One of the most common questions new web designers asks how to quote a website. Free lance web designers who are just starting out and looking for tips on creating web design quotes for clients need some tips. These points and ideas can be used by web designers in their quoting process. The hourly estimations provided here are only for discussion and are not intended to be used as a benchmark of any kind.

To keep client and web designer relations as smooth as possible, you should provide a complete web project outline stating the specific tasks you will perform, how much they will cost, when payments are due, and when the project is to be complete. You should also outline what items and content the client is required to provide for the web design project (photos, text, credit card information etc.) and what content you as the web designer will provide (stock photography, photography services, graphic design, copywriting, consultation time etc.)

you should base your web design quote on an hourly rate and then multiply it by the estimated hours it will take you to complete each of the components of the project. During the project, it is then important to record the time you spend on each component so you can tell how long it takes you, and then you can become more efficient in developing quotes and managing your time in the future.

Most websites have a general design, with one or more web templates that carry throughout the whole website. Often this includes a navigation system with links to the various pages of the website, and a general header and footer design. Some clients also request a Flash intro, or some other type of stylized start page for their site.

When developing this part of the quote, it's important to consider the client will probably have change requests. You may want to estimate your time and then multiply it by 1.5 to accommodate the time you will likely spend editing the design.

Assume it will take 6.5hrs to develop the design for the generally straight-forward website. Multiply this by 1.5 to cover potential client changes. Site will use one general web template throughout the website without any special intro pages.

6.5hrs x 1.5 = 9.75hrs

Generally, most websites have a specific number of static pages in addition to any dynamic or database fed pages. A sample site has 10 static pages. To make it simple, our site won't include a database.

Most pages often contain a few images and text. When quoting these pages, be sure to consider the actual content that will be going on each page and what you are expected to contribute. You should also consider the client will probably request some changes. A general estimate may be one hour per page, so you may wish to multiply this by 1.5 to cover potential changes.

10pgs x 1.5hrs = 15hrs

Every site is unique, and the client will probably have special feature requests. These may include contact forms, shopping carts, inserting products in a database, database configuration, blogs, built-in content management systems and JavaScript functionality
You should make sure to itemize these add-on features separately  in your web design quote Sometimes even the smallest feature can end up taking as long as the rest of the entire web project. Be sure to charge for consultation time, especially if the client wants you to perform research and then provide customized solutions.

For a basic website project, assume the client simply wants a single contact form and no additional consultation time is needed. Also assume it will take .75hrs to set it up on one of the website pages and test it. There are many ready-made free CGI, PHP and ASP contact form scripts available to choose from which you could use to install this functionality on the site.