Should I charge more for Responsive Design?

There is a lot of debate around whether we should be charging extra for building sites responsively, or whether it has become a standard and should be included as part of your current pricing structure. After reading a few posts on CSS-Tricks Forums I decided to reply with my thoughts.

Responsive design has come about due to the current landscape of web accessible devices. Once we had had desktops, now there are a plethora of devices that can access out content each with their own display type.

Back in 1974 houses in my home town were built exactly the same way they were built everywhere else in Australia. On Christmas day that year a devastating cyclone swept through and destroyed most of those houses. After that day people realised that to survive in this landscape the way houses were built had to change drastically. All of sudden houses required more planning, deeper foundations, architects had to spend more time on ensuring structural integrity would be maintained in the various conditions… and all of this ensured that the cost of building a house went up along with it.

The builders were still building houses, but the houses were just built better. It was a new standard of building houses that didn’t exist before.

It’s up to everyone how they charge for the services they provide. Someone said to me a long time ago

“You’ll never make any money charging what it costs you to do something, charge what it’s worth to your client”.

I’m still at the point of charging what it costs me to do something, but I’m getting closer and closer to looking at the other option.