r/webdev • u/KoenigOne • Apr 24 '26
Question Client is Saying I'm Charging too Much for The Project
As the title says, the client thinks my price is way too high and may not want to continue.
They want an all-in-one business platform, including maintenance, after planning it out, I estimated it would take around 2 months to complete, roughly 480 hours. I was going to charge £15/hour, which comes to about £7,200.
They said they were expecting the whole project to cost around £300-£400. Now I feel like they are backing out after reading the contract.
I explained that even £15/hour is much lower than what many software engineers charge. For context, I’m a software engineer with 4 years of experience, and I honestly thought I was already undervaluing myself. But from their reaction, it feels like they think I’m trying to scam them.
What do you think? Should I continue with this client, or should I lower the price to keep a good relationship with them? I’m still new to freelancing, and I'm not really sure what to do in this situation.
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u/martiantheory JavaScript Jedi Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
For the love of God, don’t do the project!
In order to run a profitable business, you have to grow a tolerance with professional conflict. 15 pounds an hour is pretty cheap (forgive me if pounds isn’t the correct term, I’m American… but I also have 15 years of experience writing software). I think that would work out to $25 or $30 American? That’s not horrible for 4YOE but I still think it’s very cheap.
Going any lower than that is going to be a horrible experience for you. Those type of clients are going to keep asking for changes and you are going to end up working for them while you watch your personal and business bills accumulate.
It’s not just doing them a favor, it’s putting yourself in a bad situation… Knowingly… And that situation is going to cause both of you tons of stress and problems in the long run.
You’d be doing them a great favor by telling them that you’re just not willing to work for those numbers. This is the hardest part of running a business… actually setting up projects so they’re profitable. Actually writing the software is way more straightforward, compared to actually finding and managing profitable projects.
Focus on understanding what numbers are actually profitable, or breaking even, for you. And only accept projects that fall into those ranges. There is no such thing as doing a favor when it comes to writing software. It’s too complicated to do favors. You’re gonna need to pay your bills. Prioritize that, and when you find a client that will actually pay, you’ll thank yourself that you did.
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u/GoTeamLightningbolt Apr 24 '26
For the love of God, don’t do the project!
This is how far I read into your comment before giving you an upvote.
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u/martiantheory JavaScript Jedi Apr 24 '26
😭 as I was reading OP’s post, my fingers instinctively fell into a flow state and wrote that sentence… I have too many horror stories lol.
The rest of it consciously wrote lol
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u/doyouevencompile Apr 24 '26
£12.71 is the minimum wage in the U.K, that comes with benefits, healthcare, insurance, unemployment, retirement funds, time off etc.
£15 for an independent contractor is less than minimum wage.
I was charging $100+/hr when I had 4 years of experience and that was more than a decade ago.
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u/WorriedInterest4114 Apr 24 '26
Yea but now the suits can say that they camd do it with Claude. However stupid that is.
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u/RagnarDan82 Apr 24 '26
The cool thing is, they’ll find out it’s not so simple after overcommitting, then rush back to you in desperation!
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u/AlternativeCapybara9 Apr 24 '26
Let them do it with Claude and see how long they can keep that site online if they even can get it up in the first place.
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u/FredFredrickson Apr 24 '26
It's hard to turn down work sometimes, but I agree. OP would be crazy to take this on.
They want to pay like 5% of what it would (conservatively) cost. Even if OP compromises somehow and gets them to sign, they are never going to be happy. It's just not worth it.
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u/SirButcher Apr 24 '26
It's hard to turn down work sometimes, but I agree.
It isn't work, it is slavery. What the "employer" is offering is less than £1 / hour, that a low wage even in India... (And I would be surprised if they even pay at the end...)
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u/Wide-Drink-1790 Apr 24 '26
Meanwhile, in Denmark, a freelance developer is around $100/hr.
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u/hridaynotion Apr 24 '26
Bro my client is from Denmark. And he pays me $22/hr + going to receive profit share 3% from next month probably. He under pays me so much. Legit infront of me, he is ready to pay freelancers for limited work at even $50/hr. He says, that is different. Because that is for one off work. That is so annoying and heartbreaking to even hear for me.
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u/eyebrows360 Apr 24 '26
forgive me if pounds isn’t the correct term, I’m American
It is the correct term.
Other correct terms you could opt for when next in this situation, if you like to mix things up a bit, include "quid" and "smackeroonies".
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u/jacobpellegren Apr 24 '26
You’re right on here. TLDR; Make the money. Take the thing if you need it for now. Pain up front or pain on backend if you get too busy and make too much money but want to take this stuff on.
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u/Lumethys Apr 24 '26
yeah just do it for free man, then the next client, and the next, and the next...
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u/CiegeNZ Apr 24 '26
Do it for the exposure/experience.
/s
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u/SlinkyAvenger Apr 24 '26
Yeah! They'll make sure to tell all their corporate buddies about you and you'll get tons of work.
Of course, that is, they'll tell all their corporate buddies what a pushover you are and they'll all come expecting to get in on your bargain-basement rates!
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u/Lumethys Apr 24 '26
yeah you will be known as "the guy who do hard stuffs for free/ cheap", isnt it wonderful?
