For web designers
A website is six weeks of work the client thinks is two. Scope it, take your share up front, and invoice the rest the day the site goes live, with a monthly arrangement for the changes after.
Five pages that became eleven
The project is quoted for five pages and lands at eleven, one small request at a time.
Launch slips because the client hasn’t sent the copy, and your last payment slips with it.
After launch, every change arrives as an email asking whether this one is free.
What’s different for web designers
Half up front, the rest at launch
Your project takes its share when the client books it, and the rest waits on Today as an invoice you send the day the site goes live.
Changes after launch, by the month
A monthly arrangement holds a set amount of your time for changes, renewed on the client’s card, and either of you can stop it at the end of a paid month.
Your page on the first day
This is the design or creative setup, and it’s what your page starts with. Change any of it where it appears.
- Clients can book from tomorrow onward.
- Moving or canceling is free up to 24 hours before.
- Before booking, your page asks: “What are we making, and by when?”
Your project agreement opens with this: Half of the project price is due up front and half on delivery. The scope is what we agreed in writing; new work is a new agreement.
Questions web designers ask
How do web designers stop scope creep?
Write down the pages, the rounds of changes and what’s out of scope before you start. Anything new gets its own price, quoted before you do it.
Should a web designer charge for hosting and updates?
Charge for your time, not the hosting. Let the client own the hosting account in their own name, and sell updates as a monthly arrangement.
When should the final payment for a website be due?
At launch, not when the last page is signed off. Tie the balance to the day the site goes live, and say in the agreement what happens when the client’s content is late.
What it doesn’t do for you
There’s no project board, no design review and no hosting. The design work happens in your own tools; the page holds the agreement and the money.
Others who start from the same setup
Graphic designers · Photographers · Copywriters · Videographers · Translators · Interior designers · Illustrators · Ghostwriters · Brand designers · Proofreaders · Makeup artists · Voice-over artists · Personal stylists · Event musicians · Tattoo artists · Podcast producers · Wedding planners · Freelance developers · Social media managers · Landscape designers · Calligraphers · Music producers · Portrait artists · Technical writers · UX designers · Video editors · Animators