I think $3.5k is incredibly cheap, especially if you're really building a custom UI as well. That makes me think the quality is low.
I would consider:
1. Improving the website to something more high-end. The timeline asset in the header really doesn't inspire confidence - it all looks templat-ish and quickly stiched together.
2. Improve social proof by linking testimonial authors to their LinkedIn for easy validation.
3. Add something about you - name, experience, photo - works much better than a faceless, generic brand.
4. Consider a pricing cap so the price seems more realistic, perhaps by introducing sprints and charging by sprints.
I don’t believe it makes sense to put a (visible) price on this service at all. It’s a truism that development moves on three axes: cost, time, and quality. By “pinning” two of these values, it leaves only quality to suffer in the case of hidden complexity, unclear requirements, etc.
Whether or not this is actually true, it is certainly what the takeaway will be for any prospective clients that think deeply enough about their product to be worth engaging with.
It seems a good idea to price the service quite low to begin with so that I can get more clients thus more testimonials. But is the price too low? The quality and delivery of the product built won't be affected by the price, but I was told pricing it lower possibly made it lack authenticity. Thoughts?
I would charge a minimum of $150 an hour so you are at $18k.
Most apps are just database record and forms to interact. They aren't complex.
The issue you may face is the expectation of the founder - especially if they are not technical. You will spend more time on requirements than on development.
"We need a map that shows the current location of an item plus it's status" needs to be in the next round of development. But they might not get that.
I think $3.5k is incredibly cheap, especially if you're really building a custom UI as well. That makes me think the quality is low.
I would consider: 1. Improving the website to something more high-end. The timeline asset in the header really doesn't inspire confidence - it all looks templat-ish and quickly stiched together. 2. Improve social proof by linking testimonial authors to their LinkedIn for easy validation. 3. Add something about you - name, experience, photo - works much better than a faceless, generic brand. 4. Consider a pricing cap so the price seems more realistic, perhaps by introducing sprints and charging by sprints.