- How much do you charge or how do you charge?
- Who do you recommend for hosting?
- Do I develop for IE?
- Why is QuantusMedia.com at the bottom of some of your websites?
- What Is Wrong With GoDaddy?
- Will you come to our business and train us?
- What is your site built with?
- Why do you use open source?
- What if I have an .asp or a site with proprietary software?
- I found a develop in India that will work for $20/hr - what gives?
How much do you charge or how do you charge?
The final amount is entirely dependent upon the client. Estimates and hourly work is based on a $60/hr charge.
Operational method for all work is as follows:
A true website is NEVER ‘finished’. That is because it should naturally grow with your business, will not remain eternally static and will have expected changes in the future. A website however, can be complete. A “Complete Website” is the natural result of no more requests from the client. Once that point is reached then a website is the natural end result. No website goes live until change requests stop from the client.
Therefore a website isn’t promised. What is promised and agreed on is that the list of requests from the client will be completed within an agreed to estimated time frame and cost. Any change requests made within this time frame that were not initially addressed are saved until the first request list is completed. Then we move on to other revisions in which we discuss a new time frame and estimated charges for new change requests.
This method gives you (the client) a greater amount of control over budget, direction, expectations, and when the website is complete. Once the client is finished with change requests the natural resulting product is a website, or code base that can support your desired online presence.
Who do you recommend for hosting?
HostGator. The hosting I offer is simply reseller services from HostGator. I have no issue with others knowing this. My price is a bit more a month (min $50) but of course you get more personalized service from me. As always this is your choice ;)
Do I develop for IE?
No I do not. IE is a dying browser that less and less people use. I'll 'try' and make adjustments ONLY to IE 8 and IE 9 but as a courtesy not a promise. IE comes in four different flavors with each causing their own types of issues. Some sites that worked fine in IE 8 broke in IE 9. If you use IE then I'd advise you to stop, otherwise get used to the issues it causes. Please check out DoNotUseIE.com to learn more. Don't forget, whatever looks right today in IE 9 will probably break in IE 10. If you believe that IE is paramount and plan on wasting time and resources in addressing it, then I'm not the developer for you!
Why is QuantusMedia.com at the bottom of some of your websites?
PlanetTucker was/is an older site that was focused around my personal work. As things grew I needed more of a corporate face and way to encompass those I've hired and/or worked with. This was the birth of QuantusMedia.com and why some of the 'made by' tags at the bottom have this. Either way, the websites were made the same person - me! :o
What Is Wrong With GoDaddy?
To answer this, just check out a website I own called http://godaddyhostingsucks.com It should spell out some of their issues. If you insist on their environment I charge a premium for the headaches their hosting environment imposes. Also, there is a 30% premium added to the hourly rate for any and all work (minus domain name pointing) on GoDaddy servers.
I DO however recommend them for domain name purchases.
Will you come to our business and train us?
Yes. The weekly fee is $1500 plus travel and lodging.
What is your site - planetTucker.com built with?
Drupal 7
Why do you use open source?
Open source platforms are developed by webmasters for webmasters. The award winning platforms I deploy represent the product of thousands of man hours that have produced solid and secure websites for thousands of companies over several decades. These platforms have also been extensively tested in many live scenarios. This method is in direct contrast to an hourly worker trying to meet a deadline to push a "custom" proprietary product. Custom, or proprietary does not equal quality. There are many websites out there that are custom proprietary pieces of junk - but of course this is not what you want.
Open source platforms are very stable, very fast, very proven, and developed with the webmaster in mind, not the programmer. With proprietary systems you really do pay more for less. Proprietary software companies invest millions into marketing campaigns to hide the fact open source is better. They do and say what they can to push the same set of features but for a price they benefit from - THEN they charge for maintenance, setup and everything else they can get away with. In fact often time you won't even own the code of the platform, but instead lease or license it. It is expensive because they paid a lot of marketing dollars to promote the illusion of quality.
Open source software has no corporate incentive to advertise, therefore it remains a solution that is not as well known. There are MAJOR entities and corporations that use open source platforms, anywhere from the U.N (United Nations) to IHOP (International House of Pancakes), and even the White House (whitehouse.gov) now use open source solutions. These entities don't use open source because it is 'cheap', but because it works well.
Often time I hear the word 'Windows' or 'GoDaddy' or 'Intuit' or 'Yahoo' in the same sentence with the word PROBLEM!
What if I have an .asp or a site with proprietary software?
Then I'm not the developer you want. I only work on open source platforms.
I found a develop in India that will work for $20/hr - what gives?
Be warned! India developers are crafty in how they offer their pricing and then charge you at the end. For example, I charge $60/hr and they charge $20/hr (or sometimes less). If something takes me an hour to accomplish it will cost you $60. The same task will also take an India developer 1 hour, however they QUOTE YOU four (4) hours, thus making them $80. As you can see they simply inflate the time it takes to get to the end price they wanted all along ($80/hr).
I was working with an India developer who told me that a certain task was going to take four hours. Knowing the platform we were working on I KNEW the task would literally take five (5) minutes. So they were charging $80 for 5 minutes of work. When I called him out on it and indicated how I knew better, he conceded and said "hey, this is what I have to pay my people, sorry". So at the end of the day, the 'developer' was still a middle man, charging $80 for 5 minutes of work.
Like I said - be warned - if the price sounds too good to be true - it is!