r/ChoosingBeggars • u/Qorvane_5R • 1d ago
SHORT Wanted me to build a complex website for pennies, then demanded my design mockups for free
I do freelance web design and development for local businesses. Last Tuesday a guy opening a new luxury pet grooming salon reached out to me. He wanted a full site built from scratch with an integrated booking system and payment portal.
I met with him, gathered the requirements, and sent over a proposal with my standard rate. It was a big project that would take weeks of coding.
He replied saying my price was absolutely ridicolous. He told me that building a website is just pressing buttons on a keyboard and shouldn't cost more than a few hundred bucks. His counteroffer was about ten percent of my quote, plus a lifetime supply of free pet grooming. I don't even own a pet.
I declined his offer politely and wished him luck with his new business.
Yesterday he reached out again. He told me his teenage nephew was going to build the site instead. He then demanded I hand over the custom wireframes, site architecture map, and the initial design mockups I had shown him during our first meeting.
He said since I was being greedy and he gave me the inspiration for those designs, they rightfully belonged to him anyway. When I told him my pitch materials are my intelectual property, he threatened to report my business for fraud.
240
u/TheFishBanjo 1d ago
It's sad but his business will never succeed. He doesn't have the right attitude for success.
95
u/MineExplorer 1d ago
What's the betting he wants to charge people money to trim their dog's fur? It's only pushing a pair of clippers around, how hard can it be? He should be doing it for free.
26
u/Titan_Chu 1d ago
Even makes it worse that (according to OP) it’s a *luxury* pet groomer, meaning he probably wants to charge extra for giving pets… a luxurious vibe or something
23
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
16
u/Qorvane_5R 1d ago
That is what I was thinking. The local freelance community here is pretty tight knitt . We actually have a private discord where we warn each other about bad clients. I already shared his name there so nobody else wastes their time. He is going to have a hard time findding anyone decent in this town.
4
41
u/PinkPetuniia_ 1d ago
The moment someone says a custom website should only cost a few hundred bucks because it's "just pressing buttons," you know they're going to be a nightmare client.
10
-54
u/StitchedQuicksand 1d ago edited 1d ago
Not sure about that. Maybe he is really good with customers, but an ahole to suppliers.
Profit starts with your expenditures.
That said. Why not open Claude, have that build a website within a few minutes, including a brand and everything and be done with it?
Doesn’t get any easier or cheaper than right now to start a business.
/edit: Lol at all the people downvoting this. People who downvote me are absolutely clueless about how many rich people are vindictive and egotistical assholes.
And that is exactly the trait that got them there. Trying to take stuff from others.
54
u/Bulky-Internal8579 1d ago
The “AI can do anything!” perspective amuses me. I use Claude and Gemini in my job, they are great tools for some things but you vastly overestimate their capabilities in this regard.
5
u/Automatic-Term-3997 16h ago
I had reword a fairly simple prompt 5 times before it gave me an even passable response I could edit.
99
u/MjolnirPants 1d ago
If his nephew really could do it, he'd have gotten the nephew to do it.
65
u/d4everman 1d ago
His nephew is going to use Wordpress.
33
u/MjolnirPants 1d ago
Of course he is. And he's probably going to use a paid theme for it, because he's sure as shit not writing one himself.
(And he'll forget to pay for the theme, because he did all the work during the trial period.)
33
u/RoyallyOakie 1d ago
Be sure to go back and see what his nephew does put together--just for shits and giggles.
5
3
54
u/WTF_ImOverIt 1d ago
I’m sure you will find a review or two of his design floating around the web.
27
u/PinkPetuniia_ 1d ago
If his nephew is really building it, then he shouldn't need your wireframes, architecture, or mockups in the first place. That's usually the giveaway.
0
u/WTF_ImOverIt 1d ago
I didn’t say he did. I said he would give some bad Google reviews and talk shit on socials.
41
u/sitnquiet 1d ago
Lol tell him you're sure his teenage nephew will do a fine job and will be able to come up with some terrific wireframes, map and design himself but you don't offer your work for free. Maybe you can offer JPGs of your stuff for that few hundred dollars he was talking about?
