Calling in the Pros Vs Doing it on the Cheap

The most frustrating thing I have found from 5 years in the web design industry has to be businesses cutting corners to get their website designed and looked after. Ok fair enough, when you're starting off, perhaps a website is on the cards, but you've seen some of the prices they've charged and your budget is a little bit tight. What do you do? Allocate some of your initial budget for a website? Wait a while until business picks up a little and then invest some budget and time into creating a worthwhile online presence? Or collar a friend who you know is "pretty good with computers" and entrust them to determine your online reputation for as little cost as possible? Luckily the majority of businesses that contact me have opted for the first and second option. But I do get a few customers each year where I have to clean up after another company who did not meet up to expectations or the client has learned the hard way that you get what you pay for. For choosers of the third option I ask the question: Would you let a friend/relative rewire your office/premises because they know where the Earth wire is? Out of the stories I have collected from my customers over the years, here are the short-cut suspects I have come up with so far: The IT Professional They work by day in the city as an IT professional and any web design work is done in the evenings or at weekends. After a hard day commuting and working into the evening, the last thing someone really wants to do is sit in front of another computer. Any calls have to be made via their mobile phones which can be expensive and it is not always possible to get hold of the person in a hurry. So if you spot a mistake on the website, you're stuck with it until they have the time or energy to rectify it. Heaven help you if they regularly go away on business Cousin Nobby A brother, a cousin, a friend at a wedding who is starting up in the web design world and want to use your website as a guinea pig. Flattered? You may not pay for this person's service but you and your company's reputation might for the mistakes he makes along the way. The student on the two forums I post on regularly there have been a few scenarios where companies contact an IT pro asking for their tips and recommendations only to pass it onto the work experience kid that proudly claims he completed a website in a weekend. It doesn't matter that it was only a 3 page website, Result: poor work experience kid gets his first taste of work-related stress when it is rushed out of the door on his last day ridden with bugs and errors. A lot of these cost-cutting antics come down to lack of research. After all, the web design industry is still pretty new compared to; say quality management or building houses, etc. And the first web designers (pre-2000) wouldn't get out of bed for