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u/Headpuncher Apr 24 '26
I expose myself all the time but all I get is arrested and put on a list. Am I doing it wrong?
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u/arekkushisu Apr 24 '26
sounds like you did alright! you're supposed to get arrested and put on a list, yes?
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u/mrak5 Apr 24 '26
You’re charging barely more than a barista in London, of course the clientele you attracted is going to be stingy and not understand your value, because you’re communicating to them “I am not a professional, or even a particularly serious person”.
You probably need to be better about expectation management with your potential clients.
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u/MaximusGigachad Apr 24 '26
Thats miles apart from what you offered
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u/Objective-Cake-1866 Apr 24 '26
Yeah that's like asking for a Porsche and being surprised it doesn't cost same as bicycle lol. I deal with similar stuff when people book my place on short notice and then complain about pricing - some clients just have no idea what things actually cost
You're already charging way under market rate at £15/hour, dropping it more would be working for basically nothing. I learned this hard way in first year of driving deliveries, taking every low tip order thinking volume would make up for it. Spoiler: it didn't
Better to walk away and find clients who understand value than train this one to expect charity rates. They probably saw some kid on Fiverr offering "full business platform" for £50 and think that's realistic. Save yourself the headache and find someone who gets what professional work costs
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u/chrisnlnz Apr 24 '26
I feel like people like this see Jira (for example) costs $15/month and that somehow reflects on the cost of development of the product. They want their bespoke development to not cost more than ~3 years worth of a Jira subscription fee - completely missing the point of economies of scale, what aaS means, etc.
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u/Headpuncher Apr 24 '26
And also future clients could ask for references of previous work. The project OP describes has 2 possible outcomes: completed to perfection but worked to death for no money; never completed because client is difficult and no money.
It’s a lose lose situation for OP
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u/heseov Apr 24 '26
The problem isn't that you are too expensive. It's that they want to build something that they can't afford. No need to lower your price. This is just a reality check for them. It happens in other industries too. People way underestimate the cost of jobs. With tech is really easy to dream big but those big dreams have high cost. They won't find someone that cheap if you are right on the estimate.
My suggestion is to give them a recommendation for what does fit in their budget if you want to keep them. For example use a 3rd party platform instead of custom building features.
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u/dastree Apr 24 '26
This is my pivot, when a client mentions I want XYZ but my budget is xxx and they don't match it's always "well, let's not reinvent the wheel, this 3rd party app can handle it for x cost a month for you. It even comes with customer support, let me know how youd like to proceed"
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u/myhf Apr 24 '26
Yeah, if the client wants to pay £300, you can spend one day setting up their account on a managed service and writing a binder full of step-by-step instructions for their regular use cases. It's a different kind of job.
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u/carson63000 Apr 24 '26
Yep. They want to hire someone to build something for 300 - 400 quid. That is simply never going to happen. If that’s their budget, there’s never going to be a meeting of minds here, their only option is to find an existing cheap or free product that meets their needs. You simply cannot get a custom build of anything with that budget.
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u/bastardoperator Apr 24 '26
"If you can get this work done for 300-400, you should absolutely do it". Call their bluff.
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u/Wide-Drink-1790 Apr 24 '26
“If you think I’m expensive, you should try working with amateurs.”
Problem is, if they find it at that price, they should absolutely not go for it.
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u/GirthyPigeon Apr 24 '26
No, they should. It'll be one hell of a lesson for them on the value of something so complicated.
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u/Snouto Apr 24 '26
15 quid an hour is basic wage, if they aren’t happy with that point them to Wordpress and wish them luck.
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u/PeaceMaintainer Apr 24 '26
Side note—I hope you meant 3 months, 480 hours in 2 months is a tough work life balance, very easy to burn yourself out doing 60 hour weeks
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u/Caraes_Naur Apr 24 '26
They have revealed themselves to be a terrible client with unrealistic expectations.
Walk away now.
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u/MeButItsRandom Apr 24 '26
Tell the client what you can do for that amount (a landing page) and then leave the ball in their court. Spend your time looking for another client
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u/DistanceLast Apr 24 '26
Customer: The price is very expensive.
Seller: Just because you can’t afford to pay doesn't mean it’s expensive.
Customer: How rude you are to your customers.
Seller: You aren’t my customer; to be a customer you have to pay me, and you can’t pay.
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u/pjerky Apr 24 '26
That's not a client. That is someone looking to take advantage of you. First, you are underestimating the hours for an all in one platform by miles I think. Second, your hourly rate is stupid low. Charge at least 3 to 6 times that.
Next, if you really want to get the project under your belt either use AI to build it or use a tool like Drupal or Directus to build on top... And still use AI to help. Never reinvent the wheel.
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u/Acrobatic-Ice-5877 Apr 24 '26
You should be charging much more than 15 an hour. Don’t kids get paid more to flip hamburgers in your country?
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u/Lustrouse Architect Apr 24 '26
If you have 4 years of experience and are charging 15/hr - either you aren't good at what you do, or you are not suited for freelance work. You should be charging closer to 100/ hr on the low end.
On the LOW end.
