Rates & Policies

How much is your site going to cost? The quick answer is: "Less than you might think." See below for a breakdown of real site costs.

Typical new-site budget (in order of implementation):

Step		Fee/Rate
Initial phone consultation:		Free
Site design: (XHTML, CSS)		$45/hr (4 hr minimum)
Domain registration:		$45 + $8.95/yr (approx.)
Hosting:		Varies; as low as free setup and $10/mo. (approx.)
MiniCMS (content management system) integration:		$99 (one-time)
General consultation: (Computer and application usage, training, domain registration/hosting signup assistance, graphics design)		$45/hr
PHP, Perl, CGI programming:		$55/hr (4 hr minimum)
Miscellaneous: Digital media (e.g., CD-R) CMS reference manuals		$10 ea. (mat'l + handling) $10 ea.

So, you could have a two-page site design for as little as $180 (the 4-hour minimum plus a free CD-R containing your site pages), if you wanted to domain-register and implement it yourself. That gets you a home page, a skeleton for other pages, and a style sheet. Add $80 and I'll register your domain, set up hosting and install the site. For as little as another $85 or so, I can show you how to add pages and maintain your content with management tools commonly found on today's hosting servers. Or, choose my exclusive browser-based content management system for a one-time integration fee of $99, and you can update your site's text and graphics from any PC or Mac, anytime, anywhere.

General policies:

• No contract required, unless your organization wants one. Our business will be conducted according to the laws of the State of Oregon, USA, and under the U.S. Government "Work for Hire" guidelines (PDF, 72kB).
• I try to run a paper-less office; I will invoice you by PDF attachment to an email, or by fax, if you prefer.
• All site code and graphic art in your design is copyright by you, except that you may not resell the code or art to third parties. PHP and XHTML code is released to you for use under the GPL (General Public License) covering use and distribution of Open Source programming code. If you decline the site design, your license expires immediately.
• I will demonstrate the design with basic XHTML/CSS functionality on my own host site prior to you spending any money for hosting.
• When you approve the design, the minimums are due and payable. We will then meet and proceed with domain registration (if you haven't registered already) and hosting purchase using your computer and your credit card.
• Confidentiality: I respect your privacy -- I will never sell or otherwise distribute, share, or make public any address, phone number, credit card information, email address or proprietary business information furnished us in the normal course of doing business. I will not disclose how you do what you do, to any third party.
• Guarantee: I will work hard to satisfy your needs -- if you are not satisfied, you pay only the "minimum" fees (see above), and I will back out all site materials I supplied except you retain domain registration and continue to be responsible for site hosting fees.
• Liability disclaimer: Neither Waters Gulch Digital nor Richard H. Nilsson assume any liability for any damages, loss of business, or loss of reputation you might incur, or damage, insult or injury to third parties resulting from your use of my designs, whether you use those designs for legal or illegal purposes.
• I will never want to know your credit card info. If anyone asks for it over the phone or in an email under my name, it is a scam. I accept only cash, PayPal® transfers, and personal, certified or company checks as payment. I may at some point need to know your domain/hosting login info to upload your pages, but I promise to do no harm, and you can always easily change that information when our need is past. You may pay your bill easily using secure transactions through PayPal® on my payments page.