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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Posts
    38

    How much to design a site?

    I have a template from templatemonster.com for my web hosting site, and I know what I want it to say. Unfortunately my HTML/CSS/PHP skills are a bit shakey right now. I'm considering paying someone to fill-in the template for me, but I have no idea what it'll cost. I don't want to low-ball anyone, and I don't want to overpay, either.

    So, graphic designer-types, what's a fair price to ask someone to flesh-out about five or six pages of a template?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    904
    Hello Milo!
    It all really depends on what you need done. I have sent you a PM with some more information .

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Flint, Michigan
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    5,766
    Well as Twebdesigns pointed out prices are all over the place depending on who you go for and what you want. You can get a template sliced as low as $5 sometimes, you can also drop $100,000+ on a website without blinking an eye. In any event, I would first like to toss in a little: if you have the funds, avoid a template monster site, you could get a beautiful site done for $300ish (design and coding of 6 or so pages) pretty easy around WHT. For just filling out the pages of the template (no design work) $20 or so sounds fair IMHO, if there is content writing involved then that can make the price go up a bit. I would also like to toss in two quick notes:

    1. Prices can vary greatly as you know, that $20 or so quote is an estimate based off what I have seen around WHT in my time here.

    2. If you do think about getting a custom design done, I would highly suggest sending a PM to wello ( http://www.chromepixel.com ), or contacting the people at 4design.tv (http://www.4design.tv). I have not had any personal experience with either, but I have seen their work (and know wello from the forums), and I am always impressed.

    Happy holidays!
    Mike from Zoodia.com
    Professional web design and development services.
    In need of a fresh hosting design? See what premade designs we have in stock!
    Web design tips, tricks, and more at MichaelPruitt.com

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Brighton, MI
    Posts
    1,583
    I agree with you as well and you may even pay someone about the same amount to play around with your template monster site as well, and overall it is better to go with a custom solution if you plan to make a good impact on the hosting world. But for a great designer to do your page it should be around $500+ to do a real site. I just had my done by Tom at www.extremeis.com and he does excellent work

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Posts
    38
    Quote Originally Posted by rmurray321
    I agree with you as well and you may even pay someone about the same amount to play around with your template monster site as well, and overall it is better to go with a custom solution if you plan to make a good impact on the hosting world. But for a great designer to do your page it should be around $500+ to do a real site. I just had my done by Tom at www.extremeis.com and he does excellent work
    This is true, a custom design would be far superior to just customizing a template. Unfortunately I have to work within certain financial constraints. And those constraints dictate I won't have a large design budget to work with.

    I'll check out the site you recommended, as well as those recommended by justadollarhostin.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Sep 2000
    Location
    Alberta, Canada
    Posts
    3,146
    Something else to consider, Milo, is the actual coding itself. Anybody charging less than $100 (IMHO) may give you the graphics you want but you can bet the coding will be crap.

    Reason I say that is because they would probably use their Graphic program to do the coding for them, the good Graphics programs lay everything out in Tables, but you can be sure, the coding will not be up to Standards. (i.e. Validate properly)

    You mentioned your coding skills are a bit shaky so odds are, whomever does the graphics will also be doing the codng. You need to decide if you want the layout done in Tables (not good) or using CSS (best method). Code that validates works in almost all Browsers. Then there are things like having the coding done Template style, a good option for people like yourself. It means your layout is done according to pre-defined files and you would only have to worry about editting the actual Content. And if you want scripts installed to work with your site, that can increase the cost as well since more labour/time is involved.
    PotentProducts.com - for all your Hosting needs
    Helping people Host, Create and Maintain their Web Site
    ServerAdmin Services also available

  7. #7
    It dependes on what you want exactly ..
    PHP scripts
    Only Graphic Design
    HTML & CCS
    Flash included !
    Try to know what u want exactly .. and u will know the Price

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Brighton, MI
    Posts
    1,583
    it's funny what a great design can do for your site as well really. I use to have a customized template monster template and it actually looked pretty good. Ever since my site got redesigned maybe a month ago, orders have been coming in right and left and it seemed to give people more confidence in my brand, which is excellent!

    verdict: beg, borrow, and steal to get a great company presence!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Posts
    38
    In response to all the feedback, I've decided to update this thread with some specifics of what I need, exactly:

    I have this template for my webhosting company. What I need is for all the "ipsum lorem"-type text removed and replaced with real content. There's more to it than just editing text, of course. There'll be a fair amount of changing around tables (for example, splitting up or combining multiple cells.) Adding text over background images. Some light Javascript. Creating the forms for our billing system (don't worry, we'll handle the actual coding for this. We just want the textfields that the user enters their info into.) Things like that.

    I will be happy to answer any specific questions that'll help clarify just what I'm after.

    What I do NOT need is the following: no graphics work. I will supply all the graphics. There'll be no PHP/MySQL work done, as again, that'll be handled by me. No Flash, either, as I find it annoying.

    So basically this is just some HTML/CSS work.

    For the sake of my convenience, I ask that all quotes, comments and questions be posted in this thread rather than PMs. Thanks!

  10. #10
    You really need a unique template however that can set you back $1000 or more if you buy from template monster. Otherwise checkout sitepoint, they have students that are in desperate need for more money and undersell themselves greatly (such as me.) You can pickup a good unique layout for under $20 over there.

    If you go custom made it depends on who you contact. Obviously a business will charge more than a design student and more often than not the design student has greater skill than the company.

    Take a look at: http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=329424
    You may find something you like

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Posts
    38
    Quote Originally Posted by sletts02
    You really need a unique template however that can set you back $1000 or more if you buy from template monster. Otherwise checkout sitepoint, they have students that are in desperate need for more money and undersell themselves greatly (such as me.) You can pickup a good unique layout for under $20 over there.

    If you go custom made it depends on who you contact. Obviously a business will charge more than a design student and more often than not the design student has greater skill than the company.

    Take a look at: http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=329424
    You may find something you like
    Thanks for the info, but it kinda ignores the question.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Los Angeles, Ca.
    Posts
    20
    Quote Originally Posted by justadollarhostin
    2. If you do think about getting a custom design done, I would highly suggest sending a PM to wello ( http://www.chromepixel.com ), or contacting the people at 4design.tv (http://www.4design.tv). I have not had any personal experience with either, but I have seen their work (and know wello from the forums), and I am always impressed.

    Happy holidays!
    I would agree with Wello, I have used him on 4 projects now and he has always done terrific work. The support after the sale has been great, he really wants the site to be what YOU want. Here are a couple that he has done for me:

    http://www.clanforumhost.com
    http://www.clanspyhosting.net

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Sep 2000
    Location
    Alberta, Canada
    Posts
    3,146
    Milo, the Template shows a Flash Header is available. If you want to use it and need customization, you should mention that as well.

    I, for example, can do what you have asked so far, but do not work with Flash. And the 'REAL SIZE SCREENSHOT' shows the Template width as 740px while the 'FLASH PREVIEW' shows it as 770px -- which is a good width to use.

    Although some may say or think, that working with a PSD file is easy, personal experience with Template sites and PSDs has shown me there are problems with a lot of them. Some PSDs do not work and some do not come close, to looking like what the example image shows; many have to be re-worked to display as shown. Until the PSD is opened, one has no idea what they are working with.

    You can contact me through eMail, for further details and a firm price, if there is no Flash work to be done.
    PotentProducts.com - for all your Hosting needs
    Helping people Host, Create and Maintain their Web Site
    ServerAdmin Services also available

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