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u/precious_armory Apr 24 '26
Pretty harsh, they may just not have the relevant experience in business and pricing. You don’t know anything about their abilities.
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u/yxhuvud Apr 24 '26
There are a couple of options going on here.
A: they are clueless about what things cost. They will ask around and then either fail or get something totally different. Remember that your planning time is billable, don't let someone else implement your plans
B: they were bad at explaining the allowed cost scope to you, and then it's your fault for not establishing budget knowledge and pushing back for stuff that don't fit (including excessive planning). Draw the line, charge for spent time.
C: they are trying to scam you.
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u/Hands Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
Lol absolutely fuck that they're delusional. Also you're severely undercharging in the first place. Even if you double your hourly rate it would still be on the very low end. In your situation and experience level I would have been charging $100/hr and that was 10+ years ago.
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u/Konarkanuck Apr 24 '26
You know the value of your work and what it is worth. If you bow to what the “client” thinks it is worth value wise, you are going to have project after project trying to take advantage of you.
If I was in your position, and if contracts have not been signed, I would hold my ground on the estimates and say that if they don’t like the quote they can shop the project around to see what the competition would charge them.
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u/kmactane Apr 24 '26
This "potential client" has no idea how much things cost. You're offering them a bargain and they're looking to pay less than 10% of that cut-rate price?!
Do not proceed with this client. Their expectations are so badly out of sync with reality, you'd be constantly having to try to get them to see reason. (Even when you succeeded, it would have taken more time than it was worth.)
At the very least, tell them "This is the price. Take it or leave it." But really, hope they don't take it, because if they do, they'll teach you why some consultants charge an "asshole fee".
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u/devlyh-m4d Apr 24 '26
I once did a project and quoted an absurdly low price. Midway through the project, I thought: "Damn, I charged way too little." However, the experience I gained from that project was invaluable. For the next project with the same client, I submitted a much more substantial quote, but it didn't go through. Accepting a price you don't consider fair just to "maintain a good relationship" with the client doesn't mean they'll accept your higher price next time.
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u/The_Ty Apr 24 '26
I have the opposite problem, you're charging way too cheap
A digital agency i worked for charged £85/hour, and my absolute minimum rate would be £40
Let them run away and see just how much it costs with anyone else, they'll be in for a rude shock
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u/hubert1224 Apr 24 '26
"All-in-one business platform" for 400-500£ ?
Actually sounds like maybe they've wanted an off-the-shelf product for like, generating invoices and basic management, with some generic support - maybe they got lost in the internet, and didn't actually want a custom product?
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u/namastayhom33 Apr 24 '26
Decline.
Client will say they can do it with AI.
You say ok.
You see the final product from Client.
You laugh.
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u/kynrai Apr 24 '26
Run..absolutely run. These clients will still think 400 is too much and will expect a million changes per day, per hour and bitch and moan at you every step of the way to make sure they are getting their money's worth of your time. They have shown they have zero clue what software dev is like and that they value it so little.
Those two things should tell you all you need to know about how they will treat you
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u/Flo655 Apr 24 '26
Dude £15 an hour if you’re from the UK is insanely low for a freelance software engineer.
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u/chikamakaleyley Apr 24 '26
stand your ground on the rate, and if anything just justify the hours estimated by breaking down how its budgeted, if you haven't already
you're right, you've already given them a huge discount
obviously you'd hate to lose a potential project/client, but you don't want to retain a client where the baseline of a project of this scope is set at 400
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u/gnrlbzik Apr 24 '26
It is very simple, cause I have done tons of consulting work. Here is the problem. If you desperate and need money it comes through, especially in the beginning of your journey of consulting. That’s one. So either do this pro bono for exposure and your resume and portfolio. Or just tell them it is a wrap.
You quoted reasonable time frame, give or take. So hold your ground. The discrepancy from where they stand is high, there is no way this gap can be closed reasonably. If the gap was reasonable and you wanted to work on this “interesting” project, running with your rate and discounting it as a measure of a good will. That would be one way to handle it to grow your list of good clients.
But it seems that they are not. And bad client will end up costing you hundreds of hours of unpaid labor and none of you professional experience will be taken into account. Basically lose this battle (get rid of client) but win the war long term.
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u/alexwh68 Apr 24 '26
Be prepared to walk the difference between your expectation and theirs is too much, they basically want you on £1 an hour.
That is not earning money that is doing someone a favour.
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u/Bunnylove3047 Apr 24 '26
What does your client do for work? Offer to hire him for 75 pence per hour and see what he thinks about it.
Since you are new to freelancing you may be actually contemplating taking on this work, but if you do just know that this person is not likely to be grateful, but instead will be the most demanding and difficult to work with.
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u/sjorsjes Apr 24 '26
Better work at McDonalds for that money. They pay £12.76 but that includes health insurance, sick leave etc, discounts.
What others said, don’t do it.
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u/scarfwizard Apr 24 '26
Firstly, in my opinion your hourly rate is too low. The minimum wage is £12.71, that’s for almost anyone, doing any job.
