I have designed a site visually (in word, showing what pages are needed, and what functions I want avail on each page etc). Awhile back I searched for web development/design companies on the Gold Coast to build this site and found one, but now a month later they tell me it is to big for them, and thus the hunt begins again with a 1 month delay.

The site is pretty complex, with almost every page being dynamic (all driven by queries to a database). When I say its complex, its not an understatement and will require quite a bit of expertise in the programming area (A company that now has the experience to have programmed ebay back in the day).

So, does anyone know any larger, experienced companies that can handle such a task? If it is worth it I will fly to sydney/melb or pay for one of their team to fly here for me to go over the site with them.
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Companies that look promosing:
William They seem big, however I have yet to see anything in their portfolio that is close to the level of complexity that this site will have.

Switchit - They seem to be pretty large and I think their portfolio looks good. I am thinking maybe they could handle the job.
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To Any webdevelopers here wishing to whim me etc: I am not able to give out the map of the site that I have created, nor elaborate on the concept. I will do after feeling happy with the company and then it will be in person

If it is really that big, post your budget up here as it will definitely help suggest who to go for.

well obviously we want the best price possible, but $25k would be within our budget so long as the job can be done properly.
Btw, the initial company had quoted $14k after going through the site with them.

Maybe try www.tailored.com.au/web.htm

cheers for the link mate
but their website looks terrible lol.

you say that the site is complex, because every page requires some sort of query to the database. This in it self does not make the site complex. What are your other requirements that make the site complex?

Well I can not go into great detail as it is confidential, but the site has a lot of functionality.

What I can say is:
*The results will be able to be further manipulated by users, and displayed appropriately.
*People will be able to share results/self entered data with "buddies".
*The search function is large (many options).
*The site will integrate with a few other services out there on the web (like we will use their service).
* It will have a large administration area.

There was a thread a few months back, where a couple of medium to big firms popped up, including www.wiliam.com.au - listed because it has a memorable website.

Yes I admit their site does not look great but I am sure Brendon Sinclair would tell you why.

I just suggested him because I know he has experience with large projects.

After all he is "World's Best Web Designer" .. do a google search :) .. & is the author of:

The Web Design Business Kit
www.sitepoint.com/books/freelance1

Please note that I have no affiliation with hime, although we have exchanged emails in the past & I am a regular reader of his blog.

*edit*

In all fairness to my mate ... who works at www.day3.com.au
they have some big clients www.day3.com.au/category...asp?ID=50&CID=50
Do they look big enough to you?
Regards, Richard

Try www.t-bone.com.au as they have done a fair few internal web portals and other complex web-based applications

Not sure if anyone has mentioned go4, they have done some nice work which can be found on their site.

www.go4.com.au

Regards,

Joel

Chris* writes...

There was a thread a few months back, where a couple of medium to big firms popped up, including www.wiliam.com.au - listed because it has a memorable website.

Just spend awhile looking through their portfolio and they seem capable of handling such a project :). I will look into them further( eg the size of their team, if they can take on a large project atm). Thanks for the link mate :)

Will look at the others now in order, thanks for the replies guys :).

Trying.2.attain.meaning writes...

Just spend awhile looking through their portfolio and they seem capable of handling such a project :). I will look into them further( eg the size of their team, if they can take on a large project atm). Thanks for the link mate :)

I know two people who work for wiliam, they (wiliam, not the people) should be able to handle it

Great to hear :)
After looking through all the links posted here, I feel that 2 have the ability to handle this project, with them being William and Switchit (as now updated in my OP).

Go4's site is nice and well presented, however I could not find anything in their folio to indicate that they could handle such a task. If I find another company that warrants a trip to Melb then I will look at them again closer and possibly give them a visit while I am down that way.

Any more posts with info about these companies or links to other companies that could handle a feature rich site that requires intense programming are most appreciated :).

Chris* writes...

There was a thread a few months back, where a couple of medium to big firms popped up, including www.wiliam.com.au - listed because it has a memorable website.

