A fixed price suits work that can be described in advance; hourly billing suits small, unpredictable changes. Both work when the scope is written down and you agree beforehand how small requests are batched, estimated and billed.

Two prices, two surprises

A new website is usually quoted as one figure: these pages, these features, this amount. Changes after launch are usually billed by the hour.

Owners tend to be surprised twice. First when something they assumed was in the fixed price turns out not to be, and later when a month of small requests arrives as a longer invoice than anyone expected.

Neither surprise means anyone was dishonest. Each arrangement has a shape, and the surprise comes from not seeing it in advance.

What each arrangement suits

The third is the one small businesses hear about least, and often the best fit. A set number of hours each month at an agreed rate turns a run of unpredictable small invoices into one known cost.

A fixed price needs a written scope

A fixed price is a promise about a specific thing. The thing has to be written down, or each side fills the gaps with what they assumed.

A useful scope lists the pages, the features, who supplies the words and photographs, how many rounds of design changes are included, what launch involves, and what happens afterwards.

Disputes tend to start in three gaps: content, revisions, and anything that connects to another system, such as an online shop, a booking tool or a supplier's stock list.

If something you need is not on the list, ask before signing. Pricing a feature now is cheaper than arguing about it in month three.

Why hourly work surprises people

Each small request feels like five minutes, and some are. Many take longer than they look: finding the right file, making the change, checking it on a phone, making sure nothing else moved.

Many developers also bill a minimum per request, often a quarter or half an hour, because stopping one job to start another takes time of its own. Ten separate emails become ten minimums.

None of that is visible to the person sending the requests, which is why the invoice comes as a surprise.

Agree how small requests are handled

The fix is to agree the rules before the first request, in writing, either in the original quote or in a short note at launch.

Cover the hourly rate, any minimum charge, how requests should be sent, when you get an estimate before work starts, and how quickly routine changes are done.

One threshold is worth setting above all: anything expected to take more than an hour or two gets an estimate first.

Batch the small requests

Sending requests one at a time, as they occur to you, is the most expensive way to make them. A single list sent weekly or monthly lets the work be done in one sitting.

Keep a shared record of what was asked, what is done and what each item cost. It answers the question of where the hours went before anyone needs to ask it.

Urgent changes, such as a wrong price or a holiday closure, are the exception. Mark them urgent and expect them to be handled on their own.

A worked example

A gluten-free baking mix maker sells bread, pancake and cookie mixes through grocery and health food stores, and directly through its own website.

Its new site was built for a fixed price covering twelve pages, an online shop with up to fifteen products, and two rounds of design changes. The quote said so, and the owners had read it.

The first surprise came before launch. They had assumed a store finder, listing every shop that carried their mixes, was part of the shop. It was not in the scope, and it was quoted separately.

The second came three months later. New stores were added to the list one email at a time, along with recipe corrections and new label photographs, each billed with a quarter-hour minimum.

A month of fourteen small emails produced an invoice nobody in the business could account for, though every line on it was accurate.

They now keep one shared list of changes, sent once a month on a fixed day, with a small monthly allowance for routine updates and an estimate for anything larger.

When a low fixed price goes wrong

A fixed price can fail the other way too. A vague brief, priced low, tends to be delivered exactly as written and no further.

The cheapest quote is often the one with the shortest list of what is included, so compare quotes by what each covers rather than by the total at the bottom.

After launch

Most fixed-price projects end at launch. Software updates, security fixes, backups and hosting continue afterwards and need an arrangement of their own.

Ask what is included in the first month or two after launch, when small fixes are normal, and what the arrangement is after that.

A site that nobody is paid to look after does not stay finished. It slowly falls behind the software it runs on.

The counter-case

A business that rarely changes its site may never need a monthly allowance. Paying by the hour for three or four requests a year is simple and fair.

Some work cannot honestly be given a fixed price: tracing an intermittent fault, say, or untangling an old site nobody documented. An estimate with a range is the honest answer there.

And no written scope covers everything. Expect a few conversations about what was meant, and have them early.

Either way, write down what a fixed price covers, and agree how small requests are handled before the first one is sent.

Before you sign

  1. Read the scope line by line.
  2. Ask about anything you assumed was included.
  3. Agree the hourly rate and any minimum.
  4. Set a threshold for estimates before work.
  5. Batch small requests into one list.
  6. Ask what happens after launch.
  7. Consider a monthly allowance for routine updates.

Step four prevents the largest surprises. A request that turns out to be a day's work should never reach an invoice before you have seen an estimate for it.

The same need for a written scope comes up in trading services for a website instead of paying.

Frequently asked questions

When does a fixed price make sense?

When the work can be described before it starts: pages, features, content, revisions and launch. It is a promise about a specific thing, so the thing must be written down.

Why do small changes cost more than expected?

Each takes longer than it looks once checking and testing are included, and many developers bill a minimum per request. Ten separate emails become ten minimums.

What should we agree about small requests?

The hourly rate, any minimum charge, how requests are sent, a threshold above which you get an estimate first, and how quickly routine changes are done.

What is a monthly allowance for website work?

A set number of hours each month at an agreed rate, for routine updates. It turns a run of unpredictable small invoices into one known cost.

How should I compare fixed-price quotes?

By what each one includes rather than by the total. A low quote for unclear work is often delivered exactly as written, with a short list of inclusions.

What happens after a fixed-price launch?

The fixed price usually ends there. Software updates, security fixes, backups and changes need an arrangement of their own, which is worth agreeing before you sign.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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