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Cost estimate for complete website rebuild
iglidante
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I know we just had a thread like this, but it was focused on a position. My question is about a gig - the company I work for would like a new website, and they want to know what it will cost. Some specs:
- The company is a nonprofit, member-based.
- The existing website has a lot of copy. The new one will have even more. Updated quite frequently. Including a 3x yearly magazine that is posted (currently as a PDF and also some pages)
- They would like the new site to be "interactive" - meaning, widgets and whatnot, video, etc.
- Members will be giving donations via credit card on the website.
- They would like members to be able to "log in" to access members only content.
- Also would like a separate login area for board members to access internal documents - a "dashboard."
- Would like members to be able to form a community online (a forum would be the obvious choice here).
- Possible connectivity to the internal member database we maintain, so that members could check on status and renew their memberships automatically.
- Tie-ins to all the major social networking sites, where we already have a presence.
Now, I'm alright at web stuff myself. I can build and maintain html / css / basic js sites. I can handle back end admin when necessary, and know enough about syntax to play with php every now and then for a few seconds. For a site like this, I know we'll need to use a CMS. I would have no problem running a custom WP theme (other than the fact that we currently host with some local company and I have no cpanel access). But this is really out of my league.
So, what I need to know is:
- What would be a good fit for this kind of site?
- How much time would it take? (I know it's "a long time," but they asked for an estimate)
- What would the going rate be for this kind of work? Lump sum? Hourly? Maintenance over time?
- Anything else that would be good to know.
I would be able to handle admin of the site on my own, once it's built.
Basically, it's a huge project. I could take it on myself in pieces, and in the end would probably be able to get most of it squared away, but it would take me forever (and like I said, no cpanel access - we are currently with a local host and everyone thinks it's better to have to call someone to ask them to make a small change, like adding an email alias, than it is to do it yourself in three seconds).
So, what's the damage?
- The company is a nonprofit, member-based.
- The existing website has a lot of copy. The new one will have even more. Updated quite frequently. Including a 3x yearly magazine that is posted (currently as a PDF and also some pages)
- They would like the new site to be "interactive" - meaning, widgets and whatnot, video, etc.
- Members will be giving donations via credit card on the website.
- They would like members to be able to "log in" to access members only content.
- Also would like a separate login area for board members to access internal documents - a "dashboard."
- Would like members to be able to form a community online (a forum would be the obvious choice here).
- Possible connectivity to the internal member database we maintain, so that members could check on status and renew their memberships automatically.
- Tie-ins to all the major social networking sites, where we already have a presence.
Now, I'm alright at web stuff myself. I can build and maintain html / css / basic js sites. I can handle back end admin when necessary, and know enough about syntax to play with php every now and then for a few seconds. For a site like this, I know we'll need to use a CMS. I would have no problem running a custom WP theme (other than the fact that we currently host with some local company and I have no cpanel access). But this is really out of my league.
So, what I need to know is:
- What would be a good fit for this kind of site?
- How much time would it take? (I know it's "a long time," but they asked for an estimate)
- What would the going rate be for this kind of work? Lump sum? Hourly? Maintenance over time?
- Anything else that would be good to know.
I would be able to handle admin of the site on my own, once it's built.
Basically, it's a huge project. I could take it on myself in pieces, and in the end would probably be able to get most of it squared away, but it would take me forever (and like I said, no cpanel access - we are currently with a local host and everyone thinks it's better to have to call someone to ask them to make a small change, like adding an email alias, than it is to do it yourself in three seconds).
So, what's the damage?
iglidante on
0
Posts
This could be anywhere from $1,000 to $200,000. They are going to actually have to know what they want, not just making it "interactive".
this.
but this part "- Members will be giving donations via credit card on the website."
means database integration, ecommerce/ssl and security, upgraded server security. you just made it min 15k.
and for [insert deity here]'s sake, please make sure you get a pro for this part. credit cards or financial over the web is not something that you can just pick up. this isn't something that you should half ass. the design, the static (and some of the dynamic) stuff can probably be done by any half way decent person. you could probably pick up the basics. but one slip, one badly sanitized input, one sql injection, and all of your member's cc# and identities get exposed to the public...
Oh, you should see the current donation forms we've got going. I spent months cleaning up the code on the current site, and it's absolute hell. Picture HTML where someone has been doing WYSIWYG edits for years without ever taking a look at the code snarl they're creating. Pasting formatted text directly in from Word. The current donation form is just a regular [FORM], which then calls another HTML page with a little bit of PHP in it to compile the text and send it all to a secure mail server. It's really cheap and dirty.
As far as widgets, we're just talking the ability to drop them in - not custom ones. Just things like live news feeds, weather, photo galleries.
If we decide to integrate our member database with the website, that's going to require a piece of software from the database software company (Blackbaud), and that's a sub, very expensive.
Basically, I am my company's IT skills. There are ten employees, and I am in charge of the website. The board asks for things, and I get to explain to them why we can't just go out and do them in five minutes.
EDIT: as far as pricing, I was going to tell them 50k to do it right, but I wanted to get some actual opinions other than my guess.
The last actual firm I worked for would probably price that around 100k given a "custom" solution for each given bullet point (and when I say custom, I mean, not a third party component but an internally developed one).
As people pointed out, you could probably find a PHP chop shop that could do it for as little as $10,000, and you could find some avant garde group who would charge 200-300k or even higher.
There is no reason not to shop around, but I think that given the huge scope of your plans that most companies are going to demand or at least prefer that you get a functional requirements document written, and those can run several thousand dollars... they are basically very detailed page by page wireframes of a site plan.
This helps combat scope creep and makes sure the client (you) gets exactly what they expect.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
I mean, if all they wanted was a new, redesigned, more organized site, I would do it myself in WordPress. The copy is basic - just long. But once people started talking about different user logins and board dashboards, I knew it was out of my league.
Without a spec sheet, every company you ask is going to interpret your requirements differently.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
I would be suspect of any bid under 30k and I would scrutinize any bid under 60k to make sure they understand your requirements.
Of course, it all varies by region, and also some companies do give discounts to non-profits.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
http://www.alfresco.com/
http://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/
These are both java products that can be scaled with less difficulty then a php solution, and both have for-hire consulting and service. Also, in both cases, their homepages are driven by the very software they are selling. So if you like their page, their product is going to behave a lot like their page does.