this is a hard question to answer since there are a ton of things that affect this (such as skill level of designer, experience of designer and programming languages used, i.e. if it is database drivin it will be more, if there is extensive flash it will be more, if there is alot of perl or cgi it will be more etc...)
I have to agree with jdbaker but I did select above 40.
I think for the base stuff (just a web site no frills), it's not what it used to be, nowadays business owners will either get FrontPage or their kid who is taking a class about HTML to make their website, you can't get as much these days...
jdbaker is so right! I do have to say that I have had several clients that have ended up comeing to me because they did it themselfs or had their kid do it and then didn't like what they ended up with. I have found that clients may want help getting on the web but want control over thier site for the long hall.... something I am more then happy to do for them :D
From what I have seen the unexperienced completely underestimate what it takes to make a top quality site. They want a forum, photo album, top quality graphics all professional looking. These things take time and time isn't cheap (as this thread is discussing)
Neo
Perhaps this discussion needs to be more detailed. That is, what are the rates for different aspects of web design? What is flash design worth? Is it useful to learn PHP over Perl, or both? What should a webdesigner add to his toolbox to be more successful?