5 Ways to Estimate the Cost to Build a Website

I had a friend come to me the other day. He had a web proposal in his hand. As soon as he gave it to me, I knew the next two questions.

Is it a fair price?
How much would you charge for it?

Now to be clear, I know how to develop a pretty decent website. But I do not do it for a living. I do it if the idea strikes me as particularly interesting. Or I do it as a favor for a friend. Less and Less do I do it as the later, it tends to sour the friendship, which I value more than the money.

So I thought I'd give you a few points that I use to "smell test" a proposal or create an estimate.

1: What pages are going to be built?

Look at the site map, if there is none...ignore any quotes, hours or estimates...go make one and come back and try again. The developer has to understand the scope of what you need built. Real Estate agents need to know how many rooms and bathrooms you want in your house. Web developers need to know how many pages and what concepts are on those pages.

2: What's the hourly rate
There is no particular right answer for this one. However the rate will usually indicate the type of work that will be turned out. Less then $25 an hour, your going to get a pretty basic site. More than $50, your going to get a pretty good site. I've seen rates as low as $10/hr and ones as high as $200/hr. More often then not, they came out as the price would indicate. Note: There will be exceptions to this rule!

3: Do you need artwork?
Is the developer providing the artwork? Are you ok with this? A lot of folks don't understand that the art of a website and the workings of a website take two different mindsets. Art can consists of 40% or more of the cost of the project. Personally, I do "ok" artwork. If someone wants the best of the best I refer them to www.99designs.com. You decide on a price and you get the best artwork possible for that price. Either way art can be a big part of the cost.

4: Cost of the Template
The first thing I calculate is the template. This is how the site would look with no real content. Almost like a mockup. By default a template takes about 1 full work days to make. Add 2 days if I have to make the artwork. So it's either 8 or 24 hours depending on the art.

5: Cost of each Page
This one is a bit harder for the novice but think on it. Take each page, would you consider it "basic"? Meaning nothing is personalized for a visitor to the page and content is updated very rarely. This type of page would take 4 hours. Wanting any of the following adds about 4 to 8 hours a page.

• Personalized
• Change the content daily
• Ads
• Photo book
• Selling a product*
  

When in doubt...I just do 8 hours for the full page.

In summary

So there you have it, this would be how I gauge a websites cost. An example:

Home
About
Contact us
Service
Products
-- Online Book
-- Special Gadget
-----------------------
8 hours for template
16 hours for 4 basic pages
16 hours for 2 product pages
-----
40 hours x $50/hr
$2,000

I usually advise the client that the estimate will go up or down 20% as we work through the details. I then follow through and update them as changes happen.




Apps, Programs and Special Features
If you want a web application (calendars, wiki, blogs, to-do list, etc) or special things that the user can do on your site, I will tactfully direct the person to find something that exists on the web already and pay their fee. In all reality building those things from scratch will cost more than they are willing to pay. If they insist, then I usually will do a different quote as those things tend to take a lot of time (money).

Selling
A lot of folks want to sell something on their website. The easiest method that I have used is paypal. Normally it takes about 10 hours to integrate this into a site. There are a number of alternatives to paypal. There are also a number of sites that allow you to sell on the web without having to go through a web developer. If you just want to sell online, I'd advise you to research this. (ejunkie.com)

Build a site for $400
Sometimes you'll run across things were someone is building sites at $400 a pop. Or $50/page or some type of special that really makes things cheap. Two pieces of advice. First, this is usually someone who is just starting a business and wants to get as many new customers as possible. They may develop quality sites, they may not. Second, you get what you paid for. Go look at there past work, or ask them for a sample. If you are looking for a basic/cheap site, this route is the best way to go. If you want/need to look very professional, you may want to avoid these deals.

Accuracy of Estimates
Well, they ain't called estimates for nothing. As web development goes very rarely will a developer "lock" their cost to build a website. This is because you, the client, never knows what you like until I, the developer, have built it. I tell folks my estimates have an 80% accuracy. That can be a $400 swing on a $2,000 project. It seems to surprise a lot of folks.

The one thing you can do to increase the accuracy is present your vision as accurately as possible. I would hazard a guess that even a mockup drawn on paper can increase the estimation accuracy by about 50%. The better the mockup the smoother the project is going to go and the better the estimate. As a developer, I kiss your feet if you come to me with a site map AND a mockup. You're not doing my work for me, you are letting me know exactly how I can exceed your expectation!

