| Professional web firms' prices are high everywhere. Since you're new to website business(?) they could even try to shut you off by setting the price even higher. That way they wouldn't need to actually implement your custom build site. And if you would take the offer they would atleast get some nice profits. I work in this business as a employee of a professional web firm and a freelancer. I have come across a lot of clients that think they know what they want but actually don't. You should know that when you want something custom build, its going to cost you, by the hour and more. 1. Write clear specs. If you know software development you should know how to write clear specs. Try to drop features that are not important. There is a lots of stuff that could go wrong, besides the site, so could it work with less features? 2. Freelance designers are actually good. Find one that you like and provide the layout for the web firm, so the firm will only do the technical side and you will probably save some bucks. 3. Do as much as you can by yourself. Draw the basic structure of a site in powerpoint/gimp or whatever. Just some boxes that show eg. where is navigation, header, news, some featured products etc. Draw all the different pages and try to write or draw how the site should work. 4. You don't need to use a Wisconsian web firm. It's not like there is lots of shipping involved. If you want to discuss the deal in person, a cost of few airline tickets probably isn't too much if you can get better deal. |