1st quote in for website!!!!

[totters_traders]

please move this to correct section if it is in wrong section

so my bizz partner spoke with a webdesigner about the dating site we are looking to have, we told the guy we wanted people to post up there profiles, have pics and video footage if neccasry and be able to post eachother messages and have a friends list - here is the price given

35-40,000 dollars as function requirement is specialized and requires a good amount of intergration of program writing

this to me sound very very high!!!

[Mega B]

It sounds as if you are serious about this project.

[exstatic]

hey totters, I have sent you a PM!

[totters_traders]

i am i believe i have a niche and a few ideas that no other site is currently doing!!!! however i need to know realistic prices for sites like this to be done.
how much do basic dating sites cost? al we wanna do is add video footage to the basic idea - the other ideas that i have that will make it different should not effect the cost!!!
there is a website that pops uo every where called adult friend finder or something how much does a site like that cost to run buld etc

[kindafishy]

35-40,000 dollars as function requirement is specialized and requires a good amount of intergration of program writing

this to me sound very very high!!!

Hi totters,

It is hard to say without looking at your requirements. Good developers are not cheap, they usually run anywhere from $80 - $120 per hour. You really should be careful and get several quotes and referrals though because bad developers seem to charge roughly the same amount that good developers charge!

Don't budget for the amount that you are quoted though. You should budget 30% - 40% higher than whatever number you end up with, depending on how confident you feel that you described the requirements fully and accurately and how confident you feel the developer understands what is involved. The reason is that once you get into the project, things will likely become apparent that either you or the developer didn't anticipate meaning that they fall outside the estimate. No communications between business and development is perfect.

Good luck.

[JLeezer]

...how much do basic dating sites cost? al we wanna do is add video footage to the basic idea - the other ideas that i have that will make it different should not effect the cost!!! ...

Being involved in the business, IT, and testing sides of a multimillion dollar startup, I can easily tell you that most likely, the "other ideas" you referenced will affect the cost. If they involve doing anything on the website, it will incur a cost, frequently substantially more than you anticipated. There have been requests from our management (in fact, I'm working on one right now with a developer) for a very minor change to how line items are broken out on the bills we generate for our customers. The time taken has rocketed way past the estimates originally decided on, primarily due to unclear requirements on the business side and a lack of understanding the current architecture on the IT side.

[zharlene]

Sending you a PM...I'm starting a dating site too but with an extremely tight budget (link on sig).

Slowly but surely (up for about 3 weeks now).

[david90]

That sounds too high.

[totters_traders]

funny thing is every one says too high i even have designers pm me but no one gives e a good price, im gonna have to stat calling local

[fwn122]

Maybe you should just download a sitebuilder and create the site yourself. You don't necessarily need to know html and you can get hosting for a small monthly fee. I know you need videos and everything but still you can probably do that yourself just buy purchasing the script and uploading it to your web site. Even if you have no experience and need a web designer, the price shouldn't be nearly that high.

[zharlene]

funny thing is every one says too high i even have designers pm me but no one gives e a good price, im gonna have to stat calling local

It's also because every thing will cost...e.g. the coding, the actual design down to the logo, custom images (and small buttons).

I know that logos are somewhere around $20 (for the cheap looking stuff), $40 for the nice ones and $100 for the absolute best. Other custom site images will cost you about another hundred dollars more or less.

So far, you've mentioned simple features that most community sites have...if you're having the above mentioned features alone, you might be able to find someone to get it done for you for hundreds of dollars up to a few thousand dollars.

If by video footage, you mean something like a Youtube stuff then it shouldn't be pricey...

You should consider NOT starting from scratch. This will help cut down costs. There are lots of free open source softwares that you can modify into your own, and integrate together. Doing this will save you hundreds of dollars.

[wackoo_jackoo]

keep in mind there are heaps of scripts for very little cost.
these can be customized as apposed to starting one from scratch

[OnTheWayUp]

Designers really can't give you a decent price without knowing your website specifications. If you would like to share, I'm 100% sure my coders can do the site for between 8,000-12,000. Nothing is impossible.

My 2c.

[justy540]

For a social networking site/ dating site $35-$40k sounds very low to me. In my experience these sites take at a minimum 1200 hours, and some more complex sites can take over 2500. Multiply that by $100 an hour.

I'd be cautious of anyone claiming to do the site much cheaper, examine their previous work on SITES LIKE THIS, Social Networking etc, not brochure sites. Make sure you are happy with the quality of design and TEST their site make sure it works properly, then ask for a reference, if you can speak with the client who owns the site, they will be able to tell you the true cost, and how happy they were with the team.

3rd party components do bring down cost, provided you live within what they are acapable of doing, when the devlopers start trying to modify these components to fit your requirements, it can start to take more time than writing from scratch.

PM me if you'd like to see examples of some 1500/2400 hour sites, though I don't have availability for this size project at the moment.

Regards,
Justin Miles

[rogercbryan]

It's hard for us to know if the price is high with out knowing the specifics of your site plans. I will say that I recently dropped $12K into a project with out proper planning and now my developer is telling me it is going to cost $40K to finish the project. Once you get into advanced features and user interactions the price for design sky rockets. My only advice would be to hire a project manager and have them go out and get you 4-5 quotes. You may pay them an extra $2500 to $5000 but they exist for a reason.

Also: I'm seeking a reputable project manager to help me get my project back on track... please do not PM unless you are capable to handling (and have handled) complex web based projects.