This is an article: “Getting a great website: a step-by-step guide“ on the Design Council website that I recently contributed to. The article is aimed at helping business understand the process and pitfalls of commissioning a website.
During the interview for the article we talked quite a bit about pricing projects and how businesses should be realistic about the work they want to achieve and the cost of that work. There was some nostalgia [on part] for the time when a lot of work was done by rate-card, a practice that has lost traction nowadays in favour of fixed quotes. Without the rose-tinted specs I can see how the rate-card system was open to abuse, but really don’t think that the current system is much better as it forces higher prices up-front in order to cover future pitfalls. Perhaps we need more honesty on both sides. More transparency from agencies when there are cost savings and more acceptability from clients of the need for contingency, that way a fairer system may yet develop to everyones benefit.
Tags: article, business, Design, design council, quotes, rate-card
