[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":365},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$fi_SA3l8D9e4tuLzFLMXUroEj8Vi4FUp0B2g2TbBke08":3,"post-fixed-price-day-rate-or-monthly-fee-how-web-developers-charge":147},{"site":4,"features":8,"stripe":10,"bridalfile":12,"analytics":13,"navigation":14,"branding":125,"footer":127},{"id":5,"name":6,"domain":7},"7578a1b2-a8ec-462f-8980-d46ebefc76a2","Pwa Developer","pwadeveloper.uk",{"products":9,"bookings":9,"event_capacity":9,"ugc":9},false,{"enabled":9,"test_mode":11},true,{"enabled":9},null,{"footer":15,"header":43,"services":68},{"id":16,"name":17,"items":18},"4c83a83d-7d89-442d-8e4c-717e61d71c19","Footer Navigation",[19,23,27,31,35,39],{"id":20,"url":21,"label":22},"b8c9d0e1-f2a3-4b4c-5d6e-7f8a9b0c1d2e","/about","About",{"id":24,"url":25,"label":26},"c9d0e1f2-a3b4-4c5d-6e7f-8a9b0c1d2e3f","/blog","Blog",{"id":28,"url":29,"label":30},"d0e1f2a3-b4c5-4d6e-7f8a-9b0c1d2e3f4a","/contact","Contact",{"id":32,"url":33,"label":34},"e1f2a3b4-c5d6-4e7f-8a9b-0c1d2e3f4a5b","/websites","Websites",{"id":36,"url":37,"label":38},"d1e2f3a4-1111-4a2b-8c3d-dddd11112222","/services/nuxt","Nuxt",{"id":40,"url":41,"label":42},"d2e3f4a5-2222-4b3c-9d4e-dddd22223333","/services/supabase","Supabase",{"id":44,"name":45,"items":46},"090e7007-6dd0-4416-8ce2-2680c446d2a9","Main Navigation",[47,49,53,57,59,61,63],{"id":48,"url":21,"label":22},"c3d4e5f6-a7b8-4c9d-0e1f-2a3b4c5d6e7f",{"id":50,"url":51,"label":52},"a43446fd-355b-474a-a846-6f02ba7b4f68","/services","Services",{"id":54,"url":55,"label":56},"6b5e66d9-5267-4948-86b9-11ef75fcf821","/how-i-build","How I Build",{"id":58,"url":33,"label":34},"a1b2c3d4-5e6f-4a7b-8c9d-0e1f2a3b4c5d",{"id":60,"url":25,"label":26},"d4e5f6a7-b8c9-4d0e-1f2a-3b4c5d6e7f8a",{"id":62,"url":29,"label":30},"f6a7b8c9-d0e1-4f2a-3b4c-5d6e7f8a9b0c",{"id":64,"url":65,"label":66,"target":67},"e5f6a7b8-c9d0-4e1f-2a3b-4c5d6e7f8a9b","https://www.youtube.com/@anothermagentodev9161","YouTube","_blank",{"id":69,"name":70,"items":71},"9a2b3c4d-9999-4a2b-8c3d-aaaabbbbcccc","Services Menu",[72,78,84,90,96,102,108,114,120],{"id":73,"url":74,"icon":75,"label":76,"description":77},"1a2b3c4d-1111-4a2b-8c3d-111122223333","/services/pwa","fa-solid fa-mobile-screen-button","PWA","Installable, offline-first apps",{"id":79,"url":80,"icon":81,"label":82,"description":83},"2b3c4d5e-2222-4b3c-9d4e-222233334444","/services/wordpress","fa-brands fa-wordpress","WordPress","Themes, plugins, rescue work",{"id":85,"url":86,"icon":87,"label":88,"description":89},"3c4d5e6f-3333-4c4d-8e5f-333344445555","/services/magento","fa-solid fa-cart-shopping","Magento","Ecommerce & platform work",{"id":91,"url":92,"icon":93,"label":94,"description":95},"4d5e6f70-4444-4d5e-9f60-444455556666","/services/vue","fa-brands fa-vuejs","Vue & Nuxt","Reactive frontends, SSR apps",{"id":97,"url":98,"icon":99,"label":100,"description":101},"708192a3-7777-4081-8293-777788889999","/services/headless-cms","fa-solid fa-cube","Headless","Structured content APIs",{"id":103,"url":104,"icon":105,"label":106,"description":107},"8192a3b4-8888-4192-93a4-88889999aaaa","/services/ai-consultancy","fa-solid fa-robot","AI Consultancy","Where AI actually helps",{"id":109,"url":110,"icon":111,"label":112,"description":113},"a1b2c3d4-1234-4a2b-8c3d-aaaa11112222","/services/migrations","fa-solid fa-arrow-right-arrow-left","Migrations","Move platforms, keep your SEO",{"id":115,"url":116,"icon":117,"label":118,"description":119},"b2c3d4e5-2345-4b3c-9d4e-bbbb22223333","/services/technical-seo","fa-solid fa-gauge-high","Technical SEO & Performance","Core Web Vitals & speed",{"id":121,"url":33,"icon":122,"label":123,"description":124},"c3d4e5f6-3456-4c4d-8e5f-cccc33334444","fa-solid fa-globe","Custom Websites","Bespoke sites, not templates",{"logo":13,"logoDark":13,"favicon":13,"tagline":126},"WordPress & Web Developer in Hull, East Yorkshire",{"summary":128,"copyright":13,"address":129,"contact":133,"socialLinks":134,"openingHours":146,"logos":13},"Senior freelance web developer in Hull, East Yorkshire. 