Dexx

Hey guys,

Hope someone can help me out with a couple questions here:

1) Is it common to pay a designer to begin a design template first, or is it possible to have them create a mock-design so their creative quality can be judged first.

2) How much should someone REASONABLY expect to pay for a custom designed (not a template) wordpress theme/website.

3) Is it common practice to hire an outsourcer to DESIGN a wordpress theme, and then pay someone ELSE to actually cut up and make the theme actually functioning / installable.

4) How much would an average cost be to hire an outsourcer to turn a design image into a functioning template?

5) For those of us in the Offline Marketing business, would it be practical to outsource the building / designing of a website through a web design company, or would Rentacoder etc. deliver just as good results?

The reason I ask is because I've seen some quality Web Design companies that would be great for developing a clients website, however I assume they already mark up their prices for their own services, so I'd be paying retail and not "wholesale" for website design.


I appreciate any and all help on this!

~Dexx

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You can check their portfolios to see the quality of their work. Designers can do mockups as well and you select the design and then they work on and it and you pay them. Hiring an outsourcer for theme design and then someone else for coding is not a very good idea because they need to speak to each other as well. It is better if it is the same person or the same organisation. Any good web design company will provide you mockups and then start working on it after your approval.

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Dexx

So it's usually possible to get mockups without paying in advance?

Ideally I'd like to see an example mockup from a couple different designers, and then choose the one who "gets" what I'm trying to do.

Portfolios are nice, but I haven't seen an example of what I'm looking for specifically from anyone's portfolio, so Id hate to pay a designer to do a mockup and then realize they just dont have what I'm looking for :S

SusanneUK

Well I believe most of them would require some kind of advance payment from you, some times a percentage of the cost or likely cost, so why not negotiate a down payment (or 3 stage payment) in order to see the mock-up and then if you are happy to proceed you make the second down payment and final payment on completion.

You do need to look at it from their point of view as well, it is their business and even though they may be a lot faster than you at what they do, it still takes time to liaise with you on what you are looking for exactly to then produce said "mock-up"..

So a staged payment plan would mean at least they are getting paid for the time taken to get to the "Yes I want you" or "No but thanks" stage.

Just a thought.

However, I might be wrong and their may be plenty of designers out there willing to do it your way, if you don't ask, you don't get right, so approach some designers, see what they say, what ya got to lose?

Sue

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SusanneUK

Sorry Dexx, realized I didn't answer or attempt to answer any of your other questions.. so here are my views on some of them:


For me, that question is like asking "how long is a piece of string" if you can give a list of the things you are going to need out of the site(s) - well at least the basics, then you are going to get some kind of figure out of people, for instance, would they require photo galleries? or perhaps Shopping Cart facilities, that kind of thing..

I don't think it's common practice no, not with Wordpress at least for the reasons given by the other poster in this thread. Normally if you find someone who can make you a wordpress customized theme then they already know how to make it work and install it - perhaps I misunderstood what you are asking though?

This is kind of answered in number two above, same thing, can you give a few more specifics?

I would say certainly practical, I am an outsourcer some times to a guy who does offline and I also do my own offline, if making the sites is not your thing, then best to outsource that part and free you up to go get more offline customers and as for where to find outsourcers, sure RentaCoder, Elance, here at the warrior forum in the Warriors for Hire Section, etc...

Hope that gives you some kind of answers, or at least you can ask more questions now and/or give more detail for me and others to give you more input.

Cheers
Sue

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Richard Whyte

Dexx

I am a designer and do a lot of work for many people.

I as very busy, so if someone comes along and I have never worked with them, I don't like to spend my time doing mock-ups.

If I put 5 hours into a designing and then you say "Sorry", I like XXX over here... then I lost my time you lost nothing.

I understand both sides of thins issue....

For my regular clients, I do mock-ups because we have history... For evey job I take on, it charge 50% up front, 50% on job completion.

My clients have no problem with this because almost 100% come from word of mouth referals. They know that when we talk I will be frank and tell them if I can or can not do what they need done. I also give a firm quote based up the design spec. If you change things during design, that will change the price...

For me it all comes down to X $ per hour of work. I calculate the hours needed by my hourly $ and come up with a price.

As for different people doing different parts... Not very common, But I have done this. I have worked with a killer designer that knows ZERO web design / Wordpress / PHP skills. He creates a beautiful design and I have built it...

In our world, it pays to be flexible. I am always open and willing to work with anyone once....

Hope that helps you out.

Have a Great Day!

Richard Whyte

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