Fee Schedule / Structure

Effective July 1st, 2018.

 

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Short Background and Explanation

I (Jared Frenzel Owner/Certified Web Developer of JTag Internet Design, LLC) have been doing web design and development for over 20 years (since 1999 for a site I created for myself). And for over 20 years I have done countless web and digital development projects professionally at well below market value and even sometimes at no cost. You may ask “Why?” and that is what I had to ask myself as well.

When I first set up JTag Internet Design as a business I did so immediately after being on the other side, as a client, of a large web and advertising firm. This firm had a very good sales rep that sold the company, I was working for, a $5000++/month contract and locked them into it for 2 years.  As part of the $5000++/month retainer the web development firm did a redesign of the site and promised “exclusivity” on their services for our market. It took their team about 7 or 8 months to complete the redesign and then continued to what amounted to just hosting the site, technical support and a few blog postings a quarter. They turned the management of the content of the site over to us (the client) while still charging $5000++/month (totaling nearly $200,000 at the end of the 2 year contract). When we could not do certain things, on the closed source, proprietary administration side of the website we asked them to assist. But those requests were filtered through an account rep which in most cases had to respond to us with “let me submit a ticket” or “let me ask the engineers”. Finally a few days, to upwards of a week would go by, and then the account rep would email us with a timeline of when the request would be completed, if it could be completed at all. Sometimes it would take an additional 2-3 weeks for a task to be completed. With my background and position, at the company I worked for, I was charged with updating events and other content on the site. One of the things that I will always remember with this $5000++/month fiasco was when we requested a fairly common feature to be added to the site. Once again we submitted the request and about a week later we receive a response from the account rep that the request was impossible to do with the website. This flabbergasted me. I already had an idea of how I could make it work (outside of their proprietary system and integrate it into the site) so I immediately went to work and 2 hours later was able to accomplish what the high dollar professional web development firm was not able to do.

As a result of that horrible experience as a client of a large web and advertising firm, I set much of my original fee schedule and structure up in protest of such firms. I would often quote and/or accept projects and tasks at well below market value and sometimes not even charge for certain things as I did not want to “nickle and dime” my clients. I would find the best low cost/no cost  solutions that I could offer my clients to bring down the cost of development and self management. I would also go way beyond the scope of projects in order to complete the project more fully without charging the client extra. This included not charging for hours expended in excess of “estimated” hours to complete a task, project, or site and would not stop and leave it incomplete when budgeted hours were exhausted. This has been the case for well over a decade now. Also in that time my skills and experience have grown significantly, yet I have always tried to keep my hourly fee the same and quote projects below market value in order to make the client happy. I have also balked on setting firm maintenance and management fees and conditions and sticking to them. I always go the extra mile (and sometimes seemingly hundreds of extra miles) and have exceeded client expectation so much that is has noticeably become the expectation. It also has perpetuated a referral system (which I am grateful for but,) that expects little to no fee for my professional services. As a result I have negotiated down my fee drastically or sometimes have lost potential clients that were sticker shocked by market value web development costs.

Please understand that my commitment and integrity to my clients has not wavered and has grown stronger. Unfortunately many have come to expect this high level of service and commitment from a professional at little to no cost. Thus it must noted here for transparency and clarity. Please note that JTag Internet Design follows a standard 8am-5pm (“local time“) work day Monday-Friday. Any work requested or expected out of business hours, weekends or holidays without the “Concierge Level Retainer” will incur additional fees. Please also note that many in the industry have a standard 1 business day response time for responding to communications, then assessing an additional timeline for completing tasks. I have often went above and beyond and have had many of the smaller tasks and projects completed within that 1 business day window. Although this is what I strive for in my business this should not be construed as the expectation, but my discretion. Please understand that going forward communications may be responded to in the standard business model of 1 business (24 hour) day. This means that any project/tasks needing immediate response or completion within that 1 business day, without the “Concierge” level retainer or not considered an emergency while under any retainer, will be assessed a rush fee based on the need of completion or response. Please also note that communications after 5pm “local time”, without the “Concierge” level retainer, will be considered received at 8am “local time” at the start of the next standard business day. Please also note that communications received on the weekend (Saturday and Sunday), without the “Concierge” level retainer will be considered received at 8am “local time” Monday.

JTag Internet Design will continue to offer standard month-to-month retainer agreements, many can be cancelled at any time. Long-Term contracts may be deemed necessary in some cases or at the request of the client.

I have contemplated updating the fee schedule for a while and have made some small changes lately, but effective July 1st, 2018 the fee structure and schedule below will be adhered to indefinitely. The clients that have active agreements in place prior to July 1st, 2018 and continue to do so without pause or cancellation will be grandfathered in under the agreed upon terms and fee schedule.

