Freelance input needed for project total price

[Darrin O]

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@Preston H wrote:

Then develop your project with the help of the qualified project manager, focusing on building high-quality user-friendly components that meet your level of expectation. Maybe the first thing you will do is to set up a site which displays your product offerings and allows customers to place orders.

You can do that without having your back-end employee payroll system in place, or without having your desired design automation features in place.

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Or vice versa.  One mistake I've seen businesses make is to start by chasing whatever the hot trend is in web design this month, and so then end up spending money to constantly redesign and redesign the look of a site.  Meanwhile, the actual work that gets done by the server tends to be pretty stable, even if you need/want to add features along the way.

Some people like to work by getting the hard stuff taken care of first so they can have a better idea of a project's long-term success.  Other people like to do the easy stuff first because each little victory motivates them more as the project continues.  There's no one right way to do it, and that's why it's always a good idea for the client to talk to many different freelancers to find the one that takes an approach that best matches how the client works.

[Pandora H]

A lot of good data here.

I really agree with Preston's post above this one, as he aggregates data from the entire thread into a meaningful summary.

At this point in the life of this thread, it's also clear that to avoid a lot of problems, the OP should indeed hire a Project Manager to at least get this project off the ground.

I say this because Preston and I both know what and how a Project Manager should take on this project, but it would be redundent to say anything beyond this. Preston has already said all that needs to be said.

Disclaimer: *I* am a Project Manager, but I don't take on web dev projects for small business owners. Hence, I am not "promoting" my services in this thread.

I do however, wish the OP luck. There are plenty of qualified PM's here on Upwork who have experince with just these kinds of projects.

[Cody L]

I agree with Tony and Preston. Start small, and start with the visual elements first. This way you can easily judge if you like where the project is heading. You can also determine if you like working with the contractor. Of course, you don't have to stay small. You can always add functionality if needed to make your business competitive.

[Preston H]

I'm a top-level developer and I actually am one of the developers who is capable of serving as my own project manager. But I OFTEN work on projects in which I report to a project manager. I am never bothered by this. I actually think these projects go better than when I report directly to project owners.