Choosing
Hourly, contract or fixed price: paying a developer
Developers charge by the hour, by the month or by the project. Each moves risk to a different person. Here is how to choose, and what to ask in each case.
Searches such as “web designer hourly rate”, “part time website developer” and “website developer on contract” come from owners who are trying to work out one thing: who carries the risk if the project takes longer than expected. The way you pay decides that. There are four common ways.
1. Hourly rate
You pay for the time worked, at a stated rate, usually with a cap or an estimate.
Good for: small changes to an existing site, a problem you cannot describe in advance, and work where the scope is honestly unknown.
Risk sits with you. If the work takes longer, you pay more. Ask for an estimate in hours, a monthly cap, and a time report you can read.
I do not charge by the hour for new websites. I sell fixed packages, so you know the price before work begins.
2. Part-time or contract engagement
You pay for a fixed amount of someone’s time over a period: so many days a week or so many hours a month.
Good for: an ongoing programme of changes, an internal team that needs another pair of hands, or an agency that needs capacity.
Risk sits with you for output, because the time is paid for whatever is produced. Ask what a typical week produces and how that is shown. This is not the model I offer; my work is project-based, and I have not described agency or subcontract work as an offer.
3. Retainer
A monthly fee for availability and a fixed scope of routine work, such as updates and monitoring.
Good for: keeping a launched site healthy. My optional maintenance and monitoring service works like this at ₹3,000 to ₹6,000 per month, with the scope in a written proposal; see website maintenance.
Ask: what happens to unused hours, what counts as in scope, and how to stop.
4. Fixed price per project
You pay an agreed amount for an agreed scope.
Good for: a new website where the pages, the content and the features can be listed in advance.
Risk sits with the provider for time, and with you for scope. If you ask for more than was agreed, the extra is quoted separately. That is fair, and it only works if the original scope is written clearly. My three packages are fixed-price: Essential ₹19,999, Growth ₹24,999 and Complete ₹34,999, one-time and excluding applicable taxes. What counts as a page and what is excluded are on the pricing page.
How to choose
| Situation | Usually the better fit |
|---|---|
| New website with a clear list of pages | Fixed price |
| A few changes to a live site | Hourly with a cap |
| Ongoing changes and monitoring after launch | Retainer |
| An in-house team that needs extra capacity | Part-time contract |
| You are not sure what you need | Start with a paid discovery or a short call, then decide |
Whatever you choose, get these in writing
- What is included, and what is not.
- How a change of scope is handled and priced.
- How you will be shown progress.
- Who owns the work at each stage.
- How either side ends the arrangement.
Give website feedback that finishes the project explains how to keep a fixed-price project on schedule by collecting feedback in one go. If you want to talk through which way of paying suits your project, message or call Harman.