People, good websites and good designs are expensive!
I get calls all the time from people who want to build a website. Some of them start off on the same frustrating note: I have an idea for a cutting-edge web app. I think it would be pretty easy to put together, and I talked to some of my developer friends and they thought it seemed pretty simple. How much will it cost?
They describe the idea to me and I say, well, you’re probably looking at a startup cost of at least $50k – $100k. Silence on the other line. Then: well, I was expecting to spend something like $5k total. Why is your estimate so much higher?
Is it even possible?
Before I can answer that, I need to answer the question of whether it’s even possible to build a web app for under $5k. I think it is if you’re (i) very good at web app design and product management and can specify it completely, or if (ii) you program it yourself (or have a friend/partner program it).
Beyond that, I don’t know how it would go. Several years ago, we gave an estimate to a client to build a complete web app. He got estimates from a couple dev shops as well, all of which were significantly lower than ours. He ended up going with us, and the project still came out over budget! I have no idea what the other shops would have delivered.
Reliability, quality and service make us cost more.
So why do we charge more? Basically, reliability, consistent quality and outstanding service. If you hire us, it will get done, it will get done well, and you’ll be in the loop the whole time. We won’t depend on you to tell us exactly what to build (if you knew exactly what to build, you wouldn’t be hiring us); we’ll work with you to figure out your business needs, your customer needs and we’ll design and build that.
Unfortunately, this type of service is both time-consuming and expensive. It’s time-consuming on two fronts: creating quality work and providing excellent service. It’s expensive because people who can create quality work and provide the level of service we want to provide are smart, talented and in high demand.