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Ask HN: Recommendations for building websites as an independent consultant

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Ask HN: Recommendations for building websites as an independent consultant

#1
For the past 2 years I've been working on client websites for my company using React and internal hosting + CMS tools. Now I'd like to start exploring working as an independent consultant building sites for people.

When I look at the different possible tech stacks to use my main concern is that the CMS of choice is easy for the client to go in and add new + edit old content. Then there's also the decision of where to host the site, the domain name, and any other API subscriptions that are needed for the clients requested site. Does anyone have any recommendations for a specific set of hosting + CMS platforms that they have found success with? Depending on the implementation do you even use a CMS or just add whatever hardcoded text the client wants and then if they want to edit it in the future they can directly edit the html/JSX/whatever? Also importantly would you pass these costs along to the client and have them set up the accounts for these services themselves or would you set them up yourself and then bill them?

As for frameworks to use I know it depends on the use case, but I'll probably start looking into something like Astro, which seems to cover most use cases I would come across.

Re: Ask HN: Recommendations for building websites as an independent consultant

#2
> Also importantly would you pass these costs along to the client and have them set up the accounts for these services themselves or would you set them up yourself and then bill them?

Set them up yourself. That’s what people are paying you for, unless they say specifically otherwise

Re: Ask HN: Recommendations for building websites as an independent consultant

#3
I'm in a similar boat and I'd like to also know if anyone has any resources for setting up a good pricing model for the initial implementation vs potential future updates. If they just want a one off project I'd probably just hardcode most data. If they asked for a CMS or I thought it fit their need then I'd recommend setting it up and probably charge more for that initial implementation. However, when it comes to actual code maintenance/updates does anyone have any experience with varying levels of pricing for this? Do you just charge the same hourly rate you would've charged before?

Re: Ask HN: Recommendations for building websites as an independent consultant

#4
post #2

> Also importantly would you pass these costs along to the client and have them set up the accounts for these services themselves or would you set them up yourself and then bill them? Set them up yourself. That’s what people are paying you for, unless they say specifically otherwise

That's a good point - but how would you ensure that you don't get burned by not getting paid? Do you shut off all services if they don't pay you, which in this case you're potentially out $$$. Especially with something like Google's geocoding API if the site you're building has a lot of requests and you're fronting all those costs you could be out a lot of money.

Re: Ask HN: Recommendations for building websites as an independent consultant

#5
Having done this in the past, what I would do is build on Squarespace, Webflow, Shopify, or another platform and run the monthly billing through you (and double the price to make money on monthly hosting). If you ever decide you don't want to deal with hosting/support anymore, it will be easy to hand it off to someone else (just change the billing and access info).

In the past I built custom sites using React/Rails/etc. and when I wanted to stop support/hosting it was a huge PITA because handing off a custom codebase is difficult and time consuming. You have to find another developer, help them transfer the code or servers, help them get it running, etc. If you build on another platform you don't have to worry about this.

Re: Ask HN: Recommendations for building websites as an independent consultant

#6
For services that can potentially cost you high amounts I would suggest setting up the account and creating a secondary administrative account that is registered with the company you are working with - they can then add their preferred payment method. When it comes to hosting I bill them yearly. That being said, I usually choose a cheap VPS so yearly costs are about 70€.

When hosting their site I use containers - that way I can easily migrate from dev to prod.

My stack as of now is Strapi + Nextjs + Nginx. I use caching a lot so even a small machine can withstand a good amount of traffic.

For maintenance / administration I bill them a bit less then my normal dev rate so that they stay with me.

Re: Ask HN: Recommendations for building websites as an independent consultant

#7
post #3

I'm in a similar boat and I'd like to also know if anyone has any resources for setting up a good pricing model for the initial implementation vs potential future updates. If they just want a one off project I'd probably just hardcode most data. If they asked for a CMS or I thought it fit their need then I'd recommend setting it up and probably charge more for that initial implementation. However, when it comes to ac…

That really depends on what I have to do. If I’m using a Web UI to update a plug-in I charge less. When I have to use a terminal or an IDE I charge the normal development rate. When doing content updates (yes some clients want a CMS but still don’t do content alone) I charge the least.

Re: Ask HN: Recommendations for building websites as an independent consultant

#8
So this is a good start. I did similar to you, offering packaged websites for service businesses.

In terms of hosting + CMS you have the choice of using preexisting packages from bluehost, siteground, wordpresscom, ghostpro, etc. or you can test using your preferred VPS provider and setup your own machine, cms, etc.

Before you code, while doing the sales process you need to determine whether the client is willing to do some CMS work, let someone else do CMS work, or have fixed information. The sooner you can get an answer the better you can decide what package to use. It would be better for you to setup and bill your client, this way you can add more to your rate BUT you would be liable if the client fails to learn how to use the product (teach them by providing short training session and simple handbook/tutorial documentation.

Use what you're already familiar with otherwise pick one then iterate. Good luck

Re: Ask HN: Recommendations for building websites as an independent consultant

#9
I think some web building services are providing pricing plans specificaly for freelancers and agencies[1], and some even allow you to export HTML/CSS/JS source code and self-host later.

This seems like an optimal solution, but I personally never used them.

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1. Webflow pricing plan "For freelancers & agencies"

https://webflow.com/pricing#workspaces

Re: Ask HN: Recommendations for building websites as an independent consultant

#10
post #2

> Also importantly would you pass these costs along to the client and have them set up the accounts for these services themselves or would you set them up yourself and then bill them? Set them up yourself. That’s what people are paying you for, unless they say specifically otherwise

That's a good point - but how would you ensure that you don't get burned by not getting paid? Do you shut off all services if they don't pay you, which in this case you're potentially out $$$. Especially with something like Google's geocoding API if the site you're building has a lot of requests and you're fronting all those costs you could be out a lot of money.

There's no one size fits all. It sounds like GP's hosting costs are O($100/yr) at which point they're not out all that much due to non-payment. To contrast, if you're using Google maps' expensive Maps API, billing monthly seems like the obvious solution.
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