web site

[bazo6557]

Hi I have a small plumbing and heating business.
I had a web site done 3 years ago by ems internet,last February they asked me for £500+ cant remember the exact figure and I told them to get lost as I had paid that for the original web site and didn't expect to pay the same every year.
The website is still up don't know how as I refused to pay,
anyway my question is how much does a good website cost... I don't think ems website is good and how much to run and host it.

many thanks Barry

 

[Faevilangel]

Why did they quote £500 for the website? Was it to update the site or just to keep it online? To keep it online should only have the following costs:
Hosting (few £ a month is about normal).
Domains upto £10 a year depending on domain (.com. .co.uk etc)
software costs (are they using a peice of software to run your website?)

To build a new site, it will cost as much as a car.

Depending on what you want, and what your budget is, depends on what type of website you would get.

 

[trevorwood]

One of the things you want to check is who owns the copyright to your website. Many web development companies retain the copyright even though you've paid them for the site. If they've done that and you try to move your site elsewhere, they'll just take it down and you lose it. However, if you own the copyright they should let you have a copy of the site to transfer elsewhere.

Can you post a link to your site so i can have a look at it and give you an idea of how much we would charge for creating that site and also to suggest any improvements

Cheers

 

[bazo6557]

I'm sorry can't show you site haven't enough posts, but I don't want anything to do with the one they have done, I paid £500 to have that one done its got 4 pages.
I don't know anything about copyright, I own the name although they bought it on my behalf.
I was just trying to find out the rate for a decent website.
If someone could point me to one and tell me what to expect to pay as I've been ripped off a couple times

 

[Faevilangel]

I'm sorry can't show you site haven't enough posts, but I don't want anything to do with the one they have done, I paid £500 to have that one done its got 4 pages.
I don't know anything about copyright, I own the name although they bought it on my behalf.
I was just trying to find out the rate for a decent website.
If someone could point me to one and tell me what to expect to pay as I've been ripped off a couple times

For a 4 page site, I would charge in the region of £350 but it will depend on the features needed.

£500 is probably about the top end for a 4 page website but it will depend if it was done by a freelancer or an agency and what features you have.

Can you pm me your url and I will take a look.

 

[bazo6557]

Hi this is quite embarrassing how do you reply to a private msg I clicked reply but where do you type your reply

 

[Faevilangel]

Hi this is quite embarrassing how do you reply to a private msg I clicked reply but where do you type your reply

Where my reply shows, just put the mouse in the top line and enter the text there. Just before the [quote....] box,

Or just click on my name here, and click send a private message.

 

[trevorwood]

I agree with Faevilangel, does sound as though you've been slightly overcharged. £250-£400 would be about right.

Do check that the domain name has been registered in your name. Go to Nominet (if it's a .uk domain name) they're at http://www.nominet.org.uk/. In the whois box put your domain name (without the www) and click Lookup. The next screen will show you the registered owner.

I took on a client who's previous web developer had registered their domain name in his own name, hosted it with a company in Dublin who wouldn't move the domain because my client wasn't the owner and then went AWOL so they couldn't get their site updated. Fortunately Nominet have a procedure for this.

 

[Balbirnie]

Have a go at creating your own website with Wordpress. It's relatively easy to get your head around the basics and once you've set it up you can make all the changes you want without any hassle.

Wordpress is free, all you'll be paying for is your domain name and your hosting fee.

 

[Faevilangel]

Do check that the domain name has been registered in your name. Go to Nominet (if it's a .uk domain name) they're at http://www.nominet.org.uk/. In the whois box put your domain name (without the www) and click Lookup. The next screen will show you the registered owner.

I just did a who.is check and the domain is registered to the OP but the domain registrar is his web developers.

 

[liams7]

How on gods green earth is this overcharged, You wouldnt even get a design from us for that. Our lowest price would be about £1200, £500 would get you about half a days worth of my time. If i asked you to come and look at my plumbing you would charge me £75 for a call out. Web design and development can take years of training. I spent many years in college and uni getting my degree and then working on other qualifications. Yet my skills are so undervalued that people think £500 is over priced for a website. A website would and should take 2 - 3 weeks to create and build. At this cost you might as well work in tesco's why did i go to uni?

In response to your question. If there asking that to host the site then yeah it is overally expensive. you can get hosting for about £120 a year. If its to rebuild a site then its not alot of money.

£500 is low end of the market, 1000 - 2000 would be mid and £5000 would be expensive. You would get alot more for £5000 though like a nice CMS and some other little bits of fun.

But please people stop undervaluing what we do and realise that £500 is not alot of money.

 

[Faevilangel]

How on gods green earth is this overcharged, You wouldnt even get a design from us for that. Our lowest price would be about £1200, £500 would get you about half a days worth of my time. If i asked you to come and look at my plumbing you would charge me £75 for a call out. Web design and development can take years of training. I spent many years in college and uni getting my degree and then working on other qualifications. Yet my skills are so undervalued that people think £500 is over priced for a website. A website would and should take 2 - 3 weeks to create and build. At this cost you might as well work in tesco's why did i go to uni?

In response to your question. If there asking that to host the site then yeah it is overally expensive. you can get hosting for about £120 a year. If its to rebuild a site then its not alot of money.

£500 is low end of the market, 1000 - 2000 would be mid and £5000 would be expensive. You would get alot more for £5000 though like a nice CMS and some other little bits of fun.

But please people stop undervaluing what we do and realise that £500 is not alot of money.

As I said in my reply, £500 is a top level of what I would charge for a 4 page site, but if they went to an agency like yours, then you would be looking at 3x that.

