Web Developer Invoicing

Developers charge hourly, per-project, or retainer. Each works for different situations. Most profitable developers use all three.

Project-based pricing for custom work

New website: $3,000-10,000, depending on complexity. E-commerce site: $8,000-20,000+. Bid a fixed price, client knows upfront, and you protect yourself with change order agreements for scope creep.

Retainers for ongoing work

Existing clients need bug fixes, updates, security patches. Offer a retainer: $500-1,500/month for up to 10 hours of maintenance. Beyond that, charge hourly at $100-150/hour.

What to itemize

• Discovery and planning
• Design and mockups
• Frontend development
• Backend development
• Testing and QA
• Hosting and deployment
• Training or handoff documentation
• Ongoing maintenance (retainer or hourly)

Change orders stop scope creep

Client wants an extra feature? That's a change order. You invoice separately. This stops "while you're at it" requests from killing your profit.