Looking for a estimate cost and advice for website business idea

[Psc88]

Hi

Just looking for advice/ help on viability of a business idea.

I am a healthcare professional who knows a lot about my field but nothing about websites or design.

I have a business idea and contacts in my field.

I wish to create a fully automated website for recruitment in my field.

Looking for a site to be creatded were people can post work required and for potential workers to accept jobs.

Base format on something like rated people or freelancer but for my line of work only.
Need people to be able to post work availabe and for registrants to accept the work.
Will need a section were people can post there details to verify credential and an area for feedback

Any idea of costs of stating this up and maintenance?

 

[Josh_Farmer]

Hey PSC,
Firstly you'll need to get down some solid specs, then you can get a better idea of Specs, you'll also need to figure out is it workable. There is SOO much competition these days in these types of things that you have to make sure you're niche is workable

 

[Psc88]

Hi round25 thanks for the reply.
Can you clarify what you mean by specs?

I understand it's a competitive market but I am yet to see a viable fully automated site in my niche....majority rely on a third party agency with manpower who use sites for advertising profiles/jobs.

I wanted to get an idea of the cost this would give me more of a idea if it's something worth pursuing

Thanks

 

[Josh_Farmer]

By specs,
I mean what you want the site to do in detail for example

-What parts do you want automated
-How do you want payments (one off, monthly memberships)
-How do you want applicants to apply
-How do you want employers to post jobs?

Prices could range from £500-5k upwards, its going to depends on specs, designs ect,

You could look at something like a theme from http://themeforest.net/?ref=Round25 and amend it if you want to trail the market on limited costs.

 

[Psc88]

Hi round25 is this a field you work/have experience in?

 

[Josh_Farmer]

We have done a few similar sites for clients (one for vet practices)

 

[datahound]

Could you make this work as a specialist recruitment agency?

Personal service, build a database of people looking for work and match that against jobs available.

You could do that with a simple input form on a website, one for seekers and one for employers.

Charge a decent fee for placement.

When you see the kind of response you are getting to marketing, hits and form submits, you can think about making the (large) investment to automate the process.

 

[Psc88]

Hi problem is specialist recruitment agency are available both for full term and locums (which is what I will conc on), problem with Louis is once a business uses a locum once they tend to exchange details and then cut out the middle agency. Which means you can loose clients after your first referral.

I wish to create a platform were its simple a employer who needs instant short term cover can post the dates and times needed.

The locum can then see these dates and commit as necessary

I will charge a monthly/annual reg fee for both employers and locum.

Round 25 do you have a link to the vet website

 

[Josh_Farmer]

PSC, i'll have to get permission to send it over to you, as it was done Ad-Hoc with a different development company, however i don't think they will have an issue. (Was done under NDA)

 

[Psc88]

Hi round25

It would be great to have a look at I have a few links to sites/formats I'm considering but was looking at getting an estimate so I can forecast the venture

 

[Josh_Farmer]

Well for an estimate,

You'll have some companys freelancers who will offer to do it for £500, we would likely be around £2k at a guess. There will be some companies who will charge £5k

Thanks

 

[Psc88]

Will this include all the processing for payments etc?

 

[Josh_Farmer]

Yeh, the rought estimate i guessed on there was based on a flow such as

- Payment Tiers for Employers & Workers ( Payments could be done via Stripe, PayPal, or some third party system such as Barclays ePDQ)
- Simple management backend for employers and users
- All prospects in one place for employers, plus matched employers when jobs are posted

Something like that

 

[CaptainKirk]

I had have had problems with developers before and I suggest you select carefully,

I used a website developer called Imran Rafique based in Birmingham, UK, who really opened my eyes to how untrustworthy people can be. Whatever you do, do not use this guy he is scum. He promised to build a site, which he never intended to do and then demanded a deposit of £100 upfront which I paid, only because I worked for him, after 3 weeks there was no sign of him starting the site only excuse after excuse. Clearly he had no clue what he was doing and then he was fired from the company we both worked for and I never heard from him again.

Avoid web designer Imran Rafique at all Costs he is a liar and cheat, his website is:
www DOT itechsolutionsltd DOT co DOT uk

So before selecting a developer make sure you agree on paper EVERYTHING which must be included in the final website, and make sure the developer is capable of producing it. Generally I would say never pay anything untill you see some work in progress and pay in milestones. I know many developers may not agree to work without a deposit but the way I see it is:
If you get a job in a company they don't pay YOU in advance, they pay you one month or a week in Hand!

 

[Josh_Farmer]

I had have had problems with developers before and I suggest you select carefully,

I used a website developer called Imran Rafique based in Birmingham, UK, who really opened my eyes to how untrustworthy people can be. Whatever you do, do not use this guy he is scum. He promised to build a site, which he never intended to do and then demanded a deposit of £100 upfront which I paid, only because I worked for him, after 3 weeks there was no sign of him starting the site only excuse after excuse. Clearly he had no clue what he was doing and then he was fired from the company we both worked for and I never heard from him again.

Avoid web designer Imran Rafique at all Costs he is a liar and cheat, his website is:
www DOT itechsolutionsltd DOT co DOT uk

So before selecting a developer make sure you agree on paper EVERYTHING which must be included in the final website, and make sure the developer is capable of producing it. Generally I would say never pay anything untill you see some work in progress and pay in milestones. I know many developers may not agree to work without a deposit but the way I see it is:
If you get a job in a company they don't pay YOU in advance, they pay you one month or a week in Hand!