Finally...Estimation is an art, which I am by no means an expert at!!!

What a 10 Year Old Taught Me

Most parents can relate to what I went through last night. The three of us, my wife, my son and I, sat on the couch and were discussing the day, we turned toward a tender spot in my son's mind. I watched his immediate reaction. Body stiffens, huffing and puffing, muttering under his breath, a few tears and some large sighs. I could see that we were not going any where fast.

I thought to use this as a learning opportunity. The first step was to get him committed to being engaged in the conversations. I resorted to a "carrot" of sorts.

"Son, if you talk to Mom and I for 30 min, I'll let you stay up an extra hour tonight...but we have to have a meaning full conversation about this."

It was almost comical. He immediately stopped huffing, sat for a minute then turned and quite calmly said "OK". The next thirty minutes were eye opening for all of us. I figured I must be on the right track...

I proceeded to explain a key concept to almost any conversation to him.

"You know we both have different ideas about this problem. You have to start a conversation by assuming that neither one of us is right or wrong. "

He replies: "But you guys are adults and I have to listen to what you say"

"Yes, We are your parents and when we tell you to do something you have to do it. However, when we sit down to talk, we want to understand your point of view and we want you to understand ours."

"OK"

I explained to him that during a conversation it was important to sit up straight and say what he really felt. He did not need to shout, cry or plead as we were already intently listening to what he said.

One of the recurring themes was interruptions. And as our children are supposed to do, I learned something from my 10 year old that evening. I tended to interrupt the other party when I was engaged in "verbally sparing".

My son found this especially disturbing as when I interrupted him he felt that he had to defer to me and let me speak, thus shutting his thoughts out or causing him to forget his train of thought.

At certain points he in turn would interrupt my speech as he would attack my arguments. Unfortunately he would do this before I laid out the entire picture so he would miss points in my argument. This lead to a cycle where he would not understand something but I could not finish the thought to explain it to him. Looking back, I wonder how many of my own conversations would have been shorter if I had not "jumped" into the rebuttal.

I helped him understand that he had to let the other person finish their thoughts. If he wanted to address a particular part of what was said, he simply had to repeat that part and then state why he thought it was wrong.

All in all, I found it very interesting and I think we learned a lot about ourselves and each other.

If you have a young child in your house I suggest that you also sit down and teach them the valuable lesson of holding up their end of a conversation. You may be surprised at what you learn.

In case your wondering the topic of discussion was Homework. *grin*

Who is this Guy?

My name is Markus Beamer. I was born in Tacoma Washington but was raised in Columbia South Carolina. I come from a family of 4 boys and 2 girls and thus am used to a very hectic environment. “Never a dull moment” is certainly the motto for our home growing up. That’s probably why 11 years ago I turned to technology for a career, “Never a dull moment” sums up its progress quite nicely.

During my college years, at the College of Charleston, my first exploration into technology was as a web developer for a software licensing firm. I started out typing HTML and Javascript into a simple notepad window. Through the years I touched upon CSS, Java, Visual Basic, PHP, mySQL, Photoshop, Access, Oracle and MS SQL Server in that exact order. However, I find it quite amusing that to this day when I want to write a bit of code I reach for my notepad application first…no matter the language. Needless to say, I found a love in technology. No matter how much I knew, I never was bored, as something new was but a day away. Change was always going to come.

Of course change can come when you grow the family. Currently my family is in Charlotte North Carolina. I am the lucky husband to one fine lady and the proud father of two rambunctious boys. I am happy to say that my household carries on the tradition of “Never a dull moment”. My oldest son is crazy for electronics and all things technical. My youngest son is definitely the outdoor, rough and tumble kinda fella. They both attract their fair share of friends and our house has become the “neighborhood” house. (much to my wife’s dismay!)

I currently work at Bank of America as a Business Process Consultant. When asked, I tell friends and family that my role is to help “leadership” make the best use of technology and in truth this is what I do. However the role affords me much more than that, I am at a crucial nexus where the needs, desires and ambitions of the business meet the calculations, formulas and algorithms of technology. It’s a great place to be and I don’t think I’ll change it for some time to come.

But...

At times one gets bored with the day to day. It is in those times that I turn to my hobby of game building. Like most hobbies it is silly yet fulfilling. I build small games that can be played in a browser; my specialty is to build them with JavaScript so they do not require any plug-ins or downloads to play. Sometimes the games are role based, sometimes they are card based, other times they are …different. I have been doing this since 1999. I laugh when I think of the number of games I have written and thrown by the wayside (at last count 24). But that is what a hobby is…a wasted time that allows the mind, body and soul to reset.

