In my experience as a web developer for the past year, it seems that many clients are shocked by the price for a website where they want specific functionality created just for their business. Why is this?
Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?
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Re: Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?
#2Because most client can't tell a wordpress installation with a theme from ThemeForest from a ground up build up. Most actually need the former, but sound like needing the latter.
Re: Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?
#3Because web development is easy. Why would I pay so much when you sit on the computer for a few hours pressing buttons. It requires nowhere near as much skill as say.. A builder. /s
Re: Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?
#4History. There was a time when web sites where not dynamic and build with WYSIWYG editors, this "type" of creating still exists and gets lumped in with everything else due to sheer ignorance.
Re: Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?
#5Because those stupid 1&1 adverts where you get a custom site for like £10
Re: Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?
#6Because of lack of knowledge about software development and how complex it is.
They usually associate complex work with physical products (laptops, phones, cars .. )
Re: Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?
#7 because web developers are not real programmers/developers
No but most of the time, clients compare it to the css theme a 15year old did for their wordpress install.
Re: Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?
#8Aren't we all shocked by the prices of things occasionally. Don't we sometimes think a thing should be cheaper than it is, especially when it's a new thing to us.
Re: Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?
#9Clients are ignorant - can't really fault them for it since it's not their domain.
I've found it's best to let the ones who balk at the true cost walk away. They will go find some cheap service to build what they want ("oh, can you make it like facebook?"). They will spend 3x as much as you quoted by the end of it, but they will learn to pay attention when a developer tells them how much it will cost.
The second project they ask you to work on to fix the disaster of the first will be a lot nicer.
Whatever you do, do NOT underbid, ever. I made that mistake a couple times and it turned into nearly a year of bitter burnout. Hard to like what you do when you are getting paid about 20% of what you should be due to invoice battles.
Re: Why are clients shocked by the price for web development?
#10Because they have no experience working with developers, nor respect for the skill. But when they find out you make more money than they do, they start to wonder if they maybe got into the wrong business.