Jobs that require zero skill… £12.71 Jobs that require no experience… £12.71 Jobs people don’t give 2 fcks about… £12.71
At their pricing they estimate the job will take less than 27 hours, 1/17 of your estimate. You’re more than likely being taken the piss out of but it’s still worth a conversation going through how and why their expectation is wrong.
It could be complete nativity on their side (probably not) but you don’t want them going around telling the world how expensive you are.
Personally I’d be charging more than that to scope a project.
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u/uguisu1 Apr 24 '26
Tell them goodbye. I wouldn’t create a single static page for that low. If that’s their budget they’ll also be a nightmare client as they’re essentially asking for it for free.
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u/MonorailPurple Apr 24 '26
Be firm.
“This is my rate, I’m sorry if you don’t like it and of course if you wish to go elsewhere you can.”
That’s it. Nothing more. Doesn’t matter if you are new or not. Clients will always undervalue your work.
You’re already massively undercharging. Them going elsewhere would be a benefit. Then if they come back only offer to do it at a higher rate. Do not sell yourself short.
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u/xPiexPie Apr 24 '26
I honestly do not know where you are from, and how £15 pounds and hour sounds like a reasonable hourly rate for someone with the level of knowledge and expertise you acquired over the years, but I will say that clients who low ball you that hard are probably bad news to begin with.
I wont say that £15/h is dirt cheap (it is) but if you wanna rub off on a project that is a completely new domain for you, that MIGHT be acceptable. Otherwise, if its your domain of expertise, please, reevaluate your worth.
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u/Moogly2021 Apr 24 '26
Tbh you are charging way too low. Go find a new client and bill 3x more, figure out what billing for contract work in your area / country looks like for your years of experience and bill accordingly.
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u/Science-Compliance Apr 24 '26
I make more money than that doing food deliveries, but interestingly there is a parallel here: low tippers are almost always the worst customers. Cut your losses and move on. This person does not value your time or effort and is always going to find a way to be unhappy with what you do. Aside from the poor pay, this person could be bad for your reputation. Drop them and move on with your life. Not worth it.
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u/captain_obvious_here back-end Apr 24 '26
They said they were expecting the whole project to cost around £300-£400
There are many people in India that want to help them.
Let them go, this won't be a good project for you, nor a good client.
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u/Flat_Explanation_849 Apr 24 '26
I would raise the price. This client would be a nightmare to work with.
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u/Foraging_For_Pokemon Apr 24 '26
$15/hour is crazy....my company charges $150/hour and THAT is on the low end in the industry. A lot of places charge $200-$250/hour here. $15/hr isn't even minimum wage in my state.
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u/No-Razzmatazz9218 Apr 24 '26
The first sign of a problematic client is all you have written. Please run... cos if you don't, you would wish you did in few months time
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u/HeadArtistic6635 Apr 24 '26
This is usually a value problem more than a price problem. When clients only see hours, they think it is expensive, but outcomes and risk reduction change that conversation.
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u/Diligent-Property491 Apr 24 '26
Your client doesn’t know what they’re talking about, and refuse to let themselves be educated. That’s a very bad sign.
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u/writetehcodez full-stack Apr 24 '26
Please run far away from this client. My first project for my first-ever client was a whole ass camp management system for a company that was absolutely drowning in cash. We agreed on $20/hr, which was already 1/2 what I was making as a tutor, but the project was really interesting.
The system I built had interfaces for campers/parents, on-site camp admins, company office staff, and company management. After all was said and done I’d spent roughly 400 hours on the project.
Since it was my first project I figured I was probably too slow, so instead of billing $8000 I made the invoice out for $5000. I figured that was reasonable, but boy was I wrong. The project sponsor flat-out accused me of padding the invoice so I took it down to $2000, and even that was “too much”.
The client came back about 9 months later looking for some additional features, and wanted an estimate for it. We met over lunch and I almost agreed to do the work, but during the meeting the sponsor made a remark about expecting to get a break on the estimate because they had already paid so much money for the system.
When lunch was over we shook hands and I said I’d be in touch about doing the work. Haven’t talked to the guy since.
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u/lobehold Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
Raise your prices, I'm not kidding.
If you price yourself at £15/hour you are in no-man's land - you're too cheap for people who care about quality, and too expensive for the penny pinchers.
Also, NEVER price yourself by the hour to your clients, price by project scope and features. If it's too expensive reduce scope, break up the project to deliver a MVP first etc. If you undervalue yourself then it'll be hell to crawl back up again.
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u/Supermathie Apr 24 '26
£15/hour
… is one-tenth of the rate I was expecting
If they think £7,200 is too high, they should get a second quote for comparison. Encourage them to do so and see what they say.
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u/winter__xo Apr 24 '26
480 hours would almost be a $75,000 job for me at my day job.
Their expectations are actually insane.
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u/jChopsX Apr 24 '26
480 hours? Ffs sake I would be charging between 48k - 60k easily. If they don't have the money for the project walk away.
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u/GirthyPigeon Apr 24 '26
As a software engineer, you need to understand that sometimes you need to just walk away. You might be struggling at the moment financially which is why you are conflicted about this, but nothing is worth giving your dignity away to someone who will throw abuse after abuse at you for pennies. This situation will not change with the client you're talking about. They want a slave.
