This questions is based on type of a provider and quality of work. While freelance designers can offer design services for $20/hr, top design agencies do not work for less then several hundred dollars per hour. Depending on the type of your organization, you need to select first of all, an appropriate level of a provider to work with. Medium and large design organizations will never be interested in bidding on small scale projects with limited budget as they can not modify their pricing and approach to compete with small firms. Small firms also can’t typically adjust website design rates low enough to compete with freelance or off-shore providers.

Website design rates – setting the right expectations

Most important is to have a right expectation of design rate and total cost when contacting a design company. If you shop around for cheapest rate for web design services you will likely find it, but will sacrifice quality. At the same time, highest priced providers are not always providing the best services. In today’s market, many companies operate on different levels, leading to different overheads and expenses associated with running a company. Despite these differences, a right expectation should be such that a billing rate for a professional designer working for a firm should never be less then $75/hr. At the same time highest rates for typical design services should be under $150/hr in most cases. What is important to note is that many times proposals are done based on overall value of a project and not hourly rates. This means that a design company takes on risk to have higher or lower rate, but in its turn providing a customer with a fixed cost rather then hourly estimate.

What is the benefit of fixed cost vs hourly rate for web design services

Many organizations are choosing value-based proposals as they allow to focus on the total budget as opposed to try to maneuver the rate of a provider. From the provider’s prospective, website design rate still is included in the fixed cost estimate, just not obvious to the end client so they are encouraged to make work faster and better, which is a goal of every project.

Are you considering fixed cost value proposal or hourly based website design rates estimate?
Click here to receive a proposal from LightMix