I hope that having learned a little more about me, you will reach out and shake my hand. I am always happy to meet new folks.

BDPA Charlotte Chapter President Elect

On Tuesday, 11/17, I was elected as Charlotte Chapter’s President Elect for 2010 and 2011. My first thoughts were around the amount of work that needs to get done. And there is a lot of work that needs to get done.

I have been with the Charlotte chapter for upwards of 8 years. Over the years I have meet many good passionate people through BDPA, participated in numerous events and seen many great things come out of the BDPA chapters.

The upcoming Charlotte President, Julius Clark, has a host of great ideas, projects and people that he is bringing with him into his administration. I want the members, both locally and nationally, to be comfortable with sharing their honest opinions and assessments of what we will be putting into motion.

As President Elect my role requires that I keep track and participate in almost every facet of the local chapter. However a few of my personal goals are to ensure the following takes place during my session:

• Focus on the long term viability of each project
• Track the day to day progress of our initiatives
• Ensure that we are receiving feedback on our initiatives
• Foster a sense of membership and family for all members involved

I am very much looking forward to my time in a leadership role with the Charlotte Chapter.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns please reach out to me.

Thank You for your Trust,

Markus Beamer

What Are Your Feet Trying to Tell Me?

For those that may not know, I like to play poker. I think I'm pretty good at it. I like to play poker because contrary to what you may believe poker, is 70% reading people and 30% playing cards.

I recently read a book called "Read'em and Reap". It's an FBI interrogator's guide to understanding the instinctual moves that people make, specifically how it pertains to the Poker tables. Reading "tells" is what us poker players call it. But reading tells is done in almost every aspect of my life. Anyway, I strongly suggest you read this if you are into poker in any way or are interested in understanding body language.

One interesting fact: Did you know that your feet are the most "honest" part of your body. Your face is the least truthful. Information like this can be used outside of the poker room.

For example: Say you're having a conversation with someone and can't quite tell if they're actually getting it. Look at their feet. If thy're pointed directly at you, the person is engaged and listening and most likely right with you.

However if the feet are at a diagonal, or worse yet pointed away, they are not into the conversation and quite likely want to get out of it.

On the same thought, have you ever walked up to a conversation and wanted to participate but felt shut out? Try aligning your feet with everyone. For some reason you'll be swept right into the mix.

We do a lot of this instinctively, but knowing when to do it purposefully can be a powerful thing.

So get out there and let your feet tell the world all about you.

Java, .NET and PHP Pushers...Who Are They?

I assist in a community program where we introduce and teach high school kids to web development.

We typically teach between 30 and 40 kids each year.

It's always perplexed me why we are not marketed to when in comes to choosing which language to teach. Each year we go through a vote, discussion and rough conversation around teaching Java, PHP or .Net.

Each year the deciding factor is who is going to be conducting the most classes and what is their best language. We then usually go with that person's expertise.

My problem, usually the language you are first taught is the language you "default' to for the rest of your life. (the key word in that sentence is usually)

So if we are introducing these kids to thier first language, why is there not a Java, .NET, or PHP evangelical whispering in my ear...pick me, pick me.

It seems like an excellent way for a particular language to "buy" market share. And the market share would be for life.

Maybe our specific program is not large enough, but this is part of a national organization that teaches more than a few thousand students each year.

For those interested in the program, its called the BDPA HSCC program. It's affiliated with the national BDPA organization. I know of at least 20 different cities with successful programs.

Let me know if you have questions

rpgCardz.com

I did some major enhancements to a game that has been sitting on the back burner for quite a while.

I remember when I first worked on this game, it took me about 2 days to write and I wanted to make something quick and addictive to play.

I guess I succeeded as I wasted about 2 hours last night trying to get my "Rare" cardz.

What a time waster.

http://www.rpgcardz.com

Visual Resume

A Visual Resume...for those who might be interested.

A friend of mine got me into "Visualization Techniques" this would be my first effort.

Charlotte BDPA - President Elect for 2010

Hello, my name is Markus Beamer. I have been nominated for the 2010 President Elect position within the local Charlotte chapter of the BDPA. I look forward to getting your help in securing this position.

