I am a freelance web developer in India, charging between 250 and 300 rupees/hour for domestic clients.
Now I have discussions ongoing regarding certain projects in the Middle East. How much can I charge them per hour? Would it be the same rate as I charge for domestic clients, or can I increase the rate? If I can, what would be a fair rate?
Your hourly rate would totally depend on your own skills. If your client is a technical guy, it will take him, say, one hour of Skype calling to understand how good you are.
I run a startup web development company. My hourly rates as per my skills and expertise (for all clients, irrespective of the geographic location) are somewhat like:
You have to define a standard for yourself according to the services you have to offer.
I'm going to go with my favorite accounting answer on this one, "it depends". The direct answer to your questions is that for international developers I've heard them charging anywhere between between $12 to $55 per hour.
The more roundabout answer is it depends on the client. Unless you are working through a third party you have the opportunity to conduct a client interview to get as much information as possible: specifically what do they value and what does their budget look like?
For instance if their budget is $1000 and they want to get a number of features out in one week well then the most you can get out of them will be $25/hr. But what if its $10,000? Then your upper limit is $250/hr. How can you convince them you are worth that much? By aligning what you deliver around what they value.
What I've done is experiment from client to client. I've tried to offer different hourly rates or weekly rates. This way I can find what works best for not only me but the different kind of clients I've had.
Good luck!
I had looked into what you are asking; I had talked to some developers and found that the average rate they are charging internationally is approx. 25-30 USD/hr.
You can use the same as it is ideally an international project.
On the other hand, it would be better if you approximated what the amount of work required is, how much time it will take and how much are you expecting from it as a complete project. Once you are done with the calculations, quote the price per hour accordingly.
I would like to supplement the existing answers.
The services you offer have a business value. For example, if your work may double their sales revenue but it only takes you 20 hours to do the work, you may want to charge more than 6000 rupees. You can make a proposal that sells these results rather than focusing solely on hourly rate.
This is the difference between business value and your going rate. I just had a client who needed some changes done which had a really low business value; their website had a bug that was just a minor inconvenience for them. The work cost a lot of time for me to fix, though, so they didn't think it was reasonable to spend so much time and money fixing such a seemingly small issue. I had to explain the lengthy process through email, and since they were a long-standing client they decided to move forward anyway. If I hadn't done a lot of work for them already I am sure they would've rejected my proposal.
You really have to balance your rate with a client's expectations. This is why sales is difficult to freelancers, especially in a global market where clients expect a lower, competitive price. You will find clients that focus solely on price. However, some people will understand what you offer: a partner that's willing to solve their issues and communicate effectively.
To answer your question more directly: price will be an issue to some. Since they are outsourcing their work, they may be shopping around. Research the market prices, but make sure at the very minimum that you price fairly for yourself (so that you can eat and live). Be confident in your proposal. If they object to your price despite your best proposal, you may also want to offer alternatives, like less work at a lower price.
Good luck!
Your hourly rate doesn't matter what you do generally should depend on following factors:
These points should be sufficient to answer your question.
Where in the middle east? Cairo and Beirut are not the same, for example. Beirut is one of the most expensive cities in the world.
I used to live in Beirut. I would charge between $20 and $30 if I was there.
I you're in other countries, maybe less.
But if you're working from India, and your regular rates are around $7/hour, then why quadruple them. Just double them and you will be comfortable with them while still having very competitive rates. Now you can drive people like me out of the market.
