How I Work

Cost is an important concern when you start a new venture. Design costs vary greatly depending on the complexity of the job, so I’ll need a good understanding of your project’s scope before I can work up a proposal. Most of the websites I design range from $3,000.00 up, but one-page and very small sites will be less.

The proposal I submit to you will outline details of the job as well as the cost. It will define your responsibilities in addition to my own, along with a proposed timeline, contingent on adherence to specified deadlines.

If you approve, you’ll be asked to sign the proposal and send it along with a deposit (1/3 of the total) before I can start work. I accept payment by check or credit cards (You can pay by check, or securely through the payment button on my site).

After I have received the signed proposal along with your deposit, and you have provided me with any necessary assets to be used in the project (images, text, other information), I will go to work, preparing some drafts of the design. You may request revisions of those drafts ( as outlined in the proposal) before you choose one draft to move forward with. Once you have approved that draft, I will invoice you for the second 1/3 of the total cost and upon receipt, move forward with the final work on the project.

You may request revisions to the final portion of the project as well, within guidelines set out in the proposal. The final 1/3 is due upon completion of the project. Once I receive the final payment I’ll send your design files to you in the appropriate formats, or in the case of a website; I’ll publish the live site.

I’d be happy to answer any questions or address any concerns before we get started. If you feel the proposed cost is too much, we can talk about how the job specs might be reduced to better fit within your budget, and I can then prepare a new proposal based on the adjusted job specs. Or you can simply say no to the proposal, no strings attached.

If you’re local, it’s always nice to meet in person initially, though not required. Whether or not you’re local, I’m happy to communicate via email or phone to get started, and as we continue, we can pass materials back and forth through email, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.

You’ll be asked to approve different phases of the design as we go along, so I’ll be placing drafts online for you to see. I usually use Google Drive to share those files, and you can either comment from there, send me an email, or call. If you have a response or comment that is very short and simple in nature, feel free to text me…otherwise, email or phone works better.

Yes, revisions are a part of most design projects and we need to cooperate to find solutions that you’re happy with and are best for the project. I am happy to make changes per your request and often the work is better for it! Having said that, I will not hesitate to politely express my opinions if I don’t think the requested change is a good idea, or won’t work for some reason, either technically or from a design standpoint. In order to have the best results, I try to be flexible and hope my clients will try to be as well.

As a general guideline, the initial proposal will outline a reasonable number of revisions allowed for each phase of the project. If the scope of the project expands beyond the specs outlined in the proposal, either by client-requested additions or by excessive revisions, the cost of the project will increase according to the additional time required.

It’s possible that you might encounter circumstances that hinder or delay your ability to afford the finishing of your website or design project. In this case,  you may request a delay of further site development and I will invoice you for only the work completed up to that point. You may resume at a later date, but if resumption is more than six months later, the cost may increase somewhat. (The estimated cost of  your website as outlined in the proposal is good for up to six months).

Similarly, if you do not request a delay, but fail to provide me with the necessary components agreed upon to complete your project within the contract’s timeline, you will be invoiced for all work done to that point, if the delay exceeds three months.

You will already have paid 1/3 deposit on your site before the work has even begun. If, for example, the site is 2/3 finished when you request a delay or end to the work, you will be invoiced for the second third of the total. The amount of the increment will be determined by the checkpoints in the contract’s timeline .

There are plenty of details to consider beyond what your website will look like, and there will be some work for you, the client to do before your designer can start work.

You’ll need to collect the information you want to go on each page and decide whether you are going to write the copy yourself or need help. If you can assemble the information but don’t feel comfortable with writing the final copy, please let the designer know this up front!

If you already have photos you want on the site, gather them. If you need a photographer, or will be using your own photographer, communicate that to your designer. If you need stock photos to illustrate your site, your designer may prefer to research and acquire the photos, pending your final approval. A good designer has a discriminating eye for photos and vast resources for finding the right ones within the budget. It should be specified in the proposal whether (and approx. how many) stock photos are included in the final price.

You’ll want to have a rough idea of how you want the pages organized and whether you want special features on the site, such as slideshows, blogs or a web store. Think about whether you need specialized forms, whether you want others to be able to contribute comments or posts, etc. If you have no idea about any of this, it’s ok! Your designer will likely have lots of experience in this area and would love to advise you on whether or how to incorporate specific features.

Your web developer will need some of the above information before submitting a cost proposal. And once the proposal is signed and the deposit made, it is common for a designer to move forward with site design ONLY when the client has submitted all or most of the web content (information, text, images, etc.) outlined in the contract.

I’m happy to guide you in these areas if you have questions. The good news is that websites are dynamic and easily changeable, and while designers do their best to envision and anticipate the labor and assets needed, they can make changes along the way.