Estimate
three ways to build the venue site, priced in hours against the same eight-page scope
Three options, one scope. Eight pages, one inquiry form, MOWP writing the copy and supplying the imagery. What changes between them is how much of the main site build the venue site reuses.
| Option | Hours | Ongoing | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Squarespace, standalone | 106 | Subscription, annually |
| 2 | mowp.org, shared but presented separately | 93 | Maintenance, folded into mowp.org's |
| 3 | A section of mowp.org | 61 | Maintenance, folded into mowp.org's |
Options 2 and 3 share the main site's platform, so maintenance folds into mowp.org's and neither adds a hosting fee. Squarespace is the only option with a recurring cost of its own.
The shared scope
The same work, priced three ways.
- Eight pages: Home, The Space, Catering, Weddings, Meetings & Events, Celebrations & Memorials, Rates, Check Availability.
- One inquiry form with structured event type, date and headcount, stored and emailed. See Inquiries & Booking.
- Page metadata and search markup across all eight pages.
- Two review rounds.
Options 2 and 3
Cost aside, the difference is positioning, not capability.
| Option | The space reads as | What follows |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | A venue that happens to be run by Meals on Wheels People | Its own address and its own navigation, with an alternate logo over the main site's styles |
| 3 | Part of Meals on Wheels People, which you can rent | Lives at mowp.org/event-space and shares the main site's navigation, layout and search |
The space carries MOWP's branding and styles either way.
Search
The pages are new on either option and earn their rankings the same way. Option 3 inherits the main site's standing, which can help them rank sooner.
The Google Business Profile matters more here than the choice between options. See Directories & Listings.
Audience
The main site is built for donors, clients and their families, volunteers and job seekers. A venue visitor is shopping: comparing rooms, checking a date, weighing a price against other venues.
Option 3 puts that visitor inside navigation built for Donate, Get Meals and Volunteer. Option 2 gives them a site where every page is about the room.
The association is worth something to a nonprofit or corporate booker, for whom a rental that funds meals is part of the pitch. That's a section and a link rather than a reason to share a navigation.
Both can point a name like mowpeventspace.org at the site for print and directory listings. The only cost is the registration.
On options 1 and 2 the venue site has a navigation of its own. Even on option 3, mowp.org reaches the space from the footer and related pages rather than the header; search and directory listings land directly on it.
Hours by phase
| Phase | 1 · Squarespace | 2 · Shared, separate | 3 · In mowp.org |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discovery, structure, confirming specifications | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| New functionality | — | 5 | 3 |
| Platform extensions | — | 20 | 4 |
| Design | 34 | 12 | 3 |
| Building the pages | 36 | 26 | 24 |
| Search setup and analytics | 12 | 6 | 6 |
| Two review rounds | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Launch | 6 | 6 | 3 |
| Total | 106 | 93 | 61 |
Options 2 and 3 start from the main site's design system, page editor, form system and search markup. Squarespace starts from a template, and making that template match the main site is most of the difference.
A template can be pushed a long way toward the main site's design, and the type, spacing and component behavior underneath it aren't ours to set.
New functionality
| Item | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Table sections for capacity, rates and hours | — | 3 | 3 |
| Venue navigation and footer, populating a second set rather than building one | — | 2 | — |
| Total | — | 5 | 3 |
Everything else the eight pages need is already in the page editor: heroes, galleries, cards, questions and answers, statistics, step sequences, the inquiry form, video playback and the downloadable spec sheet.
Platform extensions
Option 2 needs the main site extended to serve a second site. On option 3 the venue pages are already part of the site.
| Item | 2 · Shared, separate | 3 · In mowp.org |
|---|---|---|
| Venue details in the search markup | 4 | 3 |
| Placing the venue's links: footer and related pages | — | 1 |
| A private preview setting for the venue pages | 2 | — |
| Routing a second domain to the same application | 1 | — |
| Keeping the two sites' pages apart | 4 | — |
| A second sitemap | 2 | — |
| Keeping venue pages out of the main site's search | 3 | — |
| A venue editor role, and separating the inquiries | 4 | — |
| Total | 20 | 4 |
Most of the option 2 column is work that would be wrong on option 3 rather than work it skips.
Whether venue inquiries and donor form submissions need to be visible to different people.
Reused from the main site
Everything here is part of the main site build now in development. Options 2 and 3 use it as-is. On Squarespace each line is rebuilt inside a template, approximated or lost.
| Area | What carries over |
|---|---|
| Page dev | Heroes, photo galleries and collages, YouTube, Vimeo and uploaded video, statistic rows, card grids, step sequences, data tables, questions and answers, calls to action, contact cards, document downloads, testimonials |
| Forms | Every field type needed including date, dropdown and number; conditional questions; submissions stored in the CMS; submissions emailed on arrival; spam protection without a puzzle; rate limiting; cookie consent |
| SEO | Page titles and descriptions with a search-result preview; place, address and coordinates markup; local business and opening hours; price and offer; questions and answers; breadcrumbs; sitemap generation; redirect management |
| Day-to-day | Draft, preview and publish; version history; editor permissions; image uploads, resizing and alt text; a private staging site; error tracking; uptime monitoring; backups |
Structured data works on Squarespace, on different terms. Custom markup goes in per-page code injection, which needs the Business plan or above. Squarespace injects its own blocks into every page, so custom markup sits alongside them rather than replacing them, hand-maintained per page.
Third-party services
The site needs none of these to launch. They're MOWP's own accounts and budgets rather than lines in the estimate.
- Tour booking. Cal.com's free tier includes embeds and unlimited event types.
- Directory listings. The Google Business Profile is free and the biggest lever. Worth setting up sooner than later.
- Booking management. The site's job ends at the inquiry; proposals, contracts, deposits and event orders are out of scope. If MOWP needs booking management, something like Perfect Venue may work.
Whether MOWP already runs a booking or CRM system for events that the form should feed.
Timeline
Decide and confirm
Sept 2026
The option, and the capacity and dimension numbers from the drawings. Option 2 also needs the domain settled
Build
Oct – Dec 2026
Inside mowp.org's Q4 pause, so the two don't compete
Private preview
Jan – Feb 2027
For internal partners. On option 3 this is the staging site, which is already private
Public, accepting bookings
Feb – Mar 2027
On option 3 this is the main site launch, one event rather than two
First events
May – Jun 2027
The first real photography becomes possible
Photography pass
Later 2027
Renderings replaced with photographs, plus testimonials and a gallery. Priced separately
Bookings start in February and events in May, so everything published in February runs on architectural renderings.
Options 1 and 2 can launch independently.
Assumptions
- MOWP writes all of the copy.
- MOWP supplies renderings, photographs, the floorplan drawing and the video.
- MOWP creates and owns the Google Business Profile and directory listings.
- Rates, policies and capacity figures are decided before the pages that need them are built.
- Options 2 and 3 assume mowp.org is live or near-live on schedule.
Not included
- Photography, video production and floorplan graphics.
- Copywriting.
- Paid directory listings and advertising.
- Third-party subscriptions.
- Online payment, contracts and deposits through the website.
- A public availability calendar or self-serve booking.
- The later photography pass, gallery and testimonials, which are phase 3.
- Translation into other languages.