How much should I pay a college kid to maintain a website for me?

Question

We have a couple small websites, two for my wife's crafts businesses, another one for an alumni group.  My neighbor has 3 sons in college, all studying IT, and they're looking for odd jobs this summer.  Great kids, and they actually seem to know what they're doing (know server-side, CSS, etc.), and it's really attractive to be able to sit down with them over the kitchen table and noodle things over instead of sending stuff out to India.  I want to pay them to do a few things on the site for me... update the CSS layout, link to etsy, maybe do some other small maintenance things in PHP.  They said they'd be happy to help.  We're on the east coast.  How should I pay them?  Hourly?  Or by the job?  And how much?  Do I make them estimate then negotiate?  Thoughts???  I want to be fair, but I also want to pay summer job rates...  Thanks!

Steve D · Accepted Answer

I would suggest by the job/task - have them estimate a time to completion and number of hours, then base it on that - if they finish ahead of time, you both win (you get what you paid for quicker and they make a bit more an hour), if they take longer than expected, you are not on the hook paying by the hour.

Web designers get $20 to $60 an hour, based on experience (source: http://www.hotgigs.com/rates/title/Web-Designer-hourly-bill-or-pay-rates/).  If they are doing graphics also, that tends to be a little more.  Since they are still in school and not established, I would think somewhere down around $20/hour is reasonable unless they are doing heavy PHP or Java.

babita s · Answer

for web based projects, i would suggest agree a price based on the work you would like them to do for you. This way if you are not happy with the result they will have to redo it until it meets your requirements. The only down side to this is that it may take longer than you'd like, because you are paying for a number of tasks but not for how long they take to complete it. I really don't know what kind of rates apply in the US.
The answer Jonathan provided just takes you to google.

Flyby · Answer

You can pay them any way you both agree. It would probably be more equitable to pay them hourly with a fixed number of hours they can work each week. The number of hours could be adjusted as needed. You could pay them minimum or little more. It will provide them some practical experience and money and you have someone to take care of your websites.

? · Answer

This is specialized job and considering you are getting the benefits of having them right there for any consultation of quick fixes, I would be paying them 20 per hour. My brother gets paid about a little more and he is in his second year already working part time in an IT company.

The_Fart_That_Blossoms · Answer

Why not pay them what they are worth instead of trying to be a cheapskate about it???

Students need money too, and if you go too cheap on them, you'll hear from their parents.

Pay them the going rate..

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How much should I pay a college kid to maintain a website for me?

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