15+ years building fast, custom websites and web apps in WordPress, Magento, Vue and Nuxt. Work directly with the developer.",{"line1":13,"line2":13,"city":130,"state":131,"postalCode":13,"country":132},"Hull","East Yorkshire","United Kingdom",{"phone":13,"email":13},[135,138,142],{"url":65,"icon":136,"platform":137},"fa-brands fa-youtube","youtube",{"url":139,"icon":140,"platform":141},"https://github.com/adamcjackson1982","fa-brands fa-github","github",{"url":143,"icon":144,"platform":145},"https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamcjackson/","fa-brands fa-linkedin","linkedin",[],{"id":148,"slug":149,"title":150,"excerpt":151,"content":152,"content_format":355,"featured_image":356,"published":11,"published_at":357,"meta_title":358,"meta_description":359,"fields":360},"660d88bd-f1c8-4f23-ae13-4703b4407835","fixed-price-day-rate-or-monthly-fee-how-web-developers-charge","Fixed Price, Day Rate or Monthly Fee: How Web Developers Charge","Web developers charge in three common ways, and each puts the risk in a different place. Here is how fixed price, day rate and monthly fees work, and what to ask before you sign.",{"type":153,"content":154},"doc",[155,161,165,172,176,180,184,189,193,197,210,215,219,231,243,248,252,280,292,297,329,333,345],{"type":156,"content":157},"paragraph",[158],{"text":159,"type":160},"Two quotes for the same website arrive. One is a single figure. The other is a day rate and an estimate of how many days. A third developer you spoke to wants a monthly fee. They all sound reasonable, and none of them tells you which one protects you.","text",{"type":156,"content":162},[163],{"text":164,"type":160},"The pricing model matters as much as the number. It decides who carries the risk when the job takes longer than expected, and it shapes how the developer behaves when you ask for a change. Here are the three you will meet most often, with the honest downsides of each.",{"type":166,"attrs":167,"content":169},"heading",{"level":168},2,[170],{"text":171,"type":160},"Fixed price: you know the total before we start",{"type":156,"content":173},[174],{"text":175,"type":160},"A fixed price means an agreed scope for an agreed figure. For a small business site with a clear list of pages and features, it is usually the easiest to live with. You can plan your spend, you can compare it against other quotes, and nobody is watching a clock.",{"type":156,"content":177},[178],{"text":179,"type":160},"The catch is that the quote is only as good as the scope behind it. If the scope is vague, the developer has to pad the price to cover the unknowns, or they quote tight and then argue about every extra later. Ask to see what is included written down in plain words: how many pages, whether copywriting is yours or theirs, how many rounds of changes, and what happens at the point you ask for something new.",{"type":156,"content":181},[182],{"text":183,"type":160},"Fixed price rewards a developer who works quickly, because finishing early is their gain. It also means you should not be shy about asking what they will do if they underestimate. A decent answer is that they absorb it. A poor one is a long list of exclusions.",{"type":166,"attrs":185,"content":186},{"level":168},[187],{"text":188,"type":160},"Day rate: you pay for time, and you carry the risk",{"type":156,"content":190},[191],{"text":192,"type":160},"With a day rate, you pay for each day worked against an estimate. It suits work where the scope genuinely cannot be pinned down: fixing something broken whose cause is unknown, untangling an old site, or a project that will change shape as you learn more.",{"type":156,"content":194},[195],{"text":196,"type":160},"The honest downside is that the risk sits with you. If the work takes twice the estimate, you pay for twice the days. That is not dishonest, it is how the model works, but it means you need a cap or a checkpoint. Ask for an estimate range, ask to be told before the estimate is passed, and ask how days are recorded so you can see what you were charged for.",{"type":156,"content":198},[199,201,208],{"text":200,"type":160},"Day rates also make quotes hard to compare. A lower daily figure with a long estimate can cost more than a higher figure with a short one. Always multiply it out and ask what the estimate assumes. I wrote about this problem in ",{"text":202,"type":160,"marks":203},"how to compare website quotes when they are thousands apart",[204],{"type":205,"attrs":206},"link",{"href":207},"/blog/how-to-compare-website-quotes",{"text":209,"type":160},".",{"type":166,"attrs":211,"content":212},{"level":168},[213],{"text":214,"type":160},"Monthly fee: good for care, awkward for building",{"type":156,"content":216},[217],{"text":218,"type":160},"A monthly fee covers an ongoing service. For a website that is usually hosting, updates, backups, security checks and a small amount of support time. It is a sensible model for that job, because the work genuinely recurs and a steady fee spares you a surprise bill when a plugin needs attention.",{"type":156,"content":220},[221,223,229],{"text":222,"type":160},"It gets murky when a monthly fee is used to pay for the build itself, spread across a year or two. Be careful here. Ask what happens if you stop paying. In the worst case the site, or parts of it, stay with the developer. Read ",{"text":224,"type":160,"marks":225},"who owns your website: domain, hosting