Hey,
i'm not a programmer and no matter how much i tried i have not been able to setup my site the way i've planned... so i've decided to look for a drupaler to setup my site for me. i need to have some ideas of how much it would cost so i could put aside enough money left to port my designs into the newly setup site... NOTE: i'm not asking for custom modules or extra programming, just setting up the site with current available modules (for version 5.6 since most of modules are not v6 ready)
detail
my site has 3 section, organized through hierarchy of importance to me and my visitors
section 1
--profile
~ about
~ credentials
~ clients
~ partners
~ etc. etc.
-- Publications
~ Articles
~ in the press
~ magazines
-- Network
~ Friends (social network)
~ Professional friends
~ Bloggers
~ Service providers (directory)
~ Financial (directory)
-- EVENTS
~ calendar
~ details of each event
~ booking
~ discussions
~ published articles
~ status news
~ live casting (audio/video/text > like live blogging)
section 2
-- Quick Logs
~ Twitter style
-- Full Blog
~ Podcast (audio/video)
~ news
~ case studies
~ Tags/Categories
-- Forum
-- Aggregator
~ like drupal planet
~ with drigg (digg style)
-- Groups (OG)
~ user profiles
~ blogs
~ networking (friends)
~ bookmarking (sharing)
~ messaging
~ writing on wall (like facebook)
section 3
-- Career Directory ~ like Krop.com (simpler)
-- company directory (yellow pages style)
-- tech projects directory (similar to above)
-- document submission forms
-- Wiki
***** with server setups like cashing, seo, and etc. ( i don't know how those are done)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
above is basically the overall picture, i've spent months planning this and my document is very detailed, i've made sure that there are modules available that can accomplish what i want so there is no need for innovation and extra programming. i suspect the person that truly knows drupal it would take him/her 2 days max 3days to get everything going. there is no theming involved for this stage at least, i actually need this phase finished so that i could finalize the theme as well.
Comments
Overall, looking at the
Overall, looking at the amount of work you need done, and the timeframe, it would most likely run you $1000+.
Really, to configure and style the modules to display properly on your page is the most work.
Jon.
Jon Girard Design, New Media Consultant.
thanks
thanks for the reply, that's what i was thinking, but do you think i should finalize the design first? is that what you meant by the styling the modules?
i sort of left most of design component untouched so that i would know how every line, text and titles comes out so then i could implement the design touches with a more sound idea of how they will be generated.
also i'm in toronto canada, how would i find the right person to do the job here? any recommendations....
this estimate is low
i don't think any competent developer could do this project for $1,000. and no offense to the previous poster, but i would worry that anyone who bid this project for that low had grave misunderstandings about the scope and complexity of the project.
what's making this so complicated? you've chosen a very wide assortment of functionality (think on the lines of myspace or other online community). and even though there are modules to perform each of these tasks, that is only the beginning. in my summation, a developer will need to perform at least the following tasks to get the site functioning:
> customizing page layout
> building and configuring views
> building and configuring menus
> enabling and styling blocks
> installing and configuring modules
> configuring user access / roles
> theme tweaking (never seen a site that didn't need a little work)
> server configuration
perhaps i am old and cautious but it could take at least 2-4 weeks to work out all the initial kinks; and that is without any theming.
as for your question about theming, unless you are making gentle enhancements to an existing theme you would be wise to have the design in place before proceeding. bare in mind that drupal is so flexible that you can finely control how all the html is output. modules provide a theming beginning for output, but can be overridden to display content in an almost infinite number of ways.
to save money and time, perhaps you could phase in some of the functionality. sometimes it is very important to get a solid core in place and add to it as your needs grow. actually, that is the beauty of drupal is that you can modularly expand a site as your needs change. not many cms's make it that easy and worry free.
as for price, a fair place would be 5 to 10 times the earlier estimate depending on the experience and competence of the developer. with custom theming, however, that fee would be substantially higher.
hopefully this doesn't dissuade you from tackling your project. i wanted to make sure you had good information before you began building your site.
best of luck with your drupal project.
Mark Sanders
Q Collective
Mark Sanders
Q Collective
hmm
I hear what you're saying, and you're probably right that different layouts are required. in fact there are 6 different layout pages in theme, but i didn't consider that as a part of the first phase. but 5 to 10k? if your salary is 5k a month and this project takes 2 weeks, then the sound estimate would be 2500, unless you're saying setup, configuration and theme porting and everything together for 5 to 10.
billable hours vs. actual time
even though i mention 2-4 weeks of development, that is actual time not billable hours. the two time periods can be very different.
i'm not really sure how to respond to your assumption on salary since it is not based on any info provided. i will clarify that the fee estimate is for initial site set up / config and does not include custom theming.
the point being that i wanted to make sure you had a reasonable budget for the project that didn't saddle you or your project with the pitfalls of an under-qualified developer.
Mark Sanders
Q Collective
Mark Sanders
Q Collective
thanks, this is helpful.
thanks, this is helpful.
Etc, etc are scary!
Etc, Etc means there is still things to come! I don't think a good developer would build this in 2 to 3 days.