Please also note that the goal and mission of JTag Internet Design is still the same: to provide Smarter, Better, Cost Effective Web Development and this is done by using the knowledge and skills that I have acquired over the years to complete a project/task more fully with less development time and to “Empower” the client with the most user friendly, no-cost/low-cost tools available to maintain and manage their sites on their own. If a client is unable to do so, does not have the time or would just rather have JTag Internet Design do it, that is where the need for much of the hard and fast fee structure is needed for clarity and transparency.

Please note that the below fee schedule/structure is subject to change at any moment without notification.

Thank you,
Jared Frenzel
Owner, JTag Internet Design

Project Based Fees

JTag Internet Design prefers to work with project based fees. Often these fees are flat fees for the completion of a project or task. This allows for flexibility on projects that may require more time or resources without incurring additional fees to the client within the scope and agreement of the project.

Website Design and Development

  • Full website (Creation or Redesign): Use of price calculator will determine fee based off of desired development options.
    • Payment options include “50/50” or monthly.
  • Landing Page (Creation or Redesign): $200 per page

App Development

  • Hybrid App Development (iOS and Android): Use of price calculator will determine fee based off of desired development options.
    • Payment options include “50/50” or monthly.
    • Please note that the App will either be maintained or managed by JTag Internet Design with ongoing maintenance/management retainer or 100% wholly by client in which client assumes all responsibility of maintenance, management and updates.

Auxiliary Tasks/Projects/Services

  • Includes anything that is not specifically listed in this fee schedule. These will be assessed either by comparable market value or at hourly rate.
    • Payment options may include 100% upfront, “50/50” or monthly.

Technical Support

  • Hands off Support: $75/month retainer
  • Hands on Support: Starts at $200/month retainer

Maintenance

Considered to be proactively updating and maintaining of technical components of the website/app. Includes Hands on Technical Support.

  • Website Maintenance: Starts at $300/month (per domain) retainer
    • Hands on Technical Support
    • Proactive Updates to website technical components
      • Updates to WordPress Core Files, Theme and Plugin Files
    • Website level caching for speed improvement
    • Malware scans and removal
    • Local and offsite backups (and restoration if needed)
    • Includes option for JTag Internet Design to host site on fast Managed Virtual Private Servers (VPS) at no additional cost ($180/month value as compared to Godaddy’s Value Tier Fully Managed VPS with Deluxe Security)
      • 10X – 100X faster than standard shared hosting providers
      • Server level Firewall, Malware Scans, and Anti-DDOS for extra security
      • Server Level Caching for enhanced speed
      • Includes server level setup, monitoring, management, maintenance and patches/updates if hosted by JTag Internet Design (*server management not dictated by client)
    • Cloudflare DNS, CDN (Content Delivery Network), caching, speed and security integration at no additional cost
    • Secure hosting SSL certificates at no additional cost ($80/year value as compared to Godaddy Standard SSL)
  • App Maintenance: starts at $750/month retainer
    • Hands on Technical Support
    • Proactive Updates to online web server technical components
    • Malware scans and removal on online web server
    • Biannual Framework updates
    • Includes option for JTag Internet Design to host web delivered content on fast exclusive Managed Virtual Private Servers (VPS) at no additional cost
      • Includes server level management, maintenance and updates if web delivered content is hosted by JTag Internet Design
    • Cloudflare DNS, CDN (Content Delivery Network), caching, speed and security integration at no additional cost
    • Secure hosting SSL certificates at no additional cost

Management

Considered to be updating and maintaining of content of the website/app including the addition of sections or pages. Includes Hands on Technical Support and Maintenance.

  • App Management: Starts at $1250/month retainer
    • Priority Support
    • Includes Maintenance
    • Content updates and additions (text, images, pages/screens, etc.)
    • Monthly and/or Weekly Analytics Reporting
    • Quarterly framework updates (more often at additional cost)
    • Includes once a year app redesign and full level versioning (more often at additional cost)
    • Includes option for JTag Internet Design to host web delivered content on fast exclusive Premium Level Managed Virtual Private Servers (VPS) at no additional cost
      • Option for Dedicated Server and server resources at additional cost
    • Cloudflare DNS, CDN (Content Delivery Network), caching, speed and security integration at no additional cost
    • Secure hosting SSL certificates at no additional cost
    • Ad Monetizing options available
    • Options for App marketing also available
    • Combination App and Website management at discounted package price

Concierge Level Retainer:

  • Starts at $4,500/month per domain/project
    • Priority service with 24 hour access via cell.
    • Also includes availability for weekends and holidays as needed.
    • All levels of support and support options.
    • Hosting on Fast Premium Level Managed Virtual Private Servers or Dedicated Server
      • VPS Servers 10X-100X faster than standard shared hosting
      • Dedicated Servers 250X-500X faster than standard shared hosting
        • Dedicated Servers and Resources based on Availability
  • Option for all available SEO, SEM, speed, security, email and other hosting options and upgrades.
  • Digital and Social Media Marketing Options and Discounts
  • In person meetings and collaboration.