The site is a basic 4 page site, running off iframes and no visible cms. It was built using dreamweaver and has no SEO done to it.

Personally £500 is overpriced for the site, but the company who built it are an agency and not freelancers.

 

[bazo6557]

liams7 so you charge £1000 a day... we do charge a call out which is for emergency's and outside working hours, that's if we have to drop everything to attend, oh it would also include the 1st hour's labour, and it is not £75 we charge £50
I also spent 5 years training and have to resit gas exams and unvented every 5 years to allow me the privilege to work on gas and unvented systems.
I would love to charge £125 an hour sitting at a desk...we charge £30 to £50 and hour depending what category of work it is... contrary to popular belief most good plumbing firms don't rip people off.
sorry this has gone a bit off topic I only wanted to know how much it would cost for a decent website and what I would get for my money.

 

[Calibre Designs]

I'll PM you more details
Thanks

 

[joiner]

liams7 so you charge £1000 a day... we do charge a call out which is for emergency's and outside working hours, that's if we have to drop everything to attend, oh it would also include the 1st hour's labour, and it is not £75 we charge £50
I also spent 5 years training and have to resit gas exams and unvented every 5 years to allow me the privilege to work on gas and unvented systems.
I would love to charge £125 an hour sitting at a desk...we charge £30 to £50 and hour depending what category of work it is... contrary to popular belief most good plumbing firms don't rip people off.
sorry this has gone a bit off topic I only wanted to know how much it would cost for a decent website and what I would get for my money.

Nice to hear some sense talked...£?00,000's per year for a web designer???

 

[agtc]

Have just sent you a PM, hope that we can help. Andrea

 

[Homshaw]

I use Serif Webplus. It really cheap. It's fun writing it. You can update it whenever you like and you are your own master. I just find a few sites I like and pick the best features and come up with something I like

It looks a bit daunting at first but in reality it's as easy as doing a spreadsheet

I'm sure a webdesigner would say the sites are crap but most of the people who use it think its OK

There seems no logic to the costs of websites. I get clients who show me really impressive ones that cost little and other that are ordinary and cost thousands. I often come across designer who have things set up to ensure a reliable future income stream

 

[liams7]

liams7 so you charge £1000 a day... we do charge a call out which is for emergency's and outside working hours, that's if we have to drop everything to attend, oh it would also include the 1st hour's labour, and it is not £75 we charge £50
I also spent 5 years training and have to resit gas exams and unvented every 5 years to allow me the privilege to work on gas and unvented systems.
I would love to charge £125 an hour sitting at a desk...we charge £30 to £50 and hour depending what category of work it is... contrary to popular belief most good plumbing firms don't rip people off.
sorry this has gone a bit off topic I only wanted to know how much it would cost for a decent website and what I would get for my money.

Hi,

Yes me as the head developer of the company i charge out at £150 an hour and £980 if you want to hire me for the day.

Most of our developers will be chaged out at £80 an hour and i was not saying that you over charge in any way what so ever, im just trying to explain that what we do gets very undervalued

As I said in my reply, £500 is a top level of what I would charge for a 4 page site, but if they went to an agency like yours, then you would be looking at 3x that.

The site is a basic 4 page site, running off iframes and no visible cms. It was built usig dreamweaver and has no SEO done to it.

Personally £500 is overpriced for the site, but the company who built it are an agency and not freelancers.

I dont think the fact i have an agency should hold any bearing on what we charge. Ok overheads will be bigger so we will charge a little more but still dont undervalue your self.

Its a hard thing to do build websites and doing it well is something even harder.

£500 is not alot for a website and should not really take more than a week to complete. otherwise whats the point? After tax and NI that works out at about £350.

Im not going to comment on the quality of the work being done by the other company. And again why would you chuck in free SEO?

 

[liams7]

Nice to hear some sense talked...£?00,000's per year for a web designer???

Again some one who is completely undervaluing what we do.

Im not a web designer.

Im a software developer i create online software which helps business run and saves people lots of money as well as making them lots of money.

we create huge bespoke online systems.

 

[DesignerNick]

But the fella only wants a simple website, not an on line bespoke system so why would he want to fork out thousands?

If you are a developer then surely you will know that a simple website with a couple of pages won't take anywhere near 2-3 weeks. It could be done in a day.

I can understand when agencies do charge a fortune when it is blue chip / corporate for big bespoke systems but when Dave the Builder wants an on line presence with a couple of pictures of his projects and how to get in touch it is a bit different.

 

[Homshaw]

I think schools should ditch history and do web design and DTP.

It's better to be in charge of your own destiny plus you can react quickly and easily to new situations

Simple websites using readily available software should be within the capabilities of most people and I suspect producing them will get easier and easier

 

[liams7]

I think schools should ditch history and do web design and DTP.

It's better to be in charge of your own destiny plus you can react quickly and easily to new situations

Simple websites using readily available software should be within the capabilities of most people and I suspect producing them will get easier and easier

Intresting idea but i dont thikn ditching history is a good idea.

i think just adding it to the IT sylabus might be a better idea.

 

[Homshaw]

Intresting idea but i dont thikn ditching history is a good idea.

i think just adding it to the IT sylabus might be a better idea.

Have an "O" level in History but can't remember anything about it and I can't say it's ever came in handy.

Now if I knew how to SEO my site that would be handy. As it is I'm having to read up on it.

Kids like watching "Horrible History" on the TV. History lessons just spoil if for them by letting them know how it ends up

 

[paulomunky]

Hi Barry,

I run a software company with my brother.

In terms of the price you paid, £500 isn't extortionate but you generally get what you pay for in my experience. Web developers are 2 a penny

Do you have a link to your site?