Building website costs

Teaandcoffee

Hi guys,

I am completely out of my dept here so if anyone has any input I would be ever so thankful.

I am looking at building a website similar to tradesmen.ie or tenderme.ie not for the sale of construction/trades purposes but for another sector.

For anyone who is knowledgeable about either sites could you tell me please of the costs of building same and if a layperson like myself with no experience could tackle the construction of such a project.

I've already been given two quotes.

First one in the region of 20k and the second 10k

satguy

Head over to <snip> and pay for a full year hoasting, Pay 12 months up front, this will cost around $82 Dollars. You will be asked to pick a free DOT COM website name,, you surely have one in mind. Like > MyTender.Com < or whatever.

And then with the 20K you just saved by not letting some guy rip you off, Take a week off work and spend it reading up on WORDPRESS, it is so easy to use and manage.. One week, do a good bit of reading and watch some vids on YT.

And have fun..

braddun

get some student to build it

was.deevey

Of course if its just a hobby project that has no set completion time, fire away and learn wordpress development, however assumming you are serious about it being a proper business....

Firstly, register and lock down domain, do NOT under any circumstances let the developers do that for you, thats the quick and easy part and safeguards your from being tied to a developer/company in the future if things go badly.

Secondly, buy a decent hosting package based on the recommendation of a developer/company but IMHO do not buy it from them - always maintain control over your website files and ensure you have backups.

Secondly, I would NOT try to "learn" web development on a site like that - Even with an off the shelf template / package its unlikely that you will be able to make all the customizations without spending the next few months sifting though stuff and it will never be exactly what you wanted - thats assuming you have an idea about development and/or design in the first place.

Yes Wordpress is relatively easy, and there are tons of add-ons and ready built templates to assist with the final result, but its rare something will have all the features AND look like you want it to without ALOT of time being spent modifying it - remember time is money and your time should probably be focused on stage 2 of the launch while the building is taking place, not the initial building itself.

However I would advocate using Wordpress as a platform to base the site on, as maintaining the basics yourself once its complete will be easier.

IMHO, you should carefully review the two quotes you received, and compare them, and fish some more. Make your tender IRON CLAD and ensure that every feature you require is locked down in black and white - if something is not in the tender and you accept a quote, which is later you feel is missing. It might cost you the same again to "fix" the problem and you have no comeback.

IMHO though 10k, assuming its an irish company and that they are reputable and includes graphic design as well as development and support, is not terribly expensive for what you want to achieve. I would however stay clear of a "one-man" operation for the job, its rare I have found, that a single developer is any good at design and vice versa. Future support could also be an issue. Considering the website is the backbone of the business, its the one area where more money should be pumped (initially) than anything else, spend what you have and do it right.

For other quotes you could post in the work wanted thread.

p

Everything Was said +100. (ignore the other two comments, unless you really want to risk your business)


Price-wise, you get what you pay for. For 10/20k you may get a basic site. The question is are they just copying something existing (thereby offering you little flexibility) or will they also customise it (and if so, by how much).

If you have a lot of specific needs, specific to your industry, the customisation will be key.

The second part you need to consider is maintenance. Websites are not like a book, they require maintenance, updates, bug fixes etc... so finding a partner that can handle that on an ongoing basis would also be useful.

Good luck!

Axwell

Ignore the advice about getting a student to do it - this is a complex job that no student should get near. Ridiculous to even suggest it and the reason theres so many bad websites and design work being done around the place. If you plan to run this as a proper business then you will be looking to register and to get a .ie domain not a .com, although you will be best to get that anyways just so you have it but the .ie is priority.

Secondly wordpress is not really ideal for a job like this. Wordpress is great for brochure style websites for SME's and portfolio style sites but something as complex as this should be custom built. It requires a proper backend with user management, the ability to process payments, post up the jobs, manage profiles and job listings, manage the website and a while lot more. To try and build this in wordpress would mean trying to hack together a site an in the end it would be a nightmare to manage and keep up to date and secure.

Anyone building a proper website like this will incorporate a CMS as part of the build so you dont need to have a framework like wordpress in place to manage it. As was pointed out you will get what you pay for and if you plan to make a serious stab at setting up this business and compete then you need to pay for something that's of that standard of your competition or better.

devildriver

To be honest I would say that 20k is closer to the mark.

Wordpress really would not be suitable for this project.

Get some more quotes, have conversations with developers and learn some more about the process. This will help you to be more discerning when looking at quotes and taking advice.

mneylon

If you have a clear concept of what you want the site to do, which appears to be the case, then speak to a few development shops and get pricing. Also make sure you have a clear understanding of what is actually being covered in the price.

I'd agree with what some of the other posters have said - in terms of cost for something with that kind of functionality you're going to be looking at least a 5 figure sum