Digital Services

  • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starts at $500/month retainer
    • Free Basic SEO Audit (contact to receive your free Basic SEO Audit)
    • Includes Comprehensive SEO Audit with competitor and Keyword Analysis with paid retainer
      • Comprehensive SEO Audit with competitor and Keyword Analysis available ala carte: ($950 per website audit)
    • Includes Implementation of SEO Recommendations
    • Monthly Performance updates
    • Continued SEO implementation based on analysis and recommendation
  • Email Marketing:
    • $200 per email designed/developed and delivered/sent for template/”drag & drop” design (Platform Fee not Included)
    • $400 per email designed/developed and delivered/sent for developer to custom design/code (Platform Fee not Included)
    • Or Monthly email marketing retainer starts at $300/month + Platform Fee
  • Digital Marketing: Management fee is 15% of ad the spend (minimum of $500/month ad management retainer)
    • Includes Search Engine Marketing (Google Ads) and Paid Social Media Advertising
    • No Set up Fee
    • No minimum media buy/ad spend
    • 5% media buy matching on ad spends more than $15,000/month
  • Social Media Assistance: Single account Posting up to 3 times a week: Starts at $175/month retainer
    • Please Note: Assistance Level only provides posting to social media, not “managing”, responding/engaging, paid marketing/ads, etc. Please see Management Level for additional services.
    • Additional accounts/networks add $100 per account
  • Single Social Media Management: Engaging and responding to comments/questions, “liking”, following”, re-sharing/re-posting, posting original content one to multiple times a day to account and more: Starts at $1500/month retainer

Consulting Retainer

  • Includes research, technical support as well as planning and strategy (“Hands off”): Starts at $650/month retainer
  • Includes research and development, technical support as well as planning and strategy (“Hands on”): Starts at $2000/month retainer

Sub Contract

Defined as when the end client pays you for services to which JTag Internet Design developers complete and you pay JTag Internet Design for the services performed.

  • Project/Task Based Sub Contract Work (without retainer): Project/Task rate at 15% discount on market value rate using cost calculator or $65/hr for web development based projects/tasks and $125/hr for app development based projects/tasks.
    • Please note hourly rates without retainer apply to any and all time expended by developer related to the sub-contract.
  • Availability Retainer: Starts at $850/month + $50/hr web development and/or $100/hr app development and/or 25% discount on market value project/task rate.
    • With the Availability retainer, hours are calculated at “Hand to Keyboard” hours.
    • Important! Availability retainer will be requested if the developer is expected to be available to client for regularly requested tasks, projects, services or communications throughout the month.
  • All inclusive Sub-contract retainer: Starts at $5000/month
    • “All Inclusive” refers to retaining the developer for availability as well as all tasks, projects and services performed without additional developer/labor fees.
  • Exclusive Sub-Contract and/or Full Time Employment: Minimum Annual Salary $90,000+Benefits with 2 year salary guarantee.

Sales Rep/Referral Commissions

Must be a warm and viable referral.  JTag Internet Design maintains all discretion on acceptance or non-acceptance of referral without reason or cause.

  • 25% commission for monthly retainers over $2500/month or total project fee over $7500
  • 15% commission for monthly retainers $1500-$2500 or total project fee $5000-$7500
  • 5% commission for monthly retainers $500-$1500 or total project fee $1000-$5000

Pro Bono

JTag Internet Design does offer pro bono services. Please note that pro bono services are at the discretion of JTag Internet Design and are considered very rare. Please understand that full pro bono (free) services require certain restrictions including restrictions on scope and aspects of the project. JTag Internet Design is very grateful and willing to work with 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organizations. Once again pro bono services may be offered, but discounts on services are more typical and are assessed at the discretion of JTag Internet Design based on the project. If you do not qualify as a non-profit and/or retain very high internal salaries or marketing it would be asked that you please pay market value for the services.

