Rates
Our rates are variable, and generally based on a weighted average of the time it takes to conceptualize, prepare, frame-up, rough-in, and complete a production task. They are also weighted by how commonplace the skill set required is, and how expensive the materials going into it are. Before we get into the semantics of pricing, here is The Chart.
| TIER | GRAPHIC DESIGN | WEB DESIGN | WEB DEVELOPMENT |
|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | Photoshop basics (colour correction, batch processing, 9-slice editing, cropping, filter effects), colour matching and colour adjustments | CSS3 modification (fonts/colours), HTML repair, layout adjustment, text editing, template modification | Wordpress (et al) installations, site migration, backup and restore, |
| GENERAL | Original creations, logo concepts, template editing, banner design, attraction graphics (badges, icons, symbols), logo treatments, print design | jQuery and Flash, full site original design / redesign, template design | Custom tool creation, database design and integration, Wordpress conversions (in or out), dynamic / data-driven web work, extension development |
| HIGH | 3D Modeling / animation / rendering for video or stills, complex Flash and Illustrator vector artwork, jQuery / HTML5 Canvas / SVG design | (more complex variations of the above) | Interactive Flash and Canvas, web / mobile / PC game development, complex versions of the above |
| $35 - $100 / weighted hour | $35 - $100 / weighted hour | $35 - $100 / weighted hour |
We always offer a maintenance package to our clients which includes a great deal of free work every month. This is detailed in your contract, but generally includes things like:
- maintaining and upgrading libraries that run your site
- consultation on everyday tasks such as setting autoresponders for your email
- troubleshooting problems that come up as your site gets busier
- ongoing performance optimization
- setting up Google Analytics and other monitoring tools
Reasoning behind the variable costs
Using Photoshop to edit some images to size is not going to cost as much as prototyping your latest idea in 3D. And if each task took four hours, they will not be priced the same. 3D modeling and rendering software costs upwards of six thousand dollars and Photoshop is less than a tenth of that.
On the flipside, coding languages are free for everyone to use. The investment comes from your experience in writing that language, your training in troubleshooting it, and your history of knowing right and wrong practices. Just because your nephew made a webpage for his Counter Strike clan doesn't mean he's going to be any good at troubleshooting memory leaks in PHP.
Think of it this way; we are Internet Digital Mechanics.When you take your car in to your favourite mechanic and you are pleased that he gets it repaired and back on the road for you in only 2 days, you wouldn't pay him less because he was faster than the estimate said. You'd pay him the rate you were quoted because the job was done efficiently and effectively. We could always drag out the job to make you feel better about paying a certain amount, but we prefer to get the job done quickly. We'd rather have the new tools in your hands a day or two early, and let you enjoy them. We don't expect you to pay for our learning curve, as some of our competitors do.
