I got a phone call from a prospective client yesterday. He wanted to build two separate websites for the business venture he was starting. He proceeded to list a bunch of things the sites should do... including flash movies and streaming audio.
Of course, flash movies alone can cost as much as an entire website, so I asked him what his budget is. This is always a tricky question because the client thinks that I'm going to price myself to whatever they're willing to spend. The sad thing is that some web companies do this... my prices are already set (thanks to the content management system), so I just want to know where they think they should be spending.
After beating around the bush for a minute, he told me that he'd gotten quotes from a few other developers in the neighborhood of $300 to $500 dollars... including web hosting for a year! As I've said in a previous entry about pricing website development, you will find companies that give you really low quotes and some that give you really high quotes (> $10,000). Site Street sits mostly in the middle with the starting price around $1000 for a professional website. Of course, that includes our Content Management System, which allows you to make updates to your site, add additional pages, etc. without any additional fees.
So I tried to explain to him where pricing comes from and what pricing makes sense for web development. Unfortunately he could afford no more than the $500. Now, years ago when I was first starting, I would have taken this job anyway. But I know now that it's just not worth my time to build and host a site for $500.
Since his budget was so low, I suggested just going to Yahoo! or some other "free" website site and build something really basic. Then when he has the budget to do it right, give me a call. That way he's not wasting money on a site that will just frustrate him (takes too long to build... updates are expensive or never get done... developer falls off the face of the earth).
I hope he does call me back... I hope his business is wildly successful and 6-12 motnhs from now he'll have the budget he needs for a top-notch, professional website. I know Site Street can provide that to him, but you just can't get something for nothing. At some point, you do get what you pay for.