I know it's trite, but when people ask me, "How much would you charge me to build a website?" I always reply with something pithy like, "Between $100 and $100,000."
What's more interesting are the responses. It's almost like a litmus test for who I'd actually want to work with. A person that I might actually want to work with will laugh and acknowledge that the question was ridiculously vague. A person that I don't want to work with will show some level of frustration and will usually dismiss the remark, pressing for a greater level of detail. I'll talk to the individual with a sense of humor and even a basic level of introspection, but the person who is frustrated with me isn't getting very far.
The client is just trying to figure out your rate. Just like the rate of a plumber, repairmen, etc. etc.
When you call a plumber and tell him that your hot water doesn't work and how much it will cost the tipical response is "my rate is x but I will give you an estimate once I examine the problem". Why can't web designers use a similar answer. Is that so hard?
Because (and this is "formerly" for me, I'm out of this work), I didn't have a rate. The price that I would quote is a mixture of what the project's scope is, how interesting it is to me personally, and how much of a pain in the ass I forecasted the client to be, or knew to be from prior experience.
For a number of my clients, I couldn't come within 50% of an actual quote until I sat down over coffee and talked over exactly what they wanted.
I don't agree. For the client, this might seem not serious.
How do you know the clients that you want to work for?
Get to know him. As simple as that. What's his business? can he afford your rates? Is he ready to pay that rate or does he see the value of your work?
And then ask for details. Give a reasonable estimate. Alert them that your hourly rate is $xxx and beyond the details specified in the estimate you'll charge more.
Sure, but it's also important to point out that "How much is a website?" is not a serious question. The GP's answer might seem silly, but it brings into relief that you're dealing with a "how much is a car?" or "how long is a piece of string?" situation, and is merely a door-opener on par with the more-businesslike "well, it depends..." and comes down to personal style.
When I ask "How much is a website?" what I mean is, more or less, "What's the average price of the last 100 websites you did, weighted a bit by where you are in the price curve? If you could toss in the stdev, that'd be awesome."
Thinking that a person asking for a price concept has no idea that there may be variables is pretty pessimistic. Some are probably not worth talking to, but others are interested in basically getting a verbal sense of what the curves in the original article look like.
I asked a friend of mine who is a professional animator recently how much animation costs to produce per minute. He didn't come out with a meaningless answer like "From 10 cents to 10 million dollars." He gave me about a 30-second sense of what an average simple and high-end studio looks like and what it ends up costing to run them. That's a good answer, not a dodge.
>>"How much is a website?" is not a serious question
I think is a very valid question. And a valid response is "my rate is X and will give you an estimate once I understand better what you want to build".
You mean, how do you price the total price of a website?
The same way that a mechanic, plumber, electrician, contractor, etc.,etc. estimates the total price of the work to be done. i.e. You estimate the total number of hours you think is going to take you, you multiply it by your hourly rate and finally you add whatever additional expenses you incurred when building the site. i.e. hosting service, license fees,...
If I was shopping for a freelancer and someone said something like that I would choose not to work with them. I don't mean any sort of disrespect. It's just occasionally we have to contract out for things, and when people make comments to me like that I immediately scratch them off the list. Replying sarcastically instead of politely asking clarifying questions back just scares off potential business.
A more direct, less cheeky version would be to ask what they are picturing for their website and giving them some estimates.
If a car salesman were asked that question, he wouldn't answer it flippantly because he knows that's a little embarrassing to make the customer feel ignorant to that degree. You're invalidating their question, not answering it.
Instead, the car salesman would say, "That depends on the kind of car that fits your needs. What kind of vehicles are you thinking about?"
There's no harm in making the car analogy explicit, but I'd think prospects would be warmer to more helpful and direct responses at first.
What's more interesting are the responses. It's almost like a litmus test for who I'd actually want to work with. A person that I might actually want to work with will laugh and acknowledge that the question was ridiculously vague. A person that I don't want to work with will show some level of frustration and will usually dismiss the remark, pressing for a greater level of detail. I'll talk to the individual with a sense of humor and even a basic level of introspection, but the person who is frustrated with me isn't getting very far.