FestiVetsD-3 · The money, unpacked
The fragmented costs
Here is the honest arithmetic behind the one-time number in the brief. Every line maps to something already built and running at festivets.com. Two columns: what this would cost at market if you hired an agency to build it from zero, and the one-time founder's price on the table.
What already exists
Counted from the live build, not projected:
- 5 complete design editions, each a full themed directory
- 241 events researched and status-checked, 18 fields each
- 57 states and provinces, 3 countries, 10 genres
- festivets.com, the exact-match domain, bought outright
- Store, membership framework, live-stream module, magazine and floating socials, all live
The line items
| # | Deliverable | What's in it | Market | One-time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brand & product strategy | The golden-directory identity, positioning, information architecture, the honesty doctrine | $2,500 | $1,500 |
| 2 | Design system + 5 editions | Five complete visual registers, each its own palette, type and layout | $8,000 | $4,500 |
| 3 | Hero art + image pipeline | Commissioned panorama + 15 responsive variants across widths and formats | $2,000 | $1,200 |
| 4 | Directory data operation | 241 events researched and status-checked; 18 fields each; 57 states, 3 countries, 10 genres | $4,800 | $3,000 |
| 5 | Front-end platform build | Five responsive directories: discovery, filters, status cards, modals, survival-pack architecture, alerts, shared data layer | $9,000 | $5,000 |
| 6 | SEO, accessibility, performance | Canonical / Open Graph / JSON-LD per edition, WCAG-AA contrast, AVIF-first speed | $1,800 | $1,000 |
| 7 | Domain, hosting & deploy | festivets.com exact-match domain, hosting setup, deploy pipeline, 301 migration | $1,400 | $800 |
| 8 | QA, revisions & PM | Cross-edition parity, live-byte and pixel verification on every deploy | $2,000 | $1,000 |
| Platform subtotal | $31,500 | $18,000 | ||
| 9 | Branding kit | Logo, the ARMY RUST wordmark system, full visual identity package | $2,800 | $1,700 |
| 10 | Store module | 29-item catalog, 6 categories, tier tags (70/20/10 mix), filter UI, image framework | $3,500 | $2,000 |
| 11 | Membership & gating framework | Age gate, login entry point, member-preview system, gated-section architecture ready for real auth | $3,200 | $1,800 |
| 12 | Live-stream module | Twitch / YouTube auto-embed, config-driven on/off, LIVE badge | $1,200 | $700 |
| 13 | Magazine scaffold | Editorial section and teaser system, ready for issues | $800 | $500 |
| 14 | Shared content architecture | One content layer feeding all editions: add info once, every theme shows it | $1,600 | $900 |
| 15 | Compliance & social layer | Age-gate compliance pattern, floating social rail | $600 | $400 |
| Web-app wave subtotal | $13,700 | $8,000 | ||
| TOTAL | $45,200 | $26,000 |
$26,000 is 42% below the $45,200 you'd pay at market. At a blended $110/hour that is about 236 hours of senior build (market is roughly 411 hours). The independent going rate for a directory or marketplace platform of this size runs $15,000 to $50,000; this sits in the lower half of that band, on purpose.
Running it: the part that never stops
A live web-app is not a one-time object you buy and shelve. It runs on paid infrastructure every month it is online, and more once it is in the app stores and taking payments. For an app of this class in 2026, roughly:
| Component | Typical monthly |
|---|---|
| Hosting / CDN (Vercel-class) | ~$20 |
| Managed database + auth (Supabase-class), scales with members | $25–$300 |
| Transactional email (receipts, alerts) | $15–$25 |
| Error monitoring + uptime | $0–$30 |
| Maps / geocoding for the directory | usage-based |
| Image storage + delivery | $10–$40 |
| App-store presence | Apple $99/yr · Google $25 once |
| Payments (Stripe), on any sale | 2.9% + 30¢ |
Early on, before real traffic, that is $50 to $100 a month. Once it is genuinely used, web plus two mobile apps, it settles around $200 to $500 a month and climbs with members and traffic. That is not a FestiVets quirk; it is the going rate for running any live SaaS. (Ranges from 2026 SaaS-infrastructure pricing; sources at the foot.)
Path A, the alliance (the one we want). The Finessed Hub builds and runs the platform and covers the basic operating cost as part of its no-charge contribution, for as long as the alliance runs. The heavier costs — robust or dedicated hosting, and any legal or IP costs (copyrights, trademarks, compliance) — are Venture operating costs: the venture pays them out of what it earns, before profit is split 50/50, so they never land on one side alone. You still never write a personal check for infrastructure.
Path B, the buyout. You own the code and the platform outright for the $26,000. From handoff, the running cost and the accounts behind it become yours, the way the utility bill comes with the building. The $26,000 is the build; the monthly is the upkeep every live app carries.
Why we're showing you this
Because "trust me, it's worth it" is not how we do things. You have already seen the product live. Now you have seen the math behind the number. Nothing here is padded. If a line looks off to you, say so, and we'll walk through it together.
Sources
Recurring-cost ranges drawn from 2026 SaaS-infrastructure pricing:
· DesignRevision — Cost to Build a SaaS (2026)
· MakerKit — Supabase Pricing in 2026
· UX Continuum — SaaS Hosting Costs Breakdown 2026
Prepared in-house as the plain-English backing for the buyout figure in the partner brief. Not a formal quote or accounting advice. Figures are grounded in the live build, verifiable at festivets.com. v1 · 2026-07-23.