteThis @hotmail.com (solitude) broke
 > off from drinking a cup of tea at <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://groups.google.com/" target="_blank">http://groups.google.com/</a> to write:
 >
  > >I can't possibly give them a flat $XX/month regardless of the volumns
  > >of updates/maintainence? What about months that requires only a page
  > >update?
  > >
  > >or is better to go for a per page approach? What if only a paragraph
  > >is needed to be updated instead of the entire page's content? Do I
  > >charge him similarly?
  > >
  > >So is advisable to go By pages? By bytesize? By frequency? or
  > >.......etc??
  > >
 >
 > I don't do web page support, but I did software for many years, it is
 > perhaps similar.
 >
 > We always charged a fixed, paid in advance, "insurance" sum, which
 > covered a one year period (or six months) and up to a specified number
 > of man hours of work. Additional man hours being chargeable at a far
 > higher rate (usual rate), and the customer being fully aware of this.
 >
 > You could do the same.
 >
 > Matt


Hi Matt,
Thanks for the reply. As I'm really new to this, hope you can explain
slightly further on this..

How is the customer being convinced the number of hours needed and
worked on if the customer has no knowledge in this area( web
development in my case)? As I'm a freelancer, I think most probably
I'll be working from home over the weekends, how do I convinced the
client I actually spent min XX no. of hours and this do require XX no.
of hours?

Thansk<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need advice in maintainence rate 

solitude509 RemoveThis @hotmail.com (solitude) wrote in message:
 > I can't possibly give them a flat $XX/month regardless of the volumns
 > of updates/maintainence? What about months that requires only a page
 > update?

It's ok to do 1/4 or 1/2 hour increments. Just quote them the hourly charge
and let em know what the increments are. I wouldn't do 1/4 hour increments
unless the hourly charge is at least $65/hr.

If you did the 1/2 hour minimum, they'll be more inclined to submit all of
their changes to you at once

--
Zach Weber
Icelab Networks
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://icelab.net/" target="_blank">http://icelab.net/</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need advice in maintainence rate 

On 3 Aug 2003 01:22:02 -0700 solitude509.RemoveThis@hotmail.com (solitude) broke
off from drinking a cup of tea at <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://groups.google.com/" target="_blank">http://groups.google.com/</a> to write:

 >I can't possibly give them a flat $XX/month regardless of the volumns
 >of updates/maintainence? What about months that requires only a page
 >update?
 >
 >or is better to go for a per page approach? What if only a paragraph
 >is needed to be updated instead of the entire page's content? Do I
 >charge him similarly?
 >
 >So is advisable to go By pages? By bytesize? By frequency? or
 >.......etc??
 >

I don't do web page support, but I did software for many years, it is
perhaps similar.

We always charged a fixed, paid in advance, "insurance" sum, which
covered a one year period (or six months) and up to a specified number
of man hours of work. Additional man hours being chargeable at a far
higher rate (usual rate), and the customer being fully aware of this.

You could do the same.

Matt

--
A massive matrix of concise, interlinked encyclopaedia information.
For when you just want to know, quickly and easily.
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com" target="_blank">http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need advice in maintainence rate 

"solitude" <solitude509 DeleteThis @hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:15a1735a.0308040150.65618161@posting.google.com...
 > "McWebber" <mcwebber DeleteThis @my-deja.com> wrote in message news:
 >
  > > Usually by the hour.
 >
 > As I'm really new to this, I hope you can explain further.. thanks for
 > your patience.
 >
 > How do I prove to the client this and that requires XX hours and this
 > and that exceeds the XX hours?

You don't have to anymore than a lawyer researching a case for a client has
to *prove* anything. If you have an idea how long something is going to take
you can quote based on that.

 > Are there ways to prove this and
 > recommended approach to clients to convince them the need of a hourly
 > charge?

No way to prove it unless they're watching you work.

