Pricing & information

Over the years I’ve learnt that the keys to successful long-term working relationships are transparency and honest communication. This includes being up-front about my rates, what your project will cost, and your budgets. The aim of this page is to help you set your budgets and decide if you’d like to work with me.

If you’re looking for a quick website for a few hundred pounds, I am probably not the person for you. There are however lots of great companies out there who provide off-the-shelf WordPress websites for that kind of budget.

What about VAT?

I am not currently VAT-registered, so these are the prices you pay.

If you need a bit more information to help you decide, please continue reading.

Blimey, that sounds like a lot!

It’s true, I’m not cheap, but my rates are based on the market average for experienced freelance WordPress developers. I’ve been working with WordPress for over 15 years and I know it inside out. I write high quality, future-proof code, so you won’t be paying to redo my work in a few months. And if you were to engage an agency for the same work, you’d without doubt be paying significantly more (I don’t have to pay rent on a fancy Shoreditch office!).

I have built up a huge wealth of experience of understanding what different organisations need, how to communicate, manage projects and work efficiently, and above all how to translate your ideas into a successful website. This not only saves you time and money in the long run, it also means your website will meet your needs and bring a return on your investment.

I always aim to deliver extremely good value, by working productively and efficiently. This way I deliver work that enables you to meet your goals, within budget and on time.

Estimates and quotes

I have found there is a lot of confusion about these two terms, and they are sometimes misused by developers or misunderstood by clients.

Quotes

Sometimes I provide a quote, which is a fixed price for your project based on the information you have provided. If your requirements don’t change, the final price you pay won’t change either. You know what you are getting and how much it will cost, and I know what you need and how much time I will be spending on it.

If your requirements are well-defined and the project is not open-ended or too complex, I will usually quote a fixed price.

Estimates

At other times I will instead provide an estimate, often in the form of a range. This is my best guess – based on my experience and knowledge – of how much work is likely to be involved. I will always do my best to deliver the work within the estimate, but it’s not guaranteed.

I usually provide estimates in the following circumstances:

• Any project where the requirements are not yet clear, so a ‘discovery period’ is required. This is where we will work together to finalise the specification, project scope and cost.
• When I am engaged as a consultant to help you find the answer to a problem.
• Migrations. These are notorious for the number of ‘unknown unknowns’, so estimates that involve migrations are usually open-ended or within a wide range.
• Developing with third-party APIs. A common example would be sending data to or pulling data from a CRM. Anything that involves different systems talking to each other is inevitably more complex with more dependencies involved.
• Taking on a project that has been developed or started by someone else.
• Working with technologies/ideas that I am not so familiar with.

How about a monthly retainer?

If you require regular ongoing work and want to guarantee my availability for one or more days per month, this can be a good way to ensure that I have availability at shorter notice for your project. It doesn’t suit every client or all types of work, so contact me and we can discuss.

We may not be the right fit for each other!

If your needs and what I provide – and charge – don’t match, then it’s good to be honest from the outset and we’ll agree that you may be better off working with someone else. For example:

• There are cheaper developers out there. This is very true, and many of them are very good. If your budget is lower and you have found one you trust, go for it! But if price is not the main factor for you, then consider my skills, experience, conscientiousness, attention to detail, values and ethics, and my working style – all the things you may not get for a significantly lower rate.
• Your project may not be right for me. I will never take on a project that I think is not going to succeed (in terms of meeting your goals or returning your investment), or if I disagree with the project’s or your organisation’s ethics. In other cases it may simply be out of my skillset so I will recommend someone else who can do a much better job. Essentially I will be honest with you, so you are not wasting your money.
• Your expectations might be too high. The internet has created a culture of expecting everything to be cheap/free and instant. This may be the case for some products, but not for high quality design and development skills and experience. If your budget looks unrealistic to me, I will explain why, and you can decide whether to rethink it or work with someone else.