Hey everyone,

I’m currently moving from only working with websites internally at my job into taking more freelance projects.

I recently got my second client project and wanted to get opinions from people with more experience.

The client currently has an older website that visually still represents the company, but after getting access and checking the structure I realised the foundation behind it is quite outdated.

At first the request was only to make some design improvements and update sections, but even simple changes required investigating how everything was connected.

Some of the things I found:

• old WordPress structure built on top of previous themes
• old staging environment that was completely different from the current live website
• unused themes/plugins from older versions still sitting there
• custom changes added by previous developers over time
• different sections and template files located across different places
• no clean development workflow for safely testing updates before pushing live

For example, the staging website was still running an older version with a different theme, so it couldn’t really be used for current development.

The live website itself works, but maintaining it means spending more time understanding previous decisions instead of actually improving the product.

Originally I planned to rebuild certain sections, but after reviewing everything I suggested rebuilding the website foundation properly instead of continuing to patch old work.

The plan:

• rebuild the website with a cleaner structure
• keep the existing brand identity
• redesign and improve the UI
• improve responsiveness
• improve speed/performance
• technical SEO foundation
• create a proper development workflow
• make future updates easier
• migration and launch

Timeline: around 4 weeks.

I quoted £2500.

I know some people probably charge significantly more for this type of work, but this is only my second freelance project. I’m still building my portfolio and experience, so I prefer to price fairly while making sure I can deliver properly.

I’m curious:

• does this pricing sound reasonable?
• what would you charge for a similar project?
• anything you would recommend adding/changing in my process?

Also happy to connect with business owners. I’m looking to take on more work and keep improving.

Hey everyone,

I’m currently moving from only working with websites internally at my job into taking more freelance projects.

I recently got my second client project and wanted to get opinions from people with more experience.

The client currently has an older website that visually still represents the company, but after getting access and checking the structure I realised the foundation behind it is quite outdated.

At first the request was only to make some design improvements and update sections, but even simple changes required investigating how everything was connected.

Some of the things I found:

• old WordPress structure built on top of previous themes
• old staging environment that was completely different from the current live website
• unused themes/plugins from older versions still sitting there
• custom changes added by previous developers over time
• different sections and template files located across different places
• no clean development workflow for safely testing updates before pushing live

For example, the staging website was still running an older version with a different theme, so it couldn’t really be used for current development.

The live website itself works, but maintaining it means spending more time understanding previous decisions instead of actually improving the product.

Originally I planned to rebuild certain sections, but after reviewing everything I suggested rebuilding the website foundation properly instead of continuing to patch old work.

The plan:

• rebuild the website with a cleaner structure
• keep the existing brand identity
• redesign and improve the UI
• improve responsiveness
• improve speed/performance
• technical SEO foundation
• create a proper development workflow
• make future updates easier
• migration and launch

Timeline: around 4 weeks.

I quoted £2500.

I know some people probably charge significantly more for this type of work, but this is only my second freelance project. I’m still building my portfolio and experience, so I prefer to price fairly while making sure I can deliver properly.

I’m curious:

• does this pricing sound reasonable?
• what would you charge for a similar project?
• anything you would recommend adding/changing in my process?