and code",[226],{"type":205,"attrs":227},{"href":228},"/blog/who-owns-your-website-domain-hosting-and-code",{"text":230,"type":160}," before agreeing to anything of that shape, and ask what your exit looks like in writing.",{"type":156,"content":232},[233,235,241],{"text":234,"type":160},"A monthly fee should also say what you get for it. Hours included, response times, and whether unused time carries over are all fair questions. The ongoing costs are worth understanding before you start too, and ",{"text":236,"type":160,"marks":237},"what a website actually costs to run each year",[238],{"type":205,"attrs":239},{"href":240},"/blog/what-a-website-costs-to-run-each-year",{"text":242,"type":160}," covers the usual ones.",{"type":166,"attrs":244,"content":245},{"level":168},[246],{"text":247,"type":160},"How I think about choosing between them",{"type":156,"content":249},[250],{"text":251,"type":160},"No model is the honest one by itself. Each is fair when the developer is straight about where the risk sits. A few rules of thumb help:",{"type":253,"content":254},"bulletList",[255,262,268,274],{"type":256,"content":257},"listItem",[258],{"type":156,"content":259},[260],{"text":261,"type":160},"If you can describe what you want in a page of plain English, ask for a fixed price against that page.",{"type":256,"content":263},[264],{"type":156,"content":265},[266],{"text":267,"type":160},"If the problem is unknown, such as a site that has stopped working for a reason nobody has found, a short day rate investigation with a cap is fairer than a fixed price that has to guess.",{"type":256,"content":269},[270],{"type":156,"content":271},[272],{"text":273,"type":160},"If the site is live and needs looking after, a monthly fee with clear hours and a clear exit is reasonable.",{"type":256,"content":275},[276],{"type":156,"content":277},[278],{"text":279,"type":160},"Many good projects use a mix: a fixed price for the build, then a monthly fee for care afterwards.",{"type":156,"content":281},[282,284,290],{"text":283,"type":160},"Whichever you choose, the brief you give has a big effect on the price you get back. If you have not written one, ",{"text":285,"type":160,"marks":286},"how to brief a web developer so you get quotes you can compare",[287],{"type":205,"attrs":288},{"href":289},"/blog/how-to-brief-a-web-developer",{"text":291,"type":160}," is a good place to start.",{"type":166,"attrs":293,"content":294},{"level":168},[295],{"text":296,"type":160},"Questions that expose a bad quote on any model",{"type":253,"content":298},[299,305,311,317,323],{"type":256,"content":300},[301],{"type":156,"content":302},[303],{"text":304,"type":160},"What exactly is included, and what is not?",{"type":256,"content":306},[307],{"type":156,"content":308},[309],{"text":310,"type":160},"What happens if the work takes longer than you expected?",{"type":256,"content":312},[313],{"type":156,"content":314},[315],{"text":316,"type":160},"Who owns the finished site, the domain and the content if we part ways?",{"type":256,"content":318},[319],{"type":156,"content":320},[321],{"text":322,"type":160},"How much of the price is the build and how much is ongoing?",{"type":256,"content":324},[325],{"type":156,"content":326},[327],{"text":328,"type":160},"How will I be told before the cost changes?",{"type":156,"content":330},[331],{"text":332,"type":160},"A developer who answers these calmly and in writing is usually worth talking to, whatever model they use. One who gets vague or irritated has told you something useful.",{"type":156,"content":334},[335,337,343],{"text":336,"type":160},"I explain how I build up a number, and why I will not give one before I understand the job, in ",{"text":338,"type":160,"marks":339},"how I quote a website",[340],{"type":205,"attrs":341},{"href":342},"/blog/how-i-quote-a-website",{"text":344,"type":160},". It is a plain account of what goes into the figure, which is a good test to hold any quote up against.",{"type":156,"content":346},[347,349,354],{"text":348,"type":160},"If you already have a quote in your inbox and cannot tell whether it is fair, I am happy to read it with you. I offer a free 30 minute surgery where we go through what you have been offered and I tell you plainly what I think, even if the answer is to take it. You can ",{"text":350,"type":160,"marks":351},"book one through the contact page",[352],{"type":205,"attrs":353},{"href":29},{"text":209,"type":160},"tiptap","","2026-10-24T08:00:00+00:00","Fixed Price, Day Rate or Monthly Fee?","How web developers charge: fixed price, day rate and monthly fee compared, with the risks of each and questions to ask before you sign.",{"tags":361},[362,363,364],"pricing","web-dev","hull",1793696432418]