Every custom web development project has a budget, even if you think you don't know it or don't want to say what it is. It is important for you and your web development company to understand what the finances are so that we can do the best job possible for you. After all, the goal of your project is most likely to create revenue either directly or indirectly, and your business plan should outline this in detail. The initial investment you can make into your project will play a major factor in the viability of your idea.
If you are getting quotes from other custom web development companies, chances are you will be getting prices all over the map. A recent client who hired us had quotes ranging from $2,000 to $50,000. Our quote was $15,000 and the client chose us because of our experience and because they were afraid of the quality (or lack thereof) they might get if they chose the cheapest vendor. It is very difficult to shop for web development based solely on price. You have to include other factors, such as if they guarantee their work, if they charge for phone calls and responding to emails, if they charge maintenance costs after completetion, and if they outsource any work to foreign countries.
Quality is the intangible element in a custom web development quote that can be difficult to quantify. If you get 2 quotes, one for $20,000 and one for $40,000, does this mean that the higher quote will deliver a product with much higher quality? It's hard to tell just based on cost. You should ask to see other websites in the portfolio and a ballpark figure for the initial investment made into each of those custom projects. This way you can get a feel for the type of quality and quantity that went into those other websites.
So, getting back to your budget - you should have an idea of what you want to spend. After all, you definitely have an idea of what you don't want to spend. If we tell you your site will cost $100,000, you might know right away that this is too high and you could never afford it. So you need to ask yourself where the cutoff is. At what point would you feel comfortable in making the committment?
Does this mean you should just tell us the amount of money you are willing to spend on your website, risking that you might pay more than what its worth? Well, in most cases, the answer is .... Yes. Please consider the following explanation:
We can do two websites with the same concept for vastly different cost. The difference is in the amount of time we spend working on your site. The only thing we sell is time, so if you want us to spend as little time as possible on your project, then we will give you the cheapest price. If you want us to take our time and be thorough and make sure your site is intuitive and highly polished and easy to use and maintain, then this will cost more simply because we will spend more time on it. It's just like mowing the lawn. You could do it in an hour, but if you want to have the edges done right and the trees weed-wacked and the patio swept and so forth, it might take 2 hours. In the same vein, your website might cost $25,000 or it could cost twice as much at $50,000.
We are not a company that likes to spend as little time as possible the projects we do. When we quote a project, we usually try to balance the quality with the budget so that you can get a great product without spending the absolute maximum amount of money.
If you want some general guidelines on our prices, please visit our pricing page which gives some more information about our range of prices for custom website development.
Michael Miller - Michael's Closet