Hourly Fees

JTag Internet Design prefers to work with project and tasked based fees. If desired the client may request hourly fees to be assessed. Please note that hourly fees outside a retainer, project agreement or support agreement will be assessed for any and all activities that require the web developers attention. This includes but is not limited to: reading and responding to emails, calls, texts or other communications, research, development, testing, reviewing or anything else that time is expended for the benefit of the client. Although a client may ask for a quote on time or fee, it should be noted that many factors go into completing a request and may alter the final time/fee. If a budget for hourly fees is requested, the web developer will note time expended and will notify the client when budgeted time/budget has exceeded. At that time the task/project will be halted until an agreement is met for more hours to be expended on the project. Either way the client is responsible for payment of the accumulated hourly fee whether project is completed or not.

Non-Retainer Hourly Fees

  • Web Design/Development: $75/hr
  • App Development: $150/hr
  • Technical Support (“Hands Off”): $65/hr
  • Technical Support  (“Hands On” includes custom tutorials and videos): $75/hr
  • Web Consulting (“Hands Off”): $85/hr
  • Web Consulting (“Hands On” includes custom tutorials and videos): $125/hr

 

Additional Fees

  • Outside Business Hours including Weekend and Holidays (Applies to projects/tasks requested to be performed at those times outside Concierge Level Retainer or deemed “Non-Emergency” under any retainer. Please note JTag Internet Design reserves the right to perform or not perform work on associated tasks/projects during this time. If work is performed at the discretion of the developer without the request from the client, the client will not be penalized and will not incur an extra fee) :
    • Assessed at 250% increase in fee per task with minimum of $150
  • Rush/Expedited Service Request (Applies to projects/tasks requested to be performed within the following time frame outside Concierge Level Retainer or deemed “Non-Emergency” under any retainer. Please note JTag Internet Design reserves the right to perform or not perform work on associated tasks/projects within the following time frames. If work is performed at the discretion of the developer without the request from the client, the client will not be penalized and will not incur an extra fee. Please note that the following time frames include an “and/or” reference to “initial communication” and “resources delivered”. It shall be deemed a rush if initial communication is more than 24hrs, but resources to complete the task are delivered to the developer within the following time frames of the deadline to complete the task/project.) :
    • Within 3 hours of initial communication/resources delivered: Assessed at 500% increase in fee with minimum $250 fee.
    • Within 6 Hours of initial communication/resources delivered: Assessed at 400% increase in fee with minimum $200 fee
    • Within 12 Hours of initial communication/resources delivered: Assessed at 300% increase in fee with minimum $150 fee
    • Within 24 Hours of initial communication/resources delivered: Assessed at 200% increase in fee with minimum $100 fee
    • Any other Projects/Tasks deemed to be considered a “Rush” or “Expedited” will be assessed at JTag Internet Design’s discretion based on the project/task.
  • 3rd Party Fees: If JTag Internet Design is responsible for payment of 3rd party fees at the request of the client a 20% fee will be assessed on top of 3rd party rate
  • Late Fees: 
    • Per 30 days over due: will incur additional 15% Late fee compounded monthly
      • Any and all work shall cease until payment is received and debt is satisfied
    • If severely delinquent (6 months past due) it will be at JTag Internet Designs discretion to submit to a collection agency and/or attorney.
      • Client shall be responsible for all attorney fees and associated costs.
  • Failed Payment Fees (Returned Checks/Chargebacks/failed or decline electronic payment): 
      • An immediate $25 “returned check” + 15% of the open invoice and/or returned check amount fee added.
        • All work shall cease until payment is satisfied
        • Retraction/removal of services rendered from open invoice/payment failure at JTag Internet Design’s discretion
        • Immediate electronic payment (with an additional 5% service fee) or overnight check must be supplied to satisfy open debt and/or invoice
      • If not reconciled within 5 business days of notice to client, client will incur an additional 5% daily compounded interest until debt is satisfied or settlement reached
      • If escalated, client shall be responsible for all attorney fees and associated costs
      • Cancellation or Restructure of Agreement and/or Prepayment Retainer for services may be deemed applicable

Bartering of Services

  • Bartering/trading of services is solely at the discretion of JTag Internet Design and is not the desired form of payment and should be considered very rare.
    • Please keep in mind if accepted it will be a barter at market value for the services and/or partial monetary compensation must also be included.

