Hi,

 

I could really do with some advice regarding a project my company should (hopefully!) be starting soon.

 

The client is a relatively large business, and the project involves over the course of 12 months redeveloping about 24 websites, made up of restaurants, event venues, and cafes.

 

In an attempt to make this project easier and more cost-effective we suggested to the client we set up a base set of web components (forms, navbars, footers e.g.) and put together 3 templates (restaurant theme, event venue theme, cafe theme), with a layer of branding CSS to help the individual arms of the business retain some branding differentiation.

 

As a result of this component idea I suggested to my MD we look at using a decoupled CMS-Frontend architecture, taking advantage of Nuxt.js (my new favourite toy!) and it's component-based methodology for the frontend, and using WordPress as the CMS. With this framework we would be looking at creating a custom set of components, 3 WordPress themes, and 3 front-end Nuxt.js templates for the corresponding themes.

 

Other than some difficulty finding appropriate UK hosting for our needs this was looking like a good solution, however my MD has told me that he was going to quote the client £10k for the templating project because he doesn't feel the client would be happy paying anymore. I responded by saying really that's not enough for the type of architecture we have been talking about.

 

The question I have is; am I wrong to say £10k is not enough for this project?

 

My experience tells me that £10k is fine if we remove the front-end framework from the equation. As keen as I am to do this project in the way I've described above the number in my head was more along the lines of £20k. Am I way out on this one?

 

Appreciate any advice I can get on this. Thanks!

 

 

I would probably go one step further and have your Vue components as separate modules in a private NPM repo, and just import them in, that way you only have to update them in one location. Maintaining all of these sites definitely needs to be a consideration going forward, so allow for plenty of scope to deal with API changes.

 

I'd say 10k isn't going to give you much room here, you're going to spend a lot of time managing the clients expectation when you start removing features. I've always found it difficult to do, a client will have an idea in their head, and reducing features rarely changes their perception of what they want the end product to be. Your budget will give you slightly over £400 for each site, considering you have to setup hosting, backups, the site build, and content, this is bound to go over budget.

 

If this sounds more like a 20k project, to do correctly, then go with your gut. It's in your clients best interest that you're looking to provide them with the right technology, not the cheapest. You're also bound to hit roadblocks along the way, especially when it comes to content, and 10k leaves you with absolutely no room for error on either side.

You said this is a 12 month project, will this be taking up your entire time? If so £10k for a years work is well below minimum wage.

If you are gonna be working there as a contractor or consultant then you wanna multiply that number by AT LEAST 5, upto 10 depending on complexity. Most contractors I know pull in 90k+ in gross income.

You said this is a 12 month project, will this be taking up your entire time? If so £10k for a years work is well below minimum wage.

 

If you are gonna be working there as a contractor or consultant then you wanna multiply that number by AT LEAST 5, upto 10 depending on complexity. Most contractors I know pull in 90k+ in gross income.

 

Yeah, this is a good point, if this is your sole project for 12 months then you need to rethink your budget entirely. Also, don't underestimate, even if it's not your sole project, just how much time you can waste with ongoing client communication, training, meetings, support etc. Projects like this can quickly become a full time job, taking your time off other projects, if you're not careful. Hopefully you have a project manager.

I would probably go one step further and have your Vue components as separate modules in a private NPM repo, and just import them in, that way you only have to update them in one location. Maintaining all of these sites definitely needs to be a consideration going forward, so allow for plenty of scope to deal with API changes.

 

I'd say 10k isn't going to give you much room here, you're going to spend a lot of time managing the clients expectation when you start removing features. I've always found it difficult to do, a client will have an idea in their head, and reducing features rarely changes their perception of what they want the end product to be. Your budget will give you slightly over £400 for each site, considering you have to setup hosting, backups, the site build, and content, this is bound to go over budget.

 

If this sounds more like a 20k project, to do correctly, then go with your gut. It's in your clients best interest that you're looking to provide them with the right technology, not the cheapest. You're also bound to hit roadblocks along the way, especially when it comes to content, and 10k leaves you with absolutely no room for error on either side.

 

Hi Jack and thanks for the input!

 

Yes having the custom component library on NPM was one of my original thoughts to help with maintenance. I'm glad you also think this would be a good idea!

 

My understanding is there would be a healthy retainer going forward (possibly £2k-5kpm), so site maintenance would be part of that but it would also include other projects. I suppose this could be seen as a potential investment on our side in terms of time and limited project mark-up.

 

Part of the reason I was thinking more along the lines of £20k was my own experience. Whilst I feel confident in setting up a Nuxt.js and WordPress setup the custom components might be little tricky so I wanted some wiggle room to bring on extra help if needs be.

You said this is a 12 month project, will this be taking up your entire time? If so £10k for a years work is well below minimum wage.

 

If you are gonna be working there as a contractor or consultant then you wanna multiply that number by AT LEAST 5, upto 10 depending on complexity. Most contractors I know pull in 90k+ in gross income.

 

Hi rbrtsmith.

 

Fortunately this wouldn't be my sole project, as we have a few smaller web dev/design projects coming in as well as ongoing retainers. However, this is by far the biggest project I will be dealing with. I am getting the sense that £10k is still far too low for something like this. Part of the issue is that I'm not sure what an appropriate figure for the type of decouples architecture is as I am used to just building bespoke WordPress sites.

 

Yeah, this is a good point, if this is your sole project for 12 months then you need to rethink your budget entirely. Also, don't underestimate, even if it's not your sole project, just how much time you can waste with ongoing client communication, training, meetings, support etc. Projects like this can quickly become a full time job, taking your time off other projects, if you're not careful. Hopefully you have a project manager.

 

I do not have a project manager. I am the project manager and web developer .

 

I can request assistance from outside help if I become swamped but obviously this eats away at our profit.

 

It sounds like my gut was right and we should stick with building 3 WordPress themes and customise an existing css/js framework like semantic ui or bootstrap.

 

I do not have a project manager. I am the project manager and web developer .

 

I can request assistance from outside help if I become swamped but obviously this eats away at our profit.

 

It sounds like my gut was right and we should stick with building 3 WordPress themes and customise an existing css/js framework like semantic ui or bootstrap.

 

Is there room for negotiation on the budget? I like the architecture you're describing to do this, components always win in my book, and WP makes it extremely difficult to share code between files. It's not as fast to build sites as people like to think.

 

Also, do you do any React? I'm building my blog at the moment in Gatsby, and it's awesome. It has first-party plugins that allow you to connect to WP, a JSON API, or static filesystem, and query your data through GraphQL. It's all super easy to use as well.

 

Is there room for negotiation on the budget? I like the architecture you're describing to do this, components always win in my book, and WP makes it extremely difficult to share code between files. It's not as fast to build sites as people like to think.

 

Also, do you do any React? I'm building my blog at the moment in Gatsby, and it's awesome. It has first-party plugins that allow you to connect to WP, a JSON API, or static filesystem, and query your data through GraphQL. It's all super easy to use as well.

 

I think the budget could well be negotiable. This £10k figure came about from the reaction the client had to a quote of £6k for a single website project. I think the client MD saw that figure and panicked at the idea of £6k x 24 websites.

 

The problem is we could say '£10k for a basic WordPress architecture or £20k for a modern, faster, more adaptable architecture', but the benefits of a front-end framework over WordPress rendering a website are hard to describe to non-techy people, so getting them to dish out more cash for something they don't understand could be tricky.

 

Unfortunately I don't know React. I've thrown myself at Vue.js and Nuxt.js has proven to be a lot of fun. It also offers server-side rendering which is something I love.