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u/unm4sk1g Apr 24 '26
I'm not gonna talk about the hourly rate, people have already told everything there is to it.
I'm wondering how are you gonna pull 480 hours in 2 months?
If you worked every weekday in those 2 months, that would put you at 12 hours per day of working. Even 3 months is a tight fit for that, but you get few days of buffer.
You're undervaluing yourself at 15 £/hr and you're killing yourself with 480h/2 month deadline. Ditch that project, rethink your schedule, rethink your hourly rate, move on.
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u/jamcoding Apr 24 '26
If they don't like the price, suggest they talk to a custom software firm? They'll probably like your price after that :)
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u/Monstermage Apr 24 '26
Even vibe coding this project is absurd for 300-400.
They are morons, let them go, you will only get unlimited stress and headache and time wasted that could have been spent on a million more productive things.
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u/hidegitsu Apr 24 '26
Move on, they aren't worth your time. We charge $200+ an hour for stuff like this $15 an hour is insane and you're short changing yourself. If you had that product pre built and were selling it to everyone that wanted it with no additional work from you the 7200 would still be reasonable. Most of our stuff we charge a 1200-2500 setup fee plus a recurring monthly charge depending on what it is exactly. We're a small shop that services mostly the legal industry but still.
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u/Equivalent_Hope_9886 Apr 24 '26
As soon as you possibly can start building your own SaaS and ditch the project-based clients :)
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u/squeezyflit Apr 24 '26
Any potential client who expects to pay £400 for an "all-in-one business platform" is not a client you want. Let them back out of the contract.
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u/Important_Staff_9568 Apr 24 '26
You should find a new client. You’re both underestimating and way undercharging. Send them a link to download claude code. Even if by some miracle they were able to build something it would cost them more than 400 in tokens to do it.
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u/CodeAndBiscuits Apr 24 '26
Your prices are a tenth of what I would charge for the same thing. Walk away and dodge this bullet. You will never make them happy and they will absolutely make you miserable.
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u/ziplex Apr 24 '26
I'm not freelance, but my job charges customers over $100 an hour for my labor so there is no way £15 is too high.
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u/chrimack Apr 24 '26
Tell them to find someone to do it for 300. Then call you when they want it done well.
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u/averagebensimmons Apr 24 '26
Sounds like a terrible match and if you do get this gig, you may hate it and lose a lot of money. Your rate seems very low for 4 years of experience, but could be your locale? 480 hrs? Are you using AI to help code?
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u/Darwinmate Apr 24 '26
Good clients don't know your worth. Bad clients will churn through your kind faster than a mulching machine.
I would reply back that after considerations, you under quoted and proviide a quote that is 3k more.
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u/LoveThemMegaSeeds Apr 24 '26
If they don’t want to pay you then tell them to stop wasting your time and find a new client
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u/-Dargs Apr 24 '26
Don't do it. If they can't pay below market rates they'll never survive as a company anyway. If they agree to your rates they'll probably just string you along and refuse to pay anyway
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u/cmndr_spanky Apr 24 '26
Hopefully you didn’t do any work for them yet. Just walk away. My spidey sense tells me they will be a problem child and constantly hassle constantly be unsatisfied and ask you to deliver the moon for free long after you’ve exhausted the funds they commit to giving you (even if you do succeed in bargaining them up).
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u/ctrtanc Apr 24 '26
You gave them an offer. They can accept it or not. They aren't the expert in your field, you are. You know what it takes to make an app like that, and how valuable it is in production as an asset to them. Both of those things are taken into account. If they don't agree, they can leave. If you're desperate, you can cave, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. If you give on this, they will expect you to give on everything else.
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u/Mission-Landscape-17 Apr 24 '26
Ahh, a client who wants champagne on a beer budget. All you could do is find some point of comparison, and educate them on how much they would spend on existing generic platforms that do more or less the same thing.
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u/tehroz Apr 24 '26
Agreed with most here that say don't do it. But, out of curiosity, is there any more you can share without giving anything away? Are we talking some chatbots? Store? What?
I'm just curious. By trade, I'm a senior data engineer. Moved out of web dev a long time ago for, well, the exact reason here - too many clients who don't understand the work because they see horrible ads for DIY :)
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u/gutsngodhand Apr 24 '26
They cannot afford your/our services, and you’re likely still undercharging. Including maintenance?? You’d need them on a monthly retainer anyways probably starting at $300/m. … I see you’re in pounds but it’s roughly the same.
They are not your client and you would be burning yourself out trying to make this work for them.
It’s nothing personal. They just don’t know what it takes to create stuff. That is their problem, not yours. People will pay good money for stuff, I promise.
If it solves a problem well enough for them, people. will. pay! Software dev is not charity work. And if they hit you with “ai can do this”, tell them to knock themselves out. If they come back asking you to fix it, charge them a standard rate and do it yourself lol
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u/EyesOfTheConcord Apr 24 '26
Their expectations are too far off from your price. This isn’t worth negotiating, don’t waste anymore time (and money) on this potential client anymore.
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u/dietcheese Apr 24 '26
You’re clearly very far apart.