 

Glossary and Definitions:

  • “50/50”
    • Referrers payment of 50% deposit before start of project/task and 50% balance due at end of project.
    • Examples: Total development fee is $10,000. $5000 will be required as a deposit to start the project. When project is completed and/or ready to launch the additional $5000 balance will come due.
  • Communications
    • Refers to any communication to the developer from the client for the benefit of the client project/task of the client.
    • Examples: Emails, calls, texts, Skype sessions, Join.me meetings, GoToMeeting, conference calls, etc.
  • “Custom Tutorial [Videos]”
    • There are many tutorials out there regarding web and digital development and services. Please take the time to Google them yourself. If you are needing a specific tutorial including typed, pictures and/or videos the developer can create specific custom tutorials for your need.
    • Examples: Custom tutorial video on how the client can maintain and manage their website. Custom typed explanation with images for managing a Google Ad Account.
  • “Emergency/Non-Emergency”
    • Emergency is typically deemed critical as to the structure of the website or app. Non-Emergency is typically deemed as relating to content or standard tasks/projects.  Each will be evaluated by the developer. Examples below are illustrations only and not all of the many diverse examples of both situations.
      • Example: Emergency – Client notices the website has a “500 Internal Server Error” Message on the front end of the website and contacts developer for assistance.
      • Example: Non-Emergency – Client needs assistance on a marketing email. Client needs assistance in adding content to a site. Client has a deadline fast approaching and turns to the developer in crisis to help.
  • “Hands Off”
    • Support via communication only. At no time will the developer access the administration side of the website, app, service, etc. Client assumes all responsibility for physical labor on said request.
      • Examples under Technical Support: Developer responding to professional opinion or technical questions via phone, text or email.
      • Examples under consulting: Planning, hand drawn wire framing, professional consulting and educating, collaborative online or phone meetings, etc.
  • “Hands On”
    • Support that includes the developer accessing the administration side of the website, app, service etc
      • Examples under Technical Support: Includes “Hands Off” support. Includes the developer accessing the administration side of the website, app, service, etc. The physical services of the developer will be limited and would only be used for minimal tasks and/or the technical aspects of a website, app, service, etc.
      • Examples under consulting: Includes “Hands Off” consulting support. Also includes physical collaboration with a team as well as accessing the administration side of the website, app, service, etc in collaboration of a team or project. Sole developer involvement/development for a specific project/task may increase this fee as well as physical location of collaboration.
  • “Hand to Keyboard”
    • Defined as actual development time. The time the developer is actually physically working on the task/project. Does not take into account time spend on communications or contemplation.
      • Examples: Developer starts tracking time when physically logging into a site to perform work and stops tracking when finished with the task. When invoicing the client the developer does not included the 2 hours of phone calls, email responses and research time specifically regarding the task performed.
  • “Local Time”
    • As defined by the timezone for where the client is and not necessarily the time zone of where JTag Internet Design is located. JTag Internet Design has clients in many different times zones, in order to provide the best service no matter where the client is, availability times are designated as “local time” to the client.
      • Example: The client is in Arizona and the time is 3:00pm on a Monday. The developer is in Virginia where it is 6:00pm. However since local time for the client is 3:00pm it still is considered within business hours.
      • Example: The client is in Arizona and the time is 5:30pm on a Friday and sends and email or communication to the developer. The communication is considered to be received after business hours on a weekend and would be considered received Monday morning at at 8:00am AZ time. If the expectation of the communication was to be reviewed and/or completed by the developer that Friday evening or over weekend additional fees would apply if client is not under the “Concierge Level” Retainer.
  • Maintenance
    • This specifically refers to maintaining and/or updating of the technical aspects of a website, app, server or project.
      • Examples: Updating WordPress Core files. Updating plugin files. Running malware scans. Server Administration.
  • Retainer
    • A fee paid in advance in order to secure or keep developer services when required. Refers to retaining developer on a regular basis for availability and/or labor on projects or tasks.
      • Example: Client expects and requests developer to send a monthly email campaign on behalf of client as a result client would be ask to enter into a monthly retainer securing the availability, services and labor or the developer.
      • Example: Client expects and requests developer’s availability perform any regular task, project or service over a period of time. As a result a retainer whether it be weekly, monthly or yearly to secure the availability, services and labor or the developer is required.
  • Technical Support
    • The need of assistance on small tasks or questions. This would also relate to the technical side of a project/task as opposed to content.
      • Examples: Formatting is off on a website. The website is showing an error or “crashing”.
  • Web Consulting
    • The use of the web developer’s expert opinion, research, knowledge and/or skill for the benefit of the client without set retainer or agreement for development/maintenance/management .
      • Examples: Client asks developer to share opinion on Web Content Management Systems. Client asks developer’s opinion on 3rd party sites or services. Client requests market research from developer. Client asks developer to be on a conference call for expert advice and opinion. Client requests developer to create a plan for development that will be physically implemented and/or developed by others.

CONTACT

JARED FRENZEL

JTAG INTERNET DESIGN

(602) 752-8123

[email protected]