Sorry, I know this is slightly off-topic, but I just had a quick look at their website and noticed their blatant and fairly unethical approach to "Search Engine Optimisation".

Did you notice every single button on their portfolio has got an ALT text of "CMS Content Management System Sydney web design and web development firm Wiliam"? If that isn't keyword stuffing I don't know what is.

I would keep my fingers off them.

Outsource it to India!

If you already have the specs and a visual template then why not.

Otherwise, hire a programmer who will stick with you for at least a year and not charge through the roof.

IMHO, there's no difference between paying an Australian firm $25k and paying someone in India $10K for the same job.

On the other hand, if you hire a small dedicated, local programmer who knows their shit, then they can work with you, make suggestions, and identify problems over time - that is, "share in the vision" of the project - much better than hiring a big firm or someone in India.

A small team of freelancers would do the trick and save you cash.

Try Miro from Bee Interactive info@beeinteractive.com.au

He does some nice database driven websites etc.

I would rather keep it in AUS, but cheers for the suggestion anyway.

As for going with a smaller team: Well I initially also thought that this may be a good option as they would be able to share in the vision of the site and take a personal interest. See the site has huge potential to grow and thus any team that takes it onboard is going to have something huge to show in their portfolio + we would continue using them as we expand.

I was under the impression that so long as the programmers knew their stuff well then they could do everything a larger company could but with the project being something they would take interest in rather than just another job. However the company I was going with that has now let me down seemed to know their stuff and they were confident that they could develop such a site. Now they tell me it is beyond them as it seems to get more complex as they get deeper into it and would require their full attention. This has obviously made me weary of using a medium sized company/smaller group even if they feel confident that they can handle anything thrown at them, as we do not want to go through this same experience again.

Do you have detailed requirements though? Most sane companies would not touch a large project which isn't well defined. I'm sure you understand that even a 10% increase of work in a large project can add countless hours to the project.

Yeah the site mapped out, with most the functions that are required etc (the other things that I would like to be added in have all been noted in a seperate word file and require some input from the developers as to how they would fit in to the site).

Ofcourse we would welcome input and additional ideas along the way, but would not expect any additional functions to be free and would pay accordingly.

Hi, I am in Sydney, have worked on database driven websites, have a small team three people in Australia and also do have a liaison office in India (just in case), I can have a look into your requirements and can get what you want. You need only to interact with me in AU and that's it. Further I can provide the URL's for our work also bear in mind that some website may not be apealing to one but may be highly efficient and customisable in terms of functionality and flow of information.

Let me know in case you are interested to pursue this...

Cheers for the reply techboy, but ill pass thx mate.

I will be flying down to sydney very soon to meet with william, Switchit and another company that I will keep secret for now unless they are happy for me to mention them (director is a WP member).

If anyone else knows of any development companies (based in QLD, NSW or VIC preferably) that are upto the task of creating a complex and feature rich site, then please let me know :).

Here are a couple that I am looking into that are based in Melb (I am not to sure about their programming abilities so would appreciate any feedback):
www.getstarted.com.au
www.go4.com.au/folio

I can give my full recommendations to Wiliam - we've worked with them in the past on a number of projects and have always been very impressed.

Check out www.squiz.net (Australian company). They have one of the best open source CMS called MySource Matrix. They also do implementation/designs etc.

Check out their portfolio : squiz.net/portfolio

Trying.2.attain.meaning writes...

If anyone else knows of any development companies (based in QLD, NSW or VIC preferably) that are upto the task of creating a complex and feature rich site, then please let me know :).

You could try HarvestThe.Net, although they only do development, not design. I'm sure they'd be up to the challange of your project :)

Will check them both out thanks guys

SwitchIT was not an option as they have their hands full, so I definatly want to find some more in sydney to visit when i fly down there (next week).

I Agree with a previous post. Miro at www.beeinteractive.com.au is good with Database creation. Ask him about some of the websites he is currently developing. His portfolio is larger than what appears on his website.