How much do you charge?
The obvious answer is, “It depends”. Few people seem satisfied with that.
For Flyman Partners projects, what we mostly do is charge a flat hourly rate of AU$100.00 for complete projects, with adjustments for specific costs incurred. If we think we can complete your project in 20 hours, we’ll charge you $2,000.00 (plus 10% GST for Australian customers). If the project turns out to take 25 hours (or 15 hours), we’ll stick to the original amount we quoted you.
If your project involves buying in some functionality or subscribing to a service, we’ll cover the initial cost and add it to your bill – after we’ve agreed with you that’s the way to go.
Why are you so expensive?
We charge rates that we feel are commensurate with the quality of the work that goes into what we do. And we’re good at it.
Yes, we know you can hire someone cheaper. If you think they can give you comparable quality, go for it. For the record, we haven’t had anyone come back to us with regrets that they paid us too much, but we have had people come back to us saying we turned out to be an absolute bargain.
Why do you bother with all that “valid, semantic, standards-compliant, well structured, optimised for search engines, accessible, content-rich, user friendly, cross-browser compatible” stuff?
Because it has proven over the last 15 years to be, without exception, good business. For our clients and for us.
Do we have to meet you face to face?
Not at all. We have customers across Australia and scattered around the globe. We don’t even know what some of our clients look like. Most of our business is conducted by telephone and email.
We would certainly enjoy the chance to discuss your project over a cup of coffee, but that’s more of a luxury than a necessity. We do get to Sydney on a regular basis for meetings, and we will travel just about anywhere if the timing is right and costs are covered.
How long does it all take?
We assess the likely billable hours for any project based on the work required and quote a timeframe based on that. However, a quoted project timeframe of 20 hours doesn’t mean your website will be ready tomorrow. We will do a bunch of work and then get you to look over progress, give your approval or request changes. Several times. If you respond promptly to that kind of back-and-forth, a 20 hour project that doesn’t have too many complicated bits could be finished in two weeks. More usually it takes three to four. The biggest one we’ve done took six months.
We will provide you with a likely project completion date based on the project timeframe, our current schedule and your needs and expectations.
We will give your project a priority over existing work if you’re willing to pay a premium rate and our schedule allows.
Very occasionally (probably more often than we’d like), you might come along with a new project just as an existing one is deferred or cancelled, in which case we’ll slot you straight in to the schedule.
Can you write the words?
Yes. Copywriting can be factored into our project quote, or can be charged separately as an add-on service. Typically, we will require some kind of source material that we can work into suitable web copy. We will also undertake specific research for this purpose, at a negotiated price. Original web copy will be optimised for search engines as a matter of course.
Who owns the content?
You do. All material associated with your project, including that provided by you and or generated or purchased on your behalf, becomes and remains your intellectual property once all payments are received in full. We will specify this in our proposal to you.
As far as website visitors go, we will include a copyright statement on your website that can be tailored to your requirements.It’s a good idea for all website owners to obtain a basic understanding of copyright on the web, including fair use allowances and the different types of content licensing that are available.
What happens if I don’t like what you’ve done?
When you ask us if we can undertake your project, we’ll send you our proposal detailing the project aims, how we intend to achieve them, what it will cost you, how long it will take and under what conditions we’ll take the job. We will ask you to confirm your approval of this proposal by email. Once you provide that, and assuming we complete the job as detailed in the proposal, you are obliged to pay the quoted amount.
If you can convince us that what we deliver is so different to the proposal that it is not recognisable, we will concede and not charge you anything. We’ll also make any work we’ve done unavailable to you.
If worst comes to worst and you renege on an agreement, we will take legal action. It has happened.
Can I see what a proposal looks like?