I need some help and info guys.

I started a site with a buddy and he registered the name, but I did all the coding and we agreed that the site name was his but all the code, etc was mine.
Well now he has quite a few that want to buy the site name plus the html code, forums, gallery, etc.

What is a going rate for a full blown site to set it up, configure it, move to a new server, etc

The site is at
http://www.golfshackchat.com which is a front page that takes you into a custom YABB forum that I have HEAVILY modified with mods, hacks, and many of my own mods that I have customized just for this forum.
I have added a custom Gallery that is also modified so it resizes pictures, watermarks them, links them, etc. A custom Chat, ecommerce testing, etc for the site has been done.
I even had to move it from a windows host to a *nix host a month ago ( a nightmare due to capital letters ) and had to recode most of the forum settings. The site is even hosted by me and I paid for the host.

I have spent months on this site customizing it to get it just right to what me and my "partner" wanted it to be and now that it is done, he gets a offer to sell it.
I am not sure if he just wants a bill to buy me out or if he really wants to sell it.
I told him a full blown site like this would cost him $20K to buy me out and he freaked on me, but I worked on it day and night to customize it the way he wanted it.
Plus he wanted it modified to look like my other sites front page
http://www.xtremecruisers.com ( for which I get a email a week offering to buy it ) ???
which I have been also working on.

Plus I have a few others that want me to setup a site just like it and want to know how much it will cost.

Can anyone give me a ruff idea about the costs to setup a full site like this and what a good asking price is to buy me out since it was to be a 50/50 split on the site profits ?
Funny now that the site is taking off and is getting a huge amount of hits and traffic each day this happens

I would also have to sign away the rights to the code and agree not to use it on another site, which I do not llike the idea of.

Originally Posted by xtremecruiser

I have spent months on this site customizing it to get it just right to what me and my "partner" wanted it to be and now that it is done, he gets a offer to sell it.

Wow. Really? Those sites that you linked to are getting offers? They seem pretty amateurish to me. I don't mean that as a jab at you, but I do want to set some realistic expectations. People may not value those sites as much as you do.

Originally Posted by xtremecruiser

I told him a full blown site like this would cost him $20K to buy me out and he freaked on me, but I worked on it day and night to customize it the way he wanted it.

This is good self-esteem. If you worked for months on it, you deserve that many month's salary, at least. If you have any leverage as a partner, it also might be reasonable to expect that the sale value includes consideration of future profits, and so the sale value is more than just the hours put in. Of course, if he's freaking out about $20K, he obviously won't be able to land even more.

Originally Posted by xtremecruiser

I would also have to sign away the rights to the code and agree not to use it on another site, which I do not llike the idea of.

According to what you said in another part of your post, that code is yours. You own it, you have the copyrights. If that's true, then you have leverage. You don't HAVE to sign away ANYTHING. Especially for a low price.

Look, here's how cheapskates work: pressure, guilt, and obligation. They make you feel as if you MUST go along with it because you OWE them, or because you surprised them with big numbers that they never expected, and so on. It's not your fault he doesn't value the time & effort you put into this. That's HIS fault, and it is also the fault of any potential buyer who gives a lowball offer. OK?

Now, having said all that, the truth is that sometimes we put a whole lot of effort into a failure, and we have to cut our losses, recoup what we can, and get out. So: how much money is the site pulling down right now, each month? If it pulls down $100/month, a buyer would be CRAZY to pay $20,000 for the site. Seriously, you may have invested a lot of time in something that just wasn't worth it.

I don't think that means you give in and sell out to the first bidder that comes along. But maybe it means that you stand firm, and tell them that if the site isn't worth $20K, then you're willing to walk away from the entire deal, because you intend to keep the code. To you, that code might be worth a lot, especially if you can use it to generate a lot of money in the future.

Finally, there is a compromise. Refuse to give them exclusive rights to the code, but do grant them shared rights. In other words, if they can only come up with $5,000, and that seems OK to you, then say you'll let them have the site, but you also get to use the code for future projects. Good luck.

I say your "partner needs to pay you for your time and if he/she thinks spending $9.20 (godaddy cost) on a domain is = to a 50/50 split with you after you pay for hosting + your time working on the site you should give him/her the $9.20 that they spent and sell it yourself. Or just give a commission for finding a buyer.

on the cost of a site like that ( features alone not template design) it would range $100-$500 if it was not a pre-packaged forum. With the traffic your site seems to get its worth a lot more just because of the advertising opportunity. good ad placement can and will earn a nice income with that flow of traffic.

my2cent

ps: I will design your template and get the site earning money if its not already for a 50/50 split. That will give you a break on coding for a wile. I will also give your "partner $9.20 to buy him/her out

Whatever happens, put your code under a strict gpl license, and when and if the site gets sold with the code, tell them that they're not buying the code, but buying a license to use the code.

If you don't have any idea about the GPL license, I suggest you go read up on a few of them.

How much html did you actually code? To me, there is nothing custom about that site other than the logo.

Originally Posted by tgmjr

Whatever happens, put your code under a strict gpl license, and when and if the site gets sold with the code, tell them that they're not buying the code, but buying a license to use the code.

That is insane. You're suggesting that he put his code under a license that allows anyone to take his code and give it away for free. How does that serve his desire to use this code in the future as a bargaining tool in financial negotiations? How does that help him to enforce control of who and when his code can be used? As far as I can tell, it only undermines him.

Note that I have no problem with the GPL or BSD. I have free products on my Web site that use these licenses. But these are FREE products. These are not products that I have mentioned on Webmaster-Talk as being worth more than $20,000. These are not products that are important to my future as a freelance developer.

Once he puts his code under the GPL, he can tell them that they are paying $20,000 for a license to the code -- certainly, the GPL doesn't stop him from charging. But it also means they can give him the finger and get it from someone who only charges $1,000, or $0. And if no one else out there has the code & license yet, then THEY can be the ones in the future that undercut him. When he goes to his next client and says "$20K, please" his ex-partner can say, "We'll only charge $50" and poof, this guy can't make a living anymore.

I almost wonder if you secretly think people shouldn't make a living from code, and you're trying to be subversive.

Some time ago there was extensive research done at UBC to determine what the going rate for a web design should be.

It took time and value into consideration as well as polling hundereds of developers to determine what the price should be.

They determined that it should be around $100 a page but with dreamweaver that's a rip for the customer because you can make a new page in 5 minutes once you have a template designed.

There was also another article I read about determining how much to charge and it was the best I've seen. Follow me along here, I'll shorten it so you can get the jest of it.

Some pages take longer than others, like forms & such but some are quite quick. Especially if you are using Javascript from a built-up library. So lets say it takes you an average of 4 hours to make a web page (adjust these values as req'd).

Lets assume you want to work a 50 hour week which would give you more time off than any coder I know.

50hrs/week*52wks/yr = 48000 hours you work a year

48000/4 = 650, so you can make around 650 web pages a year

If you want to make $50,000 a year, work 10 hours a day, and take weekends off, you charge 50000/650 = $76.92 per page.

You actually have to charge around $80 because you'll want to take a couple of holidays, or may be sick a few days a year.

If you have to write copy you cost it the same way.

If you do it any other way, you like most web slingers will be broke the rest of your life!

you wouldn't happen to have links to those articles by any chance? i'm very interested in giving them a read