A little about my history with BDPA, I have been involved with the Charlotte chapter for the past 8 years, particularly with the High School Computer Competition (HSCC). I have assisted and trained over 200 youths in the Charlotte area during that time. I am extremely happy to say that during each of those years Charlotte has taken at least 5 youths to the National Competition.

During my time with the Charlotte chapter I have always been a confidant for the president and vice president of the organization. This year I took an extended step of becoming the VP of Strategy for the local chapter. Both roles have given me a unique perspective on the workings of the local chapter.

As for my agenda during my presidency, I believe that the local chapter needs to re-solidify its foundation. I have a simple plan to do this.

• First, find the right people. This is where it all starts. My first action will be to setup a process to find passionate people in the area who are willing to contribute to leading people from “the class room to the board room”.

• Second, set standards. Once we have the right people gathered and we decided on a course of action. My job will be to ensure that we setup a “process” for each project we work on. This will ensure that in future years the local chapter can continue on the successes of our prior work.

• Finally, ensure a line of succession. The final item I will focus on is ensuring that the local chapter of BDPA has a viable group of candidates that can provide solid leadership and continuation of our successes.

While doing the 3 actions above, we must keep the mantra of BDPA in mind “From the Classroom to the Boardroom”. My underlying goal is to see that the Charlotte chapter is able to create a systematic process for delivering this chain of movement. Starting with those teenage youths learning new technology and ending with those of you who may be sitting on the edge of boardrooms.

Finally, I leave you with this thought. The Charlotte chapter is in a time of re-birth. We know that rebuilding is needed. The chapter has become a boulder of potential at rest. My only hope is to nudge the boulder. If we can make it move the first foot, the second foot will be easier. If we can get it to roll a mile, it will roll forever.

And why do we do it? Because one day we will want to look back with pride in our hearts and a smile on our face from the good that we caused.

My High School Programmers

On August 7th, 2009, 3 freshman and 2 sophomore students from Charlotte, NC faced a field of programmers. They made up the youngest team of African American students that competed in this years Annual BDPA High School Computer Competition. Regardless of age they had intentions of winning and they represented Charlotte very well, placing in the top 10 teams nation wide.

They had committed the last 8 months worth of Saturdays to training and learning. Some did not now the very basics of web development when they started. On that day they were tasked with building a professional website using only the most basic of tools, but they had their wits about them.

They were asked to build a venture capitalist site, where companies could track monetary request and ROI on the request. And they were asked to build it in 7 hours.

Today, I can say that I am especially proud of these five Charlotte youths. Their accomplishment was no mean feat considering that the field of competition was selected from over 1,000 students and many other teams featured senior high school students.

Every year the BDPA, Black Data Processing Association, holds the national HSCC program in a different city. Every year between 20 and 30 teams come from all over the United States to compete. And every year the local Charlotte BDPA chapter has opened its class to any rising high school student who is willing to listen and learn about technology. From these young students, 5 are selected to compete in the regional or national competition. This years national competition was held in Raleigh North Carolina.

This year the national competition gave out the assignment to the students. It required that they build a venture capital website. On this site a company could request funds and track the requests. In addition to this users of the site could calculate a ROI on the investment. They were allowed no tools other than Notepad and Textpad and their own creative skills.

They were asked to build the site in 7 hours. This is a testament to their talent as I know some professionals who would be hard pressed to provide results in this amount of time.

For those of you who do not know, each year we, the local BDPA chapter, operate a learning class where we teach rising high school students how to build .NET web pages. We have students of all levels walk into our classroom, some having little to no computer experience, some having programmed for years. Regardless of their level of expertise, it is the programs responsibility to see that they walk out having learned a little more about technology.

The BDPA's mantra is "From the Classroom to the Boardroom", the Charlotte chapter strives to provide exactly this.

In previous years multiple HSCC students have gone on to internships within software development groups in the local area WHILE THEY WERE IN HIGH SCHOOL. Winners of the national competition will recieve scholarships to schools of thier choice. And this year BDPA and affiliates provided a full 4 year paid scholarship for an HSCC students from Columbia, SC. We follow through with these students progress as thier professional careers develop.

If you have a student that is interested in the program, we encourage them to come to our classes. They being the weekend after the Superbowl. The sessions are not expensive. Find out more by visiting, http://www.bdpa-charlotte.org

If you are interested in helping this program, in any way, please reach out to me. Someone reached out to you when you were younger, you should be returning the favor. It makes you feel good!