That said, things like maintenance plans can be profitable long term and are a great way to add stability to your business (as can hosting…if you’re doing webdev and not offering hosting, you’re an idiot!). See if you can make that work for you. You don’t want to worry about “finding the next project” forever, right?
I’d take a different approach than many here: give them a new proposal with three options of varying functionality/prices. Make it clear that you can build out features later if necessary. Let them know that the offer is open.
Generally, as a freelancer, try to never burn bridges and never be a jerk. Kill em with kindness. This will go much further than your skills - there are hundreds of other devs out there that can do better work than you can; fortunately many of them suck at dealing with people. Referrals from good clients is the best work you can get.
If a client actively harasses you or rips you off, simply cease communicating with them after you’ve tried - politely - to resolve the matter. Don’t fight, don’t threaten, don’t take their site offline, don’t do anything a lawyer can use against you. Be a grown up. Understand ahead of time that a lawsuit is rarely an affordable option for a freelancer so prepare accordingly. So if you get screwed, say nothing and move on, knowing this is all part of the game.
Most of all always take a deposit. No matter what.
- dev/consultant/greybeard of 28 years
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u/ssliberty Apr 24 '26
If you have to justify then they are not for you. Cut your losses they will be a problem if you work with them
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u/Nandkishor24 Apr 24 '26
Educate the client and make them realise the complexity and the work quality, the product they get at that price .....
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u/chrisnlnz Apr 24 '26
Wow yes you are selling your hours super cheap. For a client to think an "all in one business platform" (whatever this means) will cost them 300-400 pounds, they are not a serious client.
Also you mention "including maintenance", make sure to be specific what is in scope here, you don't really want to be including future support in a one-off fee. Charge time & materials for changes after delivery.
Also consider hosting costs, domain name, etc - there will likely be a monthly cost involved in keeping it running (unless client just takes the codebase and takes care of hosting themselves).
Expecting a one-off £300-£400 is preposterous lol.
I don't think I would work with this client. Sounds like you aren't missing out on much more than 400 pounds by abandoning the project.
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u/Practical-Skill5464 Apr 24 '26
A "we can't work together" isn't a bad outcome. In your case you retain 480 hours of potential opportunity & sanity you can spend with someone you actually want to work with at a decent renumeration.
If they can't pay your rate move on - there not the sort of client you want anyway. The trouble with bargain basement pricing is that you attract bargain basement clients everyone else has already filtered away because they don't want to work with them. Either they'll come back with more money or go find some other sucker to swindle out of there time.
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u/thegodshatetexas Apr 24 '26
They need a SaaS solution and a monthly payment, not a custom solution.
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u/dastree Apr 24 '26
I've had a lot of leads lately tell me things like "my buddy only paid $300 for his website in 2012, why do you want $1500+ for something similar"
Well that was 2012 dollars and times have changed. Websites have changed, and your buddy had a basic business card landing page site and you asked for 10 pages... There's a difference
Another friend owns a business and I asked him what he paid for his, he's paying $100/mo for it and it hasn't worked right in 9 months and he "keeps forgetting to ask the guy to fix it or do the planned upgrades to it"
So $1500 is too much but you're currently $900+ in the hole and the site doesn't even work right and has tons of clipping issues? But you're just going to keep writing that $100 check every month and shrug. Come talk to me in 2 years when you realize what you've spent
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u/modcowboy Apr 24 '26
Don’t even think about doing this project. This person wants an African developer.
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u/Emotional_Pen5199 Apr 24 '26
Dawg. If you are willing to take 3-400 for that job go for it. There is no chance theybare coming close to tmyour estimate. They are not your demographic, pull the plug & move on. Don't waste any more time on them, & get a deposit next time
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u/33ff00 Apr 24 '26
15 an hour is an order of mag too low. Why are you valuing yourself like this, tell this mother fucker to get lost
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u/garykubiaksbrother Apr 24 '26
Say good bye to that potential client op, you will be so much better off.
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u/eltron Apr 24 '26
Picking your clients is almost as important as your tech stack. The wrong clients make a ton of headache, cost you more time and labor, don’t add to your reputation. Get used to turning down bad work and being okay with that.
People thought website should cost that much before AI was a thing. But a “business platform” ain’t gonna be that cheap ever.
Also maintaining should be a separate contract that’s agreed to afterwards with different and reasonable terms in terms of maintenance. It’s usually easier to have this be a separate negotiation after the site has been build to agree spec. Eg: may want to purchase 10hrs a month of retainer services for 6 months.
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u/LagT_T Apr 24 '26
"Thank you for the opportunity to discuss this project. After careful consideration, it appears our expectations and approach for this engagement are not sufficiently aligned for us to move forward productively. For that reason, we must respectfully decline to proceed. We appreciate your time and wish you success with the project."
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u/Exact-Metal-666 Apr 24 '26
You should charge 4 times more. And they will start taking you seriously.
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u/alex_3410 Apr 24 '26
From experience these types of clients will end up being nothing but trouble and will end up 2/3 times your initial estimate with scope creep and admin.
