Cost of professional website design + development, using Wordpress

Rud Annamh

I know that's like asking how long is a piece of string, but I would appreciate any input.

It's been a while since I worked with web design / development companies, so I'm trying to get a feel for market rates.

I'm looking for an average (say 20 page) website, built with Wordpress, with a sharp design.

I know how easy it is to build a site with Wordpress, so I expect design to be the main cost.

Is integrating a custom design with Wordpress time consuming / expensive?

Any thoughts on cost I should expect?

desaparecidos

Rud Annamh wrote: »

Any thoughts on cost I should expect?

Ridiculously high if you're hiring from within Ireland.

Rud Annamh

Yeah, I'm beginning to see that...

Trojan

Edit: Sounds like you're not actually looking for a professional job. I'll save this post for my blog.

Edit2: 11 months later, I finally wrote this reply up as a blog post about creating a custom WordPress theme and then deploying a site with that theme.

Rud Annamh

Thanks Trojan, it's a shame you removed your original post, but I got a copy of it by email and it was really good, opened my eyes to what is involved, which is what I was looking for.

I don't know what I did to make you judge me as not serious, but anyway, thanks.

Trojan

Maybe I'm being unfair to you, but your response to Mr. Ridiculous up there is what makes me think that you're not actually serious. You agreed that Irish professional design was "ridiculously high" before you had a single real response.

If you hang around this forum long enough you'll see a pattern emerge in some of these type of threads:

Poster comes on asking about cost of professional design
Designer(s) give realistic costing
Low-baller(s) accuse designer(s) of overcharging
Designer(s) give detailed breakdowns
Low-baller(s) argue the breakdowns (usually underestimating or even completely omitting important tasks)
Designer(s) give up on pointless discussion (as a true professionals time is valuable)
Low-baller(s) "win" the discussion
(Original poster doesn't come back to thread.)

I will be posting the breakdown I wrote up, but on my blog where I'll get more value out of it than arguing with Mr. Ridiculous here.

BarackPyjama

You either see your website as:

an extension of your marketing collateral - like a business card or a branded mouse mat. Something that can be mass produced by a monkey with a wacom tablet pen between his teeth.

or

a powerful business tool - a piece of software that drives sales, built by a team of professionals with skills in project planning, user experience, interface design, software development, SEO, marketing, etc, etc. If it's an e-commerce site, you need to consider it a department of your business, not even a business tool.

If you're one of the former above, don't call me. Ever.

Rud Annamh

I understand your frustration.

My comment was because I was quoted for a simple brochure website €2k for design, which is fine and always worth paying for good design, but another €5k+ for "build" in Wordpress, which I find excessive, so wanted to get a feel for rates.

Giblet

What sort of timelines were you given? This is the biggest insight into how much they are charging and why.

Rud Annamh

No timelines given.

Just a two-pager saying they would build a 20 page website (one home page design and one sub-page design - not that they specified that, but that's what is required).

Giblet

Ask for a breakdown of their costs and estimates. If they don't give you to that, I'd start to doubt their professionalism. Unless you are licensing something from them, a high fixed cost without estimates is shady to say the least. Use this knowledge then to compare and contrast for similar work estimates, given you are happy with shopping around that is.

Rud Annamh

Thanks, I will do that.

Giblet

Bear in mind though, that given the estimates, they could still be doing enough work to warrant 5k for development and whatever other services they provide.

BarackPyjama

The estimate sounds about right. Again, it really depends on the level of service and the competence and knowledge of the people responsible for producing your site. What they deliver might be worth €500 or they could be offering serious bang for your buck if you get a perfectly tailored solution. Post up a link to the company's site and we can tell you whether their services are worth paying that kind of money for.

Giblet

True, if you were getting a great design, and really professional development work, support and deployment, €7k would be well worth it. Again, any company offering the above would sing and shout about what they offer and gladly give you a breakdown.

worc

Trojan wrote: »

I will be posting the breakdown I wrote up, but on my blog where I'll get more value out of it than arguing with Mr. Ridiculous here.

It's asked so much why not throw it up as a sticky?

I can understand why people do argue the costs - anytime I've spent on design forums you'll see the guys/gal who are proper designers (and I say proper meaning proper and not arsing around) arguing between themselves over "you should charge an hourly rate" ... "no way! You should be charing a fixed rate" ... "you should be designing with a grid system at all time " ... "you must be joking with grid systems" ... "you should be reusing code you used on other sites to reduce the amount of work you do and reduce costs for clients" ...

(I thought I remembered a few of these to link to but can't find them now - maybe I'm imagining it all).

As a result of web designers/developers not agreeing on best practice because they all "have their way of doing things", the average joe has no comprehension about what is involved - so they can't tell when they should actually be spending thousands or more for their site and when they shouldn't.

IMHO, I'd sticky your response so people at least have a first port of call to read before putting up a question about costs...

EDIT: and I mean your original response not the one about Mr. Ridiculous.

desaparecidos

Wait a minute, am I Mr. Ridiculous?

CamperMan

€250,00 for a website using wordpress

worc

CamperMan wrote: »

€250,00 for a website using wordpress

SOLD!

Rud Annamh

I won't post a link to their site as they are very mediocre in my view and I don't want to run the risk of them being slated in a public forum.

I can see the difficulty for designers and developers to distinguish themselves in an area that many people do not understand.

Thanks for the replies.

cormee

Rud Annamh wrote: »

I won't post a link to their site as they are very mediocre in my view and I don't want to run the risk of them being slated in a public forum.

I can see the difficulty for designers and developers to distinguish themselves in an area that many people do not understand.

Thanks for the replies.

If they're mediocre and overcharging, unsuspecting potential customers do deserve to be warned - especially if they are producing a technically inferior product.

If anyone here is going to slate them it will hopefully be for valid, technical, reasons that they, the slater, can stand behind.