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The Cost of Building & Maintaining a Site

by 2046
6 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
    • |
Hi all,

I was hoping to I could feedback on the expected budget for building and then maintaining a website. My intention is to build the site with a company, as I feel this is more reliable and then outsource the maintained of the site.

For a lower scale site, my aim is a straight up review site like amazon.com.

The middle scale would be a review site like yelp.com, which also has quite an interactive member's profile page.

The higher scale would be a review site, which has a community component for member's to upload pictures, blog etc... and a business membership component. I guess like yelp.com, but with a community (facebook style).

I am speaking to companies right now and I be grateful of any feedback on costing/budget.

Thanks in advance
#building #cost #maintaining #site
  • Profile picture of the author awebforyou
    Please PM me with exactly what you need and I can give you a price estimate.
    Just remember price is not most important as you want this to be code properly to last.

    Esther
    web programmer-eshops-custom database solutions-Awebforyou
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    • Profile picture of the author 4under
      Just something else to think about... This ISN'T a plug for my company!

      I would have it built using a common CMS like Joomla (don't think the Wordpress can do this)...

      The reason for this is ease of ongoing maintenance and upgrades. If the company you choose builds a site like this from scratch, it will be MUCH more expensive to upgrade or change in the future.

      Also, there are TONS of Joomla developers... If the company you hire goes out of business one day or you have a "falling out" you can easily find someone else to get the job done.

      Just some advice going forward... Hope this helps!
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  • Profile picture of the author rbrtst
    When you mentioned you are talking to companies - the first thing that came to mind is the cost...companies are expensive - very expensive. If this was my project, I'd nail down the requirements to a T using a tool such as balsamiq, then find a php programmer on a freelancer site that I'm comfortable with. Have him start off building a small part of the site and see how that goes before bringing him on to work on the rest of the project. Building in PHP will give you unlimited flexibility as to how you want the site built.
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    • Profile picture of the author 2046
      Thanks for the feedback and advice guys It's all much appreciated and good tips at that.

      I have contemplated the various options for a while, and unfortunately the wide range of varied opinions leave me even more confused.

      4under - I thought about a CMS like Joomla to keep cost low, but the restrictions I have heard put me off. It may end up being the more practical way to go (in terms of cost).

      Rbrtst - (Though I don't know what it is) using balsamiq, then finding a freelance php programmer sounds like a practical plan.

      I ended up talking to companies, as a safety measure for my limited technology experience, though I know it ain't no guarantee. So managing a freelancer can be a little out of my current depth.

      Based on the proposed 4under and/or Rbrtst suggestions, what would be the rough expected budget? Companies have said expect a mimimum of US$10,000.

      Many thanks everyone
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      • Profile picture of the author 2046
        Ah I just checked out balsamiq. I kinda did the same thing, but with pencil on paper
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  • Profile picture of the author rbrtst
    Pencil on paper is great. Same thing, really. Balsamiq will give you a nice clean PDF to post on the freelancer sites. Up to you. Costs are all over the place. I've been outsourcing for many years and price is not an indicator of quality. I've had project completed for $300 that were programmed better than similar sites I paid over $2,000 for. For that reason I still recommend a smaller project, or a small section of a larger project to get to know your programmer. If it doesn't work out, you can choose another programmer and you haven't lost out too much money. Try freelancer.com, elance.com, or vworker.com. Odesk can get expensive since you are paying by the hour.
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