I have a client that I have done some freelance work for, he has been seeking investors to build out the whole system that he wants, he might have some willing investors now. I want to ask, what is the best way to make a cost estimate for a project that may span 2 or 3 years?

A rough idea of the project?

@koukou Basically its a clothing startup, that seek to trade primarily through an ecommerce website, supporting systems will include things like an accounting systems for day to day record keeping and financial reporting, stock-management. Basically all that is involved in clothing purchasing and distribution, but instead of using different system to handle each part, they want a custom solution that will do all they need.

Why don't they use something like magento? Regardless, from what I understand the two major costs will be server(s) and marketing. I would focus on depicting the correlation between marketing cost, traffic gained and server cost to accommodate the traffic for a smooth experience. Have 3 different scenarios: worst, expected, best.

Hmm, looks like something along the lines of what is needed, will look more into it.

@TsiTMC yeah you want something that will also accommodate the logistics side of it in a cost effective manner! Good luck!

@koukou Thank you!

www.zalando.com

The have also a huge repository on github.

@heyheni Cool will look at it.

Prestashop is also very nice and free

Thanks @mpotratz