Web designers: how much to charge to build this site?

Sticks79

Sticks79

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Jun 3, 2007
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OK, I'm about to put in a tender/application to build the new website for my town/community, but only if it's worth it for me as I'm doin it for peanuts, just not sure how much to charge because I only build my own sites for profit, don't usually build sites for other people/government/council...

How much would you charge? Here is what they want:

(Just copy and pasting this)

Specification for Design and Construction of Web Site

​
Chamber of Commerce is seeking a person(s)/Organisation to develop a web site for our community.

The content of the web site needs to include the following components.

- Business
- Agriculture & Industry
- Local Services (Health & Education etc)
- Community Volunteer Groups
- Tourism
- Local events
- Links to other local web sites
- Local History
- Site map
- Contacts

The site needs to be designed having regard to the following stakeholders

- Advertisers
- Local residents
- Tourists
- Prospective residents
- Web site maintenance

It is proposed that the site will offer “advertising for fee” to local businesses, so it is envisaged that the advertising module is adaptable from a basic package through to a more comprehensive details page.

The chamber is seeking tenders under the following three stages/sections.


1) Design and construction of the website Including - architecture setup, overall graphics layout and photography.

2) Uploading of all information/content including - local history, contacts, local service provider details, links and local tourism details.

3) Website hosting options.

Parties can tender for each section separately or all sections together.

The site should display the following key characteristics.
Easy to navigate, relatively fast to use, easy to maintain.

All tenders should include details of previous experience/projects and an estimate of costs.
 


i wouldn't make a website for someone for less than $5,000. some of the larger sites i've worked on through agencies have sold for $20,000+. start high then go from there. these people seem like they want to appear professional. charge them a professional fee.

make sure you define a scope of work and have them sign off on it so you're not dealing with a million "changes" after you hand it over. if you don't want to be bothered daily after you're done, make it clear they need to find someone else to maintain it.
 
That really doesn't explain the functionality they want in that much detail. Sounds like a headache down the road. I imagine you'll be using a CMS system for this? If I were you, I would charge an EASY 1,000 USD. My CMS packages start at 900 dollars. If it's a static site I usually charge about 100 bucks a page.
 
I've quoted a similar sounding portal site for a local community, I bid 10k and got told I wasn't even close to the low bid. Fuckton of work right there. Ditto what jenz says about getting them to sign off on maintenance and all that bullshit too.

I've since started building my own portal site to compete with the local community sites, I'm seriously glad I didn't get that 10k bid accepted. Build your own, rank it higher, sell ad space for cheaper. FTW.
 
jenzkc said:
i wouldn't make a website for someone for less than $5,000. some of the larger sites i've worked on through agencies have sold for $20,000+. start high then go from there. these people seem like they want to appear professional. charge them a professional fee.

make sure you define a scope of work and have them sign off on it so you're not dealing with a million "changes" after you hand it over. if you don't want to be bothered daily after you're done, make it clear they need to find someone else to maintain it.
Click to expand...

Yeah I was thinking the 5k mark and no I'm not interested in maintaining it unless they are prepared to pay a really healthy retainer.

discoverwebwork said:
That really doesn't explain the functionality they want in that much detail. Sounds like a headache down the road. I imagine you'll be using a CMS system for this? If I were you, I would charge an EASY 1,000 USD. My CMS packages start at 900 dollars. If it's a static site I usually charge about 100 bucks a page.
Click to expand...

Pay per page sounds interesting thanks for the light bulb, yeah not much detail in what they want, nothing sitting down with them and going thru shit won't fix... these iz countryz folkz we'z iz talkinz boutz.

Grindstone said:
I've quoted a similar sounding portal site for a local community, I bid 10k and got told I wasn't even close to the low bid. Fuckton of work right there. Ditto what jenz says about getting them to sign off on maintenance and all that bullshit too.

I've since started building my own portal site to compete with the local community sites, I'm seriously glad I didn't get that 10k bid accepted. Build your own, rank it higher, sell ad space for cheaper. FTW.
Click to expand...

Well shit, I was gonna bid around 5k but now I'm not so sure, MOAR FTW, coz it's really not worth my time unless I be gettin paid big.
 
You could propose multiple options. Option 1 is a full scale custom CMS unique to their requirements. Option 2 is an open source solution like Word Press, Joomla, Drupal along with an ads manager.
 
Charge them $2500. Ask for 2 years free membership. Put them on a $150/month maintenance plan (small changes and hosting). Ask that you have your logo on the bottom of every page, such as "Site Built by:".

Chambers are little gold mines for finding clients, plus if you're building the site, you'll have access to all your fellow members' contact info.
 
I worked for a web dev company back in the day and did a similar site.
Think the bid was around 10k.
 
Sounds like it's time to trot out that old chestnut that says "a website costs as much as a car." So the question becomes, do they want a blue Ford pinto, or a Bugatti Veyron?

hxxp://www.newfangled.com/estimating_website_budgets
 
Yeah Ive put in a tender for 10k after tax to do the lot, we'll see what happens, fuck em.
 
The question is have you worked on this kind of project before. If you can prove you have and they have been successful they are much more likely to accept your bid.

This is a government, 5k is like pocket change to them, what they really want is a real web developer. Worry more about how you are perceived than how much you charge.
 
plastikpower said:
Charge them $2500. Ask for 2 years free membership. Put them on a $150/month maintenance plan (small changes and hosting). Ask that you have your logo on the bottom of every page, such as "Site Built by:".

Chambers are little gold mines for finding clients, plus if you're building the site, you'll have access to all your fellow members' contact info.
Click to expand...

This.

use a CMS and be golden


you said it's for your town in the south. so it's either this, or the town beauty queen and a can of chew.
 
larrybn said:
The question is have you worked on this kind of project before. If you can prove you have and they have been successful they are much more likely to accept your bid.

This is a government, 5k is like pocket change to them, what they really want is a real web developer. Worry more about how you are perceived than how much you charge.
Click to expand...

No I haven't built a site like this before but I can do it, and yeah, how I'm perceived let's see, penis enlargement content/review site's is my resume/proof, my sites look good it's just the content lmao.
 
1nspire said:
You could propose multiple options. Option 1 is a full scale custom CMS unique to their requirements. Option 2 is an open source solution like Word Press, Joomla, Drupal along with an ads manager.
Click to expand...

Yeah a CMS solution for sure, I'll just show whoever is in charge how to use it, then it's pay me bitches, don't want anything more to do with it, ha!
 
Sticks79 said:
Yeah a CMS solution for sure, I'll just show whoever is in charge how to use it, then it's pay me bitches, don't want anything more to do with it, ha!
Click to expand...

Ought to set it up on squarespace(.)com. That should take care of CMS, support and hosting.

Dealing with groups like these can suck - dealing with commitees, demos and approval processes can suck up a lot of your time. Depending on what you think your time is worth, almost have your quote can be eaten up doing nothing but dealing with douchebags.
 
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Jizzlobber said:
Ought to set it up on squarespace(.)com. That should take care of CMS, support and hosting.

Dealing with groups like these can suck - dealing with commitees, demos and approval processes can suck up a lot of your time. Depending on what you think your time is worth, almost have your quote can be eaten up doing nothing but dealing with douchebags.
Click to expand...

Yeah this is the whole "worth my time thing".
 
Wow people actually gave serious answers to a question by sticks79. I honestly expected a whole thread of one liner insults. What goes around comes around is bullshit after all.
 
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