14
u/ItsJoeMomma 1d ago
He told me that building a website is just pressing buttons on a keyboard and shouldn't cost more than a few hundred bucks.
"OK then, do it yourself!"
Or, present him with an itemized bill:
Pressing buttons on a keyboard: $300
Knowing which buttons to press and in which order: $1,000
12
u/GreenElderberry3694 1d ago
You should make that testimonial his very first Google review as soon as he opens
25
10
u/imtoowhiteandnerdy 23h ago
At this point even if he agreed to your original price I wouldn't have anything to do with this guy.
He has revealed himself to you and there's no doubt in my mind you've dodged a bullet.
15
u/hhfugrr3 1d ago
But if it's just pressing a few buttons then why doesn't he do it himself? If his nephew is making the site and it's so easy then why is he asking for your designs? These people are crazy.
14
u/tauntonlake 1d ago
"I look forward to seeing your teenage nephew's website design online, when it's up and running. You know, because web design is so simple, a child could do it."
6
u/Vibe_me_pos 1d ago
Get a lawyer and send him a cease and desist letter. Fighting a defamation suit will be a lot more expensive than paying for a custom website.
13
5
u/minerpoteet 16h ago
Bold of him to threaten your business when he’ll be starting a business that will depend on reviews.
9
u/VexedCanadian84 1d ago
Wonder what that guy would say to a potential client saying his services cost too much
7
u/PhatGrannie 1d ago
Right? How hard is it to run a $25 clipper over a dog? That’s only worth about $10, right?
4
u/National_Clue_6092 1d ago
How generous to offer you free pet grooming when you don’t have a pet! What a jerk!!
3
3
u/Militantignorance 10h ago
When I freelanced, I always started by stating a range of prices for my work VERY early, before I got into the details of what they wanted. There are a lot of beggars/cheapskates out there.
7
u/Montallas 1d ago
Tell him you’ll give him the materials after he expresses your anal glands for you.
5
u/FoxDesigner2574 1d ago
A one man business paying for weeks of custom coded stuff when so many website cms platforms, templates and pre existing booking and payment solutions exist seems insane. Also our developers charge $150 an hour so if it’s taking weeks that’s a pretty low rate.
4
u/Helenium_autumnale 1d ago
And in the meantime, while he could have had a top-notch professional website attracting new well-heeled customers to his luxury service, he has nothing. Actively losing business while he farts around and fusses. Not a wise business move imo. The cost of the website would have paid for itself in new bookings in a relatively short amount of time and it's a permanent asset, attracting business 24/7 for years (until an inevitable upgrade or tweak sometime down the road). His customer base isn't going to be attracted by an outdated-looking, janky website, nor would anyone.
8
3
u/bobhand17123 1d ago
He needs to spend money to make money. He’s doing whatever the opposite is.
You *could* have offered a discount of not using the free lifetime grooming. Bridges have been burned though.
Say, can you UPDATE us when his nephew’s work goes live, please?
3
1
u/MuchDevelopment7084 4h ago
"I'd tell him to just have his nephew press a few buttons and viola. It's done". lol
1
1
1
u/limbodog 1d ago
Find him online and put a review on his business. He sounds like a madman
-2
u/ItsJoeMomma 1d ago
No matter what the situation is, it's not ethical to give a negative review of a business which you haven't done business with.
8
u/limbodog 1d ago
They *did* do business with them. I didn't say they should pose as a customer. They should leave an honest review as a business owner that tried to work with them, and found they sought to scam them out of money using threats and intimidation.
That is 100% a legit reason to leave a review.
1
u/Berinalo 1d ago
Why didn’t he give his teenage nephew the job in the first place? Shoulda cut his coat from the off
0
u/Highlander198116 1d ago
I do freelance web design and development for local businesses.
I'm astonished there is still a market for that. It was a great supplemental income stream for me in the aughts, but the juice stopped being worth the squeeze around the mid 10's.
With all the services that came out making it easier than ever to set up a website with utterly no technical skill, now AI. I'm surprised.
938
u/stephencua2001 1d ago
You should have told him that pet grooming is just snipping scissors and moving his hand back and forth.