Well this is unexpected!

Redline · 11-01-2004, 08:08 PM

I started re-learning HTML in August. I hadn't done a thing with website design since I was 12 really. Knew nothing of PHP, MySQL etc. Now after 3 months of learning HTML/PHP and developing my clans website, I have caught the eye of a friend of the family who is looking for someone to build and maintain client websites.

Just today I got a call from my aunt who is a Realator for a popular agency and wants me to build and host her website. It will have listings of property's that you can search for by Zip, County, City etc. If that goes over as well as I hope it will, it will open the door for other realators that want more web presence.

This has all come totally unexpectedly and I don't know how to go about a few things. For instance, I have no idea how much I should charge for...anything lol It looks like this may possibly become big enough to take care of some bills if I do it right.

Does anyone have any tips? Care to share your knowlege with a rookie

I could really use it

Belisarius · 11-01-2004, 08:42 PM

I worked on basically what was a glorified internship for $20/hr.

You might want to say I'll develop and put it up for X dollars, with a consulting fee of Y dollars an hour thereafter for maintence/updates.

Redline · 11-01-2004, 11:29 PM

This RealEstate website I may end up building will basically be a kit, a template that I will be able to recycle for other RealEstate sites. Should I price the service of building this website on a flat rate for the "kit" and then hourly for the design and customizing? If so, what is a reasonable cost for a kit like that?

It will be set up with a complete RMS listing, searchable by state/zip/city/street/county/RMS # and more. There will be a user interface for the owner to add listings and news as well as basic contact information etc. I'll be setting it up with an image gallery for each listing. Should be a fairly loaded package when I'm done. Thing is I have absolutly no idea how much to charge for a package like that. It will take me a long time to build it, but once it's done I will be able to re-use it over and over.

$200? $400? No clue what kind of tag I should put on it...

Belisarius · 11-02-2004, 01:52 AM

That strikes me as a bit low, but I think I'm out of my experience league now, as I've only done consulting work.

Redline · 11-02-2004, 02:07 AM

I'd really like your honest opinion. If you think that $400 is low, what do you imagine would be a more reasonable cost? Keep in mind that the $400 would be the flat rate for the kit, and all the customization and design for the site would be an hourly wage (of probably $20) tacked on.

Also, this is for my Aunt. She is by no means a rich woman, she is merely an agent for a large Realestate company. Basically she wants this website to help her establish herself as a top-tier realator for this area, more than just a pawn for this company.

If I charged more than this, I would probably need to offer a payment plan to take care of the cost of the site with the hosting and maintenance worked into that monthly fee. Is that fairly common?

Belisarius · 11-02-2004, 02:24 AM

That's why I'm thinking it's a bit low; not outrageously low but you're looking to create what would enevitably become a major part of her business; sort of he office on the web so to speak, and you're not looking to put a trivial amount of work into it.

I know I tend to cut-rate all my stuff when it comes to people I know, so $400 might be very reasonable in that instance, but at the same time if you're looking to make a living off this stuff think of just how long it'll take to design, produce, debug. To do that sound like it'd take at maybe 2 weeks out of my life, so how much is 2 weeks of work worth?

Actually, a good meter might be how much it costs for boards like these. They have economies of scale working for them, so they might charge less, but in principle it's very similar.

redhead · 11-02-2004, 03:54 AM

For things like this, i've usualy charged a fee of $20 an hour, knowing it wasn't the cash that kept me going, but more the thrill of doing things I liked.

idx · 11-02-2004, 04:40 AM

Sounds like a good idea, but what I'm wondering is why they don't just use something like http://realtor.com ?

-r

Admin · 11-02-2004, 06:49 AM

because realtor.com sucks.

charge them $350-450 for a the basic package + $30 a month for hosting. give the first one to your aunt for free, but make her give you feedback on every aspect of the project. i would recommend NOT accepting payment plans, realtors are idiots.

sde · 11-02-2004, 08:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Admin

i would recommend NOT accepting payment plans, realtors are idiots.

lol .. that's funny, i'm working on something similar.

matt probably had a good idea for using your aunt as a test .. i think it would be different if you had a couple years of development experience under your belt.

glad to hear things are going well.

Redline · 11-02-2004, 11:30 AM

Well I'm definately not going to give it to her for free, but I will give her a deal. There will be too much work going into it to just give the whole thing away for free. I'm unemployed atm, so I need all the $$ I can get

Admin · 11-02-2004, 12:50 PM

at least hook her up with a fat discount for being the guinea pig

she will be the one who gets you all your initial leads....

Redline · 11-05-2004, 12:49 PM

I'll definately give her a deal, I'm thinkin $150-$200 plus $15/month hosting.

We'll be talking in depth about it tomorrow afternoon, so I may be starting this project next week. I'm pretty excited about it, this should be a fun project and really not all that difficult. The hardest part will be designing the site. I'm horrible with design. All the programming behind it should be pretty basic though.

Belisarius · 11-05-2004, 04:14 PM

Along the lines of design, anyone have recommendations/links on the subject? The main thing I know about design is the 7-rule; don't make menus with more than 7 items.

Redline · 11-05-2004, 04:17 PM

The 7-rule huh? Good to know

I'd love to get some tips/links on web design basics. It'd be a life saver