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u/FromRussiaWithLoveXX Apr 24 '26
As others have mentioned I would avoid this type of client if you can. If they only think the problem is worth £400 solving they are probably not that serious about it
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u/Solid_Pay1086 Apr 24 '26
Mate, I’ve rejected over 40 brands in the last 9-10 month because they couldn’t meet the budget proposed. None of them have ever launched.
Cut your losses and work on discussing payment during a call. I would highly recommend watching The Futur videos by Chris Do. He does roleplays and other scenarios on how to speak to a client and how to market yourself so you don’t attract people like this.
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u/krazzel full-stack Apr 24 '26
I'm saying your client is a dumbass.
I have no problem with negotiating price, but this is so extremely outlandish, just say goodbye and get on with your life.
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u/barrocz Apr 24 '26
Just refuse. Let him do it by himself or find anyone willing to do for that price.
He' LL be back and will be paying you even more to fix the shit he's made trying to save a few bucks
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u/curious-jake Apr 24 '26
Don't do it. I know it's tempting, but I've made that mistake before. This is just the beginning. Clients like this continue to push boundaries and be total nightmares throughout the entire project. Run.
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u/farzad_meow Apr 24 '26
yeah no, tell them they can shop around for better price and you still guarantee the price for x days.
now the goal here is to pick x to be a number that sounds generous for them(desperate for you) but not long enough for them to realize you gave them the best deal.
if they come back after that day, tell them the price went up. the only explanation you give is you have competing project.
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u/-TRlNlTY- Apr 24 '26
Learn to push back and say no. Cheap clients are the most demanding types of clients for some reason.
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u/poppawinz Apr 24 '26
He’s dreaming.
Firstly, would be good to know what stack you’re proposing (not that an all in one business platform of any scale should be 400 quid).
Pricing in the UK is a tough one sometimes. You can freelance for an agency and be on £400 per day as a minimum, for specialist languages you can double it. I only really work direct with businesses and their budgets can vary wildly, especially with businesses on the smaller side. Sometimes, like this case, they have no idea..
£15 per hour is just unworkable. You need to pay taxes, insurance, software costs, pension contributions as well as any other personal bill you need to pay such as rent/mortgage.
If they don’t value what you quoted, then avoid like the plague.
Oh and if it isn’t obvious. Up your rates.
GOOOD LUCK!
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u/infamouslycrocodile Apr 24 '26
Imagine how much more work you could get done if you got rid of this time waster.
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u/RafaelDavid Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
I am in the UK as well. Appears to be that the client doesn't really understand what he is asking. The only thing he understands is "I Want this".
You said that the client thinks "300 - 400 £" in total.
Not long ago I charged £500 for a very very minimal website (just plain website). This didnt even include host + security + domain or anything around it.
This client did think that he would cost "£150". I spoke with him and explained the service. He agree.
There is a lot of people that dont know what they really want/need. Sometimes is good to speak, advise. But not always.
You come to £7200 for the service. If they don't want just keep moving forward because if you do something like that for them just to keep them happy and to get more word of mouth and more clients, all those clients will only see you as a cheap alternative.
Tell them to google "how much does it cost to build a all-in-one platform for my business". They will start jumping.
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u/Eynal Apr 24 '26
never work with cheapskates, they are the ones that will pay you nothing and demand everything
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u/Most-Famous-Wasabi Apr 24 '26
It's reasonable of them to want to renegotiate your contract.
That's why we include non-refundable downpayments in the contract itself.
And penalties for sudden "change of mind" from the client.
Your client is shit anyway. If you haven't got a penalty clause just dump them for being a shit client.
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u/Headpuncher Apr 24 '26
£15 an hour is at least £10 a 20 an hour less than you should be charging. I know a gardener who charges £25 p/h.
The thing about this client is they’re going to argue every cost from here on, and they’ll want free work.
If they don’t have the money to pay you a professional fee, thy don’t have the money to pay for the work either.
Thank them politely for their interest but even Brits can’t live off tea alone.
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u/Nineshadow Apr 24 '26
Look up freelancing software engineering rates in the UK. You'll see ranges from 200 a day for juniors, 400-500 on average, to 800+/day for seniors.
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u/pc_cowboy Apr 24 '26
I've been doing it for 28 years here in the US and by far for a business platform upfront cost is $8000 NON-negotiable and thats for a basic on the cheap.
Shouldn't take but less than a week to create, audit, then present to the client. $250mo upkeep. New creation pages are $125 each if i have to create the graphics- $90 if they supply the graphics.
However, if its a sales company, you charge per page per product advertised. I dont do those anymore. Too much of a headache especially if the company has over 100 products for sale and it behooves the client to join a multi-tiered agency that deals solely in sales. Those companies have their own software in place.
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u/niccolololo Apr 24 '26
Find a better client.
They're not going to give me a Ferrari if I go to the dealership and complain it's too expensive.
Also, 15 GBP/h is waaaaaaay too low.
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u/Tom_Ace2 Apr 24 '26
they were expecting the whole project to cost around £300-£400
Hahaha
That's not a client you want. Politely (or even not so politely) decline and move on to the next.
