How much for a menupages.com clone?
October 4, 2005 5:58 AM Subscribe
How much would it cost to develop a site similar to menupages.com? How long would it take?
The biggest problem is not the code, it's the content. You'll have to find someone to come up with the master list of restaurants.
And yeah, the code could be pulled together really quickly. A couple of weeks for an initial version, assuming that the spec is well defined.
posted by bshort at 6:37 AM on October 4, 2005
And yeah, the code could be pulled together really quickly. A couple of weeks for an initial version, assuming that the spec is well defined.
posted by bshort at 6:37 AM on October 4, 2005
Response by poster: What would you charge for such a project? I am trying to quote a client on this project and am not sure what to charge. When I first heard about the idea I thought ohh, a simple dynamically-driven menu listing page.
Checking out the menupages site though, there is a rating system, comments, user logins for both the restaurants and the users, ability to save menus, maps, etc. I'm sure there also must be some sort of admin panel to add the menu data they receive from the various restaurants. To keep up in the menu business I am sure it won't be long before my client is asking for a solution similar to Google's bookscanning project to scan thousands of menus from all over and create pdfs.
Most projects I have worked on up until now have been just small projects, most less than $1000. I may need to work with another developer to finish this project in a reasonable amount of time... or maybe I am just overthinking the details. In any event, what is the going rate of a project of this scale?
posted by banished at 6:56 AM on October 4, 2005
Checking out the menupages site though, there is a rating system, comments, user logins for both the restaurants and the users, ability to save menus, maps, etc. I'm sure there also must be some sort of admin panel to add the menu data they receive from the various restaurants. To keep up in the menu business I am sure it won't be long before my client is asking for a solution similar to Google's bookscanning project to scan thousands of menus from all over and create pdfs.
Most projects I have worked on up until now have been just small projects, most less than $1000. I may need to work with another developer to finish this project in a reasonable amount of time... or maybe I am just overthinking the details. In any event, what is the going rate of a project of this scale?
posted by banished at 6:56 AM on October 4, 2005
It's a decent sized job. Either rolling your own with one of the web app frameworks (Ruby on Rails, Maypole and Catalyst all come to mind), modifying a blog-like engine (e.g. scoop, slashcode) or starting from scratch. Depends on your skill level as a programmer as well ...
posted by singingfish at 7:11 AM on October 4, 2005
posted by singingfish at 7:11 AM on October 4, 2005
I would charge by the hour, especially if there's not a really really tight spec.
Or, I'd give him a flat rate for X hours of work, and if it goes over that then you start charging him hourly.
This sort of project can be notoriously hard to price because the requirements can be really really vague. It might be worth it to have a full requirements gathering phase where the two of you sit down and agree on every major piece of functionality, complete with screen mockups. You'll of course charge him hourly for that phase, and then you can more accurately assess how much time it'll take to do the rest of the work.
That way there are no misunderstandings with respect to what he's getting when you're done.
Also, insist on a 30/30/40 payment plan or something similar. You don't want to be on the hook for the full price of the project.
posted by bshort at 9:12 AM on October 4, 2005
Or, I'd give him a flat rate for X hours of work, and if it goes over that then you start charging him hourly.
This sort of project can be notoriously hard to price because the requirements can be really really vague. It might be worth it to have a full requirements gathering phase where the two of you sit down and agree on every major piece of functionality, complete with screen mockups. You'll of course charge him hourly for that phase, and then you can more accurately assess how much time it'll take to do the rest of the work.
That way there are no misunderstandings with respect to what he's getting when you're done.
Also, insist on a 30/30/40 payment plan or something similar. You don't want to be on the hook for the full price of the project.
posted by bshort at 9:12 AM on October 4, 2005
By the way, if you end up needing another programmer let me know.
posted by bshort at 9:13 AM on October 4, 2005
posted by bshort at 9:13 AM on October 4, 2005
If you need offshore design/dev work done, let me know.
posted by signal at 9:44 AM on October 4, 2005
posted by signal at 9:44 AM on October 4, 2005
If you want it done cheap, you can try using Rent A Coder.
posted by Sharcho at 1:29 PM on October 4, 2005
posted by Sharcho at 1:29 PM on October 4, 2005
"Checking out the menupages site though, there is a rating system, comments, user logins for both the restaurants and the users, ability to save menus, maps, etc. I'm sure there also must be some sort of admin panel to add the menu data they receive from the various restaurants."
There's your problem in a nutshell -- you don't actually know what the site involves.
The problems of updating and maintaining the site are actually bigger than the problems of creating the site, I'd say, but what actually is involved in creating the site? You don't know!
The only way to give a decent quote is to get a detailed brief.
The brief would list all the possible pages, like
1) List restaurants by cuisine
2) List restaurants by area
[etc etc etc]
10) Login page for users
11) 'Change preferences' page for users
[etc etc etc]
20) Login page for restaurateurs
21) Upload menu page for restaurateurs
22) "What the hell?" page for restaurateurs who are uploading a 75-megabyte BMP instead of a PDF
[etc etc etc]
This actually sounds like a good case for User-Centred Design, based on "user stories" instead of technical details.
You scope out the site like this:
"Jim likes Indian food, but this week he wants to try Thai for a change. Jim goes to log on, but has forgotten his password".
"Bob, the manager of Thai Pwriter*, has a new menu, in Microsoft Word format, he wants to put up on the site..."
and you derive all the required pages and forms from those stories.
* All Thai restaurants are required to have a pun in their names by law.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 4:20 PM on October 4, 2005
There's your problem in a nutshell -- you don't actually know what the site involves.
The problems of updating and maintaining the site are actually bigger than the problems of creating the site, I'd say, but what actually is involved in creating the site? You don't know!
The only way to give a decent quote is to get a detailed brief.
The brief would list all the possible pages, like
1) List restaurants by cuisine
2) List restaurants by area
[etc etc etc]
10) Login page for users
11) 'Change preferences' page for users
[etc etc etc]
20) Login page for restaurateurs
21) Upload menu page for restaurateurs
22) "What the hell?" page for restaurateurs who are uploading a 75-megabyte BMP instead of a PDF
[etc etc etc]
This actually sounds like a good case for User-Centred Design, based on "user stories" instead of technical details.
You scope out the site like this:
"Jim likes Indian food, but this week he wants to try Thai for a change. Jim goes to log on, but has forgotten his password".
"Bob, the manager of Thai Pwriter*, has a new menu, in Microsoft Word format, he wants to put up on the site..."
and you derive all the required pages and forms from those stories.
* All Thai restaurants are required to have a pun in their names by law.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 4:20 PM on October 4, 2005
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by cillit bang at 6:14 AM on October 4, 2005