 >
 >
  > > Minimum charge, a portion of your hourly rate.
 >
 > You mean I can still charge the client even there is no activity that
 > month?

Depends on your agreement with them. I was referring to doing work that may
only take a couple of minutes of your time. You need to have a minimum
charge.

--
McWebber
No email replies read
If someone tells you to forward an email to all your friends
please forget that I'm your friend.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need advice in maintainence rate 

In article <15a1735a.0308030022.3bb75f20.RemoveThis@posting.google.com>,
solitude509.RemoveThis@hotmail.com says...
 > Howdy!
 >
 > I'm pretty new to this field and my ever first potential assignment is
 > maintainence work to a website.
 >
 > How do you experienced guys go about charging for site maintainence?
 >
 > The company isn't sure of the scale of the maintainence work and how
 > do I go about charging it? Rate isn't my main concern( a newbie
 > looking for opportunities to build up portfolio)but i want to sound
 > right in my quotation.
 >

I have 3 customers like this. I charge $200/month for the first 3 hours,
regardless of whether they are used or not. Additional hours are billed
at $60/hr. In return, If there are unused hours in a given month, I
allow them to "rollover" into the next month, but no further. I do
everything from creating email accts, walking employees through email
setup, updating product pages, sending out newsletters, etc.

This works well for me and the client. I'm "on call" for them, updating
the site within 24 hours. When they call, I drop everything to give them
my undivided attention. From my standpoint, I'm getting a $200/month (or
in my case, 3 x $200/month) with little or no additional time/effort.

I've never been questioned about the number of hours, but I keep detailed
records in case some accountant wants to make a name for himself.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need advice in maintainence rate 

On 4 Aug 2003 02:55:01 -0700 solitude509.RemoveThis@hotmail.com (solitude) broke
off from drinking a cup of tea at <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://groups.google.com/" target="_blank">http://groups.google.com/</a> to write:

 >www@probertencyclopaedia.com (Matt Probert) wrote in message news:<3f2d3ed3.3006390.RemoveThis@news.ntlworld.com>...
  >> On 3 Aug 2003 01:22:02 -0700 solitude509.RemoveThis@hotmail.com (solitude) broke
  >> off from drinking a cup of tea at <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://groups.google.com/" target="_blank">http://groups.google.com/</a> to write:
  >>
   >> >I can't possibly give them a flat $XX/month regardless of the volumns
   >> >of updates/maintainence? What about months that requires only a page
   >> >update?
   >> >
   >> >or is better to go for a per page approach? What if only a paragraph
   >> >is needed to be updated instead of the entire page's content? Do I
   >> >charge him similarly?
   >> >
   >> >So is advisable to go By pages? By bytesize? By frequency? or
   >> >.......etc??
   >> >
  >>
  >> I don't do web page support, but I did software for many years, it is
  >> perhaps similar.
  >>
  >> We always charged a fixed, paid in advance, "insurance" sum, which
  >> covered a one year period (or six months) and up to a specified number
  >> of man hours of work. Additional man hours being chargeable at a far
  >> higher rate (usual rate), and the customer being fully aware of this.
  >>
  >> You could do the same.
  >>
  >> Matt
 >
 >
 >Hi Matt,
 >Thanks for the reply. As I'm really new to this, hope you can explain
 >slightly further on this..
 >
 >How is the customer being convinced the number of hours needed and
 >worked on if the customer has no knowledge in this area( web
 >development in my case)? As I'm a freelancer, I think most probably
 >I'll be working from home over the weekends, how do I convinced the
 >client I actually spent min XX no. of hours and this do require XX no.
 >of hours?
 >

Trust. You invoice the customer. and keep him informed of the work
carried out on his behalf.

As for how many hours are required, that's impossible to say, you need
to estimate.

Matt

--
A massive matrix of concise, interlinked encyclopaedia information.
For when you just want to know, quickly and easily.
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com" target="_blank">http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Need advice in maintainence rate