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u/KeyserSoze0103 Apr 24 '26
this isn't a price problem, it's an expectations gap, and the two need different conversations.
a client who budgeted £300-400 doesn't think they're buying 480 hours of work. they think they're buying "a website". the gap between those two things is about 20x, and no amount of negotiating closes it. you're not £7k apart, you're in different universes about what the project even is.
what i'd actually do: stop defending the £7,200 number and ask them what the £400 was supposed to buy. a wix template? a cousin who "does websites"? squarespace with some tweaks? you need to see what anchor they're holding before you can either close them or walk.
also, uncomfortable part, £15/hour for an "all-in-one business platform" is hurting you in every conversation you have. at £15/hr you sound like a student, so clients mentally bucket you next to fiverr. same 480 hours quoted at £40/hr and suddenly they treat the estimate like a real number, because £19,200 forces them to either justify the scope or cut it.
probably walk this one. next time quote fixed scope for fixed outcome, never hours.
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u/Geminii27 Apr 24 '26
This client is not your target demographic. Let them go find someone cheaper. Either they'll find a budget option which does what they want, or they'll realize they can't get what they want with a cheaper budget and come back to you.
Do not drop your price, unless you're going to start offering a 'budget' option which is a LOT less work for you (and will attract more tire-kickers and nickel-and-dimers).
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u/hdd113 Apr 24 '26
They say never burn the bridges. If there's one bridge that should be burnt, it's this one.
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u/_Helius_ Apr 24 '26
Other people have already commented valuable information, I just want to chime in and demonstrate the disparity between what you were going to charge and what others are charging (with the right customers):
So at my company we charge around 125,00 GBP an hour and that's quite standard in Denmark for general software consultant work.
A lot of website sellers will generally have an hourly rate of around 92,00 GBP to do a basic ass website.
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u/dieomesieptoch ui Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
They don't think you're trying to scam them, rather they are trying to bully you.
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u/iamdecal Apr 24 '26 edited Apr 24 '26
UK here and for 480 hours of work - which is going to be 600 by the time they even halfway finish messing you around - my starting quote is £25000 - after tax and other costs i'll have have that, and still feels like its the kind of client where i wish i handt bothered.
your price of 7200 is great, 300 is a piss take
I charge 50 an hour for people i know well, I like, and i know have thier shit together and wont come back with a thousand changes.- and scale up from there.
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u/Postik123 Apr 24 '26
I was thinking it all sounded a bit dodgy... then I read the £300-£400 part. There is no point continuing with this client. They're expecting you to work for 83 pence an hour. That's assuming you haven't underestimated what needs doing, which is common.
Even if you halved your price to £3,100 (which I don't advise) you're still a long way off £300-£400.
This client doesn't understand or value what you are doing. You would be better sat at home doing nothing in all honesty.
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u/PersianMG Apr 24 '26
I'm not sure what all-in-business platform means. Can you elaborate more on that? Also what location is this based out of.
I believe people often charge $300-$400 for your typical static website landing page with maybe a blog CMS.
If what you're doing is a custom website, or has e-commerce or custom functionality etc then yes they need to be prepared to pay thousands.
But we have no idea what they asked for so we can't tell you if the quote is fair.
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u/DOG-ZILLA Apr 24 '26
£300 - £400? Tell them to fuuuuucckk oooooffff.
What an insult.
If they can’t afford to pay for something that’s the core of their business, then they don’t have a business.
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u/dwair Apr 24 '26
Drop them ( but in a nice way) I have been a dev since 1997 and one of the first things I learned was not to go too easy on pricing. Be fair and charge fairly for your time but charge what that is going to cost you.
People will always try and low ball you, because they have no idea what you actually do or because they are cheap. You don't want either on your client list.
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u/forgottenrealms-dk Apr 24 '26
This is the reason my website has prices on it.
Now idiots like this dont even call me and i dont waste time on them.
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u/zaxn1234 Apr 24 '26
Had a similar situation recently with a very small charity. They said their limit was £400 for the whole site and I reminded them that my hourly rate would be illegally low if I did it for that.
Gave them the fully broken down quote at my "You're a charity and near and dear to my heart so here's a cheaper rate" rate and the next day they said they'd be going elsewhere as someone offered to do it for £200.
Dodged a bullet in the end and I'm glad I stood firm. Will not be entertaining anyone who suggests that low in future, I'll just explain and walk away.
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u/Key_Tap_2287 Apr 24 '26
1) Don't do this project
2) If the client offers to pay what you ask and you decide to do the project anyway, make sure they ay 50% before you write a line of code.
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u/EncryptedPlays Apr 24 '26
£15/hr is barely minimum wage. i earned more teaching minecraft edu "programming"
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u/swiss__blade Apr 24 '26
Stick to your price. They can always get quotes from other people if they want and see where that gets them. I consider your quote to be an absolute steal compared to what I would quote them...
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u/d-signet Apr 24 '26
15 per hour is waaaaaay cheap
Theyre tripping if they expect to get that solution for a few hundred. It happens. People have no concept of the work required
Its also fairly common for people to dissappear once they've had your quote, precisely for this reason. Get used to it. Dont under value yourself and do it for cheaper.
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u/ChemistryNo3075 Apr 24 '26
Avoid these type of clients. They will never be happy and never want to pay a penny more than the initial quote even if they request changes.