I have a question for the mid-level to high level developers..

I am a soldier in the National Guard who is planning on starting a company.. The company will be selling soley an online product... I need a site that is going to be extensive but as cost is an issue I need to know a couple of things..

A) Would with the extensiveness of the site, if I were to go with a guy who has a portfolio but hasnt really really achieved a zenith so to speak of success. Would this be the right direction?

B) Go for the more expensive top shelf designer that is gonna ensure everything is done right but tear my arm off to make sure everything is done right..

Here are some of the key applets forgive my term but I know only a little about webdesign..

-Live streaming video such as a (blogtv or justintv with chat and some of the social features..
-A draft applet thats almost identical to (yahoos fantasy draft system)
-Will have a forum such as this one..
-A payment system for site access
-4 Different user types
-And a Photo Gallery of sorts..
- The number of pages by rough esitimate plus the flash window for the applett is going to be 8

Can anyone tell me given a rough estimate how much I sshould save for something like this?
Im already planning on spending about 5 thousand dollars.. Am I dreaming or can a website of this magnitude be custom built for 5 Thousand dollars.. Or should I be thinking in the 10 to 15 thousand dollars in which my next question be would the better developers use a retainer based progress. Kind of like a lay away until completion? Has anybody ever heard of such a thing?

 

What type of niche is it in?

I've been developing websites for 15 years now. The only sites that are still around are generally my own sites.

Most clients fail because they build a site that's just a clone of another site. Fiverr makes loads of money, but can you name even one single clone of Fiverr?

What you could do is to use an off the shelf script that matches your requirements, then you save $$$$$ on development costs. E.g. use phpBB for the forum.

 

So you think instead of putting up something original I should use cloned script? I looked at some of these cloned scripts sales sites.. Some looked pretty darned good.. My niche is sporting cards but all the programming I want done cant come from cloned script.. I mean im no programmer by any means but from what it looked like I would have to buy three domains and host all three to do what I want done.. As far as the forum phpbb what is it like 100 bucks to license the forum and alittle more for the features stuff like mobile apps.. Sure Id love to use it but I dont think I could ad the streaming software to it could they(The programmer) Could you, I mean to say?

 

You could try a CMS (WordPress, Joomla) and plugins for forum, live streaming, membership billing.