Wow, register to rant about someone? Really?

I wouldn't even say if that company is UK based, as bar a uk Mobile number, there whois is set to a uk address but with the country as bermuda!! Do research first.

I don't know ANY web developers or companys who will work without a deposit. Actually i dont know any companies who will do work without something upfront with the expection of a job thats completed on site

 

[Josh_Farmer]

Can i ask what you were thinking, There website doesn't have any info on it, only a mobile, the limited company doesn't exist. Do you're research first then you wouldnt be here ranting

 

[ryedale]

Look at a company's history and previous work. Don't be afraid to contact people from sites that they have worked on for feedback.

I would estimate this at around 2-2.5k although I'd need to go through the project spec in detail to provide a definitive price.

 

[CaptainKirk]

Wow, register to rant about someone? Really?

I wouldn't even say if that company is UK based, as bar a uk Mobile number, there whois is set to a uk address but with the country as bermuda!! Do research first.

I don't know ANY web developers or companys who will work without a deposit. Actually i dont know any companies who will do work without something upfront with the expection of a job thats completed on site

Yes the company is UK based, I also searched WHOis and it is obvious that Imran Rafique has changed the registered address to stop people finding him, I assume because he has ripped many other people off too. As you can see from the information on his website he clearly states that he is based In Birmingham UK!

Well, It wasn't just a rant, I got ripped off and thought It would make good sense to make other people aware of this con artist so they do not get duped by him also. As there was nowhere I could just leave a reveiw for him, I thought if I post on forums, when people search for keywords like "Imran rafique web designer" or "web developer Imran Rafique" or even "Web Developer in Birmingham UK" they might come across my posts and be warned that Imran is untrustworthy and
unintelligent.

And yes the phrases I used are intentional so that they might get triggered when people search using google for similar phrases "See how I did that"?

 

[CaptainKirk]

Can i ask what you were thinking, There website doesn't have any info on it, only a mobile, the limited company doesn't exist. Do you're research first then you wouldnt be here ranting

It's true, The LTD company (itechsolutionsltd) on Imran Rafique's web site does not exist at all but at the time I worked with the guy so felt he was trustworthy. I agree it was foolish of me to hire this plonker! He told me he was just getting started and was looking to do it professionally, I thought I was doing the guy a favor.
Well... the next time someone wants to research him at least they will be able to find more facts, yes

 

[Josh_Farmer]

I personally just dont think ranting on someone elses thread about it is the way to go.

 

[CaptainKirk]

I personally just dont think ranting on someone elses thread about it is the way to go.

well, what would you suggest? I wasn't just ranting on someone else's thread I was sharing my experience with a dodgy developer, Imran Rafique- who is worthless web designer, with somebody who was looking for a developer and telling them what to look out for. I think my information was relevant to this tread actually, I was merely "killing two birds with one stone" and I think our exchange has shed some light on tell tale signs which give away in-genuine web developers.

 

[IanG]

Get an much down on paper as you can in respect of what you want users to see and be able to do.

I can see already the type of idea you have, but from that to formal design is currently a long way.

Do also bear in mind as some others have posted that if this is about matching people to jobs, and those employers seek to maintain their own records, then you won't monetise on subsequent appointments for that pairing.

It will also be difficult to justify a charge in a competitive marketplace when your lists are relatively small.

I would price it at around £2.5k for the database and enough of a UI although you really must ensure that you have a proper idea of exactly what you want to store and how you want to query it to get a proper price.

Given that I'd also recommend not even attempting to monetise it for a few years, you might wait a bit to get that back.

Are there definitely no large and established sites in your sector? Specialist knowledge of the jobs is absolutely a fantastic advantage over the entire-job-market sites, but I'd be surprised if there are not people already trying.

 

[cyberhostpro]

HI

Checkout http://glenwheeler.co.uk/ we used him to design our latest site (which is http://www.cyberhostpro.com) , hes a great designer (a perfectionist) and has lots of developer contacts, he could be a great one stop shop for you. I highly recommend Glen he's great.

 

[glenwheeler]

Very happy to help if I can

 

[Mad Frog]

I'm with a few others on here in terms of pricing, you'd be looking at around £2.5k. Just a quick note on the previous ranting, as a company we always take a deposit first, unfortunately it has to be done or there is a risk of doing a job and not receiving any payment. Also, on a separate note, cheap is not always good, a lot of the time you pay for what you get, so if you want something decent then be prepared to pay a bit more.

 

[Paul Norman]

I have not seen the specification in detail, and therefore would not want to hazard a guess.

I would, however, if I was going into a business venture such as this, budget at least £5k. If successful, that would be a modest investment.

As many of you know, I do also have a part interest in a technology business, but I would be happy to chat about this with no obligation.

In a project liket his, step one is to work up a decent, accurate specification. A good technology company would, in fact, help you to do that, for no cost, to enable them to price it accurately.

In choosing a business to build this, spend enough time speaking to them to gain some measure of confidence that they would be able to see the project through. To do this well is not a couple of days of work.

 

[PDC]

Some good advice here. We went through two bad experiences before finding someone local who could do everything they said and built us two very good websites.

As stated, finding someone with a proven track record in the area/type of site you are building and examples that they have created will save you time and money even though their quote will most likely not be the cheapest.