Re: FN-FORUM: Your Kingdom for a Donkey.

date posted 12th November 2007 15:20

On 12 Nov 2007, at 12:10, Phillip Healey wrote:

> Here's a small snippet from a typical website where people are =20
> asking for
> some web development / addition to a current site to be carried out;
>
> 'I know it's a fairly quick, simple and small job for somebody with =20=

> the
> right skills'
>
> Why is it that no-one/ very few people (except bigger corporations) =20=

> give any
> real value to their websites / the work done by the developer. As im =20=

> sure
> has been discussed many times before there are numerous, supposedly
> professional tender sites where people want Google, YouTube, Amazon =20=

> and Ebay
> rolled into one website for an outlay of $500 / =A3230 and delivered =20=

> within 'a
> few days'.
>
> I wouldn=92t tell a plumber its an easy job so ill pay him =A35 and he =
can
> finish it within 10 minutes. Well, if I did he'd tell me to [EMAIL REMOVED] off!
>
> So why is it that even businesses whom have been burned in the past by
> paying low fees for a website, still want the world for no more than =20=

> 20p and
> a few hours work, because it's an easy job? Am I alone in not only =20
> finding
> this frustrating, but somewhat arrogant?


Unfortunately this is more than often the case. Really the only time I =20=

find appreciation for what we do is when I'm working for an agency or =20=

joining an existing development team. There are exceptions of course, =20=

but for the most part clients see the finished product: 'how long can =20=

it take to stick a few images and text together in a few pages on a =20
website??' and neglect the groundwork required to get to that point. =20=

You only have to look at sites like rent-a-coder to see the worth that =20=

the typical client attaches to our work. I posted on my blog about it =20=

a while back whilst looking through a few of these sites and seeing =20
90% of the work advertised is asking too much for too little. I've =20
considered writing a short and sweet article on my website to lightly =20=

introduce clients to the process of developing a website, but I'm not =20=

convinced it would be effective in any way.

Cliff Rowley

T: +44 (0) 7805 241495
E: [EMAIL REMOVED]
W: http://eleventyten.com