[RESOLVED] First paying work - what to charge a friend?

Hey all. I am designing a website for a friend and, to be honest, it's the first bit of free lance work (read: first bit of paid web design work ever) that I've actually done.

Anyway, I've sent him a draft and we've agreed on the colour scheme and I've just about finished the menu when he's asked me not to go any further until I give him a price. I'm guessing he thought I was all talk and then when I sent him the latest example he's realised I will actually finish this and it may cost him hundreds or in to the thousands of pounds. Obviously I won't charge thousands but I don't know what to charge him or what it will be worth.

The site is quite simple really. Latest incarnation here. The title and rollover menu on the top right is flash and it will basically have 4 sections. I'm guessing, for a beginner, the whole site will take me to a total of 20hrs work time once it's finished. I'm also hoping to build a bit of a portfolio to gain work elsewhere so I will be using this site for marketing purposes aswell.

Also curious to know what you would charge a customer who is not a friend for the same sort of thing. I know people's skill varies and some will charge more than others but I'm looking for something to base my prices on. Even if you have some sort of idea of what you charged when you first started out that would be excellent.

All thoughts welcome. Thanks in advance :)

Since this is your first paid work, and you have no portfolio, you are going to mingle with him and haggle around to see what works for you both comfortably. You don't want to rip him off, you need a place to start, and he wants something fair for the price.

So what you need to do is determine an hourly rate for yourself. You can either do some research to figure out general hourly rates, or just pick something you're comfortable with.

For example: You determine your hourly rate to be $20/hr. That would make the project a total of $400. ($20/hr * 20 hours)

You can sit down with him and say: Hey, typically people with my level of talent and blah blah blah are charging $20/hr. But since you are a friend of mine and I'm working on building a portfolio for myself, let's come to an agreement.

That way throwing down that base figure will give you both something to work from. So you won't undersell yourself and he'll know where the number is coming from.

Just don't get into the habit of doing this. After you establish a bit of a portfolio, use that $20/hr and be firm with it. If someone is trying to talk you into a lower price, you don't want to deal with that client. It's going to be a non-stop hassle for the entire duration of the contract.

You do have a contract, don't you? ;)

Nope, no contract but this will be a one off. I've googled a few sites dealing with the subject so I guess I'm going to have to start work on pricing structures and contracts in preparation for any other work that comes my way as a result of this.

Ta for the info.

it looks nice... design + coding... you can charge 400-500 pounds easily