--
Roshan Shah
http://www.bpocanada.com
T : 604-630-4292
Vancouver, Canada
Skype/GoogleTalk/Yahoo : bpocanada
actually no
by etc i mean, the above pages are the primary ones, and there are other menu items that are duplicate of the above settings but with different content. it's like having a services page with 10 sub-menu items but only mentioning 3 of them and saying etc for the rest since only the content and titles are different and not the layout or use of modules and whatever else
i may have high expectations here regarding the time frame, i just didn't take it as being that difficult in my mind, but then again what do i know if i could do it i probably would have already. i will be giving the developer a full and detailed document of everything (and i mean everything) all that person has to do is to connect the dots, there is no innovation involved, i'm not asking for a new picasso painting here. to me there is no difference between 3 days and 2 weeks, as long as it gets done they way i've planned.
I tend to shy away from
I tend to shy away from projects where the client suggests how long the project will take. At first look, I'd say this is quite a bit more complicated than you think.
There will be many many modules being integrated in your site. Typically you'll run into incompatibilities or unexpected interactions of modules that must be dealt with. Things may not display how you imagined, or things may not work how you thought.
Rates for a full-time, high-end, experienced Drupal developer could very well add up to 10k per month. And remember that 10k does not go straight into the developer's pocket. 30-40% goes to taxes, part goes to hardware and software, benefits, etc... Shops that hire employees may have higher rates to cover these things.
I think you made the assumption that this developer would be working on your site exclusively and nothing else. Personally I try not to book any one project at more than 25-30% of my time because I put my income eggs in multiple baskets. Unlike a lesser-paid employee, a competent independent contractor is not likely to work 2000 billable hours per year. It's very possible to make $5000 one month and $200 the next.
I hope this helps!
Chris Miller
Trailhead Interactive
http://www.trailheadinteractive.com
this was great
thanks for clarifying, i had no idea this is how developers on full time basis work. in the past i've only worked with freelancers who have a full time job and work freelance stuff during nights and weekends. i'm aware of the studio expenses, that's why i will stay away from studios that would have to bring employees and office rent, and other stuff in account, i simply don't have the budget for it.
this forum has been great so far in giving me most of the information i needed to be an educated client with a better sense of costs and timing. i would have to go into this asking for 2 weeks but knowing that it will probably take a month.
thanks
duplicate
duplicate
drupal vs. building from ground up
The cost of developing a drupal social site surprised me as well. If this costs 10K, could anyone tell me about how much it would cost to develop a social site from scratch doing all the programming? Just as a comparison.
Lots
You haven't given any idea of scope so it's not really possible to say.
If you are talking about a site which has hundreds of features, which can support tens of thousands of users, then you are probably talking upwards of $75K. More likely like $150,000 to $200,000. This would get you basic code, and every bell and whistle that you wanted to add on would cost extra.
For comparison, the investment in Drupal code probably runs into the millions of dollars by now.
But of course it depends. Maybe you are just talking about a site with one forum and no ability to change layout or styling. No ratings. No inter-user comms outside of the forums. No mailbacks. No bells. No whistles. About $5-10K.
good point
i've actually looked into it already, it was my first choice to go that route before settling on drupal and here is why
to write a site with the specs i've noted above would cost $10k including design with basic admin section for a team of two developers without support, so if you need to do something special with the site or add new stuff you have to hire them again for those, but after some research and asking around a few people who had done that i realized that you need to have a full time programmer to properly run and maintain the site. i do not suggest doing it from scratch unless you have brilliant programmers and lots of money, not to mention that it will take a lot longer time.
i chose to go drupal way only because everything i needed already comes in a module format, it is not the fastest loading cms (unless you have multi server and great bandwidth $$$) but it is also cheaper, you shouldn't listen to the numbers here, they are not realistic, besides they are always negotiable and it also depends of the person as well, sometimes they have to charge a lot because they get 1 job every few months...
also i've been reading around and some of the most complex sites i've seen built on top of drupal took less than a month to go public (this includes design and everything) so i wouldn't buy into the time frame and money mentioned here... if they are good they can do it fast and efficiently, ;)
It depends
If the functionality is already present, then it's a wiring excercise. Plus some themeing. This is easy.
If the functionality is not present, then it must be built. This is harder. Even the smallest components come in at about 1/2 a developer day when you add up the testing and the inevitable changes needed as someone begins to use the component. Larger bits of software take a correspondingly longer time.
Based on my fairly long history as a software developer, I think the time-frames mentioned above are entirely reasonable and anything else is kidding yourself.
USD$1000-1500 is a sound
USD$1000-1500 is a sound estimate for most of this work since it does not include theme development. The only thing that wouldn't be included in this estimate would be the live blogging.
The time limit of 2-3 days is insane. While it'd take 10-15 hours to complete the website, developers are working on other projects while working on yours. We request 1-3 weeks for project completion due to this and the consideration that we also have lives outside of work.
Ron Williams
http://ronwilliams.io/
I agree..in part
2-3 days is a fantasy land. $1500 is probably the lowest I would go if you actually want your website to work and be done on time. I would probably go towards $1500-2000 just bc there's so much involved with the site. It seems to be using a ton of modules and configuring/theming all of that can take a while. Some of your features I'm not sure are available with drupal modules and might have to be custom coded.