How much should web design be.....

[funkyfish]

I know its a really difficult question but here it is.....

need a website design, will be using creloaded (similar to OsCom) have asked all companies for prices for everything done i.e all the coding and the entire build and another price just for the graphics.

Prices range from:

lowest price
175.00 just graphics (all graphics, buttons, logos etc)
499.00 full works

to

highest price
1500.00 just graphics
just under 4K (including 6 hours flash development)

What would you pay? or what do you think would be a fair price?

[Laura@FYP]

Well I can only go off of what I paid, which was about £1500 + vat for full site development from scratch.
Flash will be the expensive part I imagine, and is not usually recommended on sites- unless you specifically require it for something?

[naturalnursery]

Our new site was no where near the top end of your quotes - we used Arianna who is fabby. If you want to chat about it, drop me a pm.

Axx

[Miranda]

I think you can pay pretty much what you want to pay! I would look at companies portfolios and decide what you like, then write a spec - what do you want to be included, then ask for quotes and timescale. Then from your short list ask sites they've done what they thought of the person/firm you chose

[funkyfish]

Well I can only go off of what I paid, which was about £1500 + vat for full site development from scratch.
Flash will be the expensive part I imagine, and is not usually recommended on sites- unless you specifically require it for something?


The price is fixed with or without the flash!

Thanks for your help :happy72:

[Katiequiggle]

I can't recommend Alison at Daffodil Design (http://www.daffodil-design.com/) highly enough, her work is excellent, she's helpful, friendly and quick.

[Chell]

DH did my site so it didn't cost us. Karen at www.dorsetwebdesign.net has done some upgrades for me, I've always been pleased with her work.

[funkyfish]

I think you can pay pretty much what you want to pay! I would look at companies portfolios and decide what you like, then write a spec - what do you want to be included, then ask for quotes and timescale. Then from your short list ask sites they've done what they thought of the person/firm you chose

I think your probably right.

Although, I've only approached companies that have good portfolios i.e work that I like.

Its the difference in price that is the most surprising.

The company who quoted the most have some really impressive clients and I love the work BUT its out of my budget!

The timescale is a bit of a problem as I wanted to launch 1st July and its looking unlikely that I'll be able to get someone to get something ready by then!

Its been so difficult to get people to quote, they listen to my spec and make notes and then say they will get back to me with a price - and then I wait and then I wait some more and then give up and try someone else...

The bigger companies seem to have a set price for a custom build regardless of whether you need part of the service or not.

[funkyfish]

DH did my site so it didn't cost us. Karen at www.dorsetwebdesign.net has done some upgrades for me, I've always been pleased with her work.

That's interesting - I notice this company designed a site for one of my customers!

[Chell]

That's interesting - I notice this company designed a site for one of my customers!

I think Karen has done sites for a few members on here. She is always very helpful and tolerant when I ask daft questions. :laugh:

[MrTempleDene]

creloaded is an off the shelf package, just like oscommerce, you say coding is needed, doess that mean you need changes to the way it works? if so you have to be very careful, besoke programming, especially is the horrible mess that is all systems derived from oscomerce, could cost you dearly.

It really depends on what you mean by coding.

if you simply mean, I want creloaded as it does what I want but I want it to look nice, then around 500 for a decent designer is probably a reasonable price.

If you mean, I want it to work differently, and I want custom written changes, then it will cost you a lot.

I have been a professional software engineer for 18 years, an I hate delving into the patch work mess of code that is oscomerce or creloaded.

Tell me what you want, and I will give you an honest idea of the cost I think is right.

[moomum]

I hate sites with flash on!

[MrTempleDene]

I hate sites with flash on!

I agree, especially when some clever bugger decides the only way to navigate the site is with a Flash menu system.

[Dino]

That's interesting - I notice this company designed a site for one of my customers!

That's me, thank you Chell for the recommendation.

As for choosing a web designer, like you say you have gone with companies where you like their work. If I was a customer I would contact some of their customers and get some feedback on their customer service too, just so you know they are likely to keep to your timescales and requirements.

[funkyfish]

creloaded is an off the shelf package, just like oscommerce, you say coding is needed, doess that mean you need changes to the way it works? if so you have to be very careful, besoke programming, especially is the horrible mess that is all systems derived from oscomerce, could cost you dearly.

It really depends on what you mean by coding.

if you simply mean, I want creloaded as it does what I want but I want it to look nice, then around 500 for a decent designer is probably a reasonable price.

If you mean, I want it to work differently, and I want custom written changes, then it will cost you a lot.

I have been a professional software engineer for 18 years, an I hate delving into the patch work mess of code that is oscomerce or creloaded.

Tell me what you want, and I will give you an honest idea of the cost I think is right.

I will PM you - Thanks!