Hi,
I'm relatively new too, and I charge per page.
$105 per HTML page
no additional charge for CSS - because that's all in the game (as far as I'm concerned)
Forms are charged as a page.
Thereafter, I give my clients 30 days to contact me regarding content or design changes (for free) - not including page additions.
Also, make sure you have a contract. You don't run into problems with most large companies, but it's always good to have one. Especially if they are providing photos and content - because you need to cover your butt for copyright reasons.
My contract states the following:
Seller warrants that the services shall be delivered free of rightful claim of any third person by way of copyright infringement, and if buyer receives notice of any claim of such infringement, it shall, within 10 days, notify seller of such claim. If buyer fails to forward such notice to seller, it shall be deem to have released seller from this warranty as to such claim. Seller is not liable for any legal action that may arise from design, or any artwork supplied by the buyer"
Also, it's good to include some type of "Excuse for Nonperformance clause:
Seller's obligations under this agreement are accepted subject to strickes, labor troubles (including strikes or labor troubles affecting any suppliers of sellers), floods, fires, acts of God, accidents, delays, shortage of cars, contingencies of transportation, and other causes of like or different character beyond the control of seller. Impossibility of performace by reason of legislative, executive, or judicial act of any governmental authority shall excuse performance of or delay in performance of this agreement. If the buyer deviates from the production schedule provided, the finish date will change accordingly.
Of course, there are a bunch of other things that should go in your contract, including payment terms, deposits (I require a 1/2 deposit upon commencement of work) and a 25% kill fee.
In determining your hourly rate, there are some very useful formulas online --
You should look these up... They take into account your overhead, estimated annual hours of work, any additional estimates of set fees, hours you work annually and how much you'd settle to make per year.
Something like this:
Expected Salary + Overhead - Estimate of Yearly set fees / Annual hours you want to work.
There may be more to this formula, and I don't think I have it on me -- but that's how I figured my hourly rate.
Hope this helps... Looks like everyone has given you about the same advice.
Brady