I was asked to make a clone of this: http://www.bragster.com/ Ok, not a clone per se, but a site with similar functionality on a lower budget! How low might one ask? Under 10K, probably under 5K.
My question: how do I explain to a non-tech savvy friend, that this is not possible, in the nicest terms, and convince them not to go to rentacoder.com and try to pay someone to not do it for them.
Has something like this ever happened to you, and how did you deal with it?
people never want to hear "that's impossible" especially entrepeneurial types, it just makes them more dogged. so just show them what -is- possible for their 10k and let them come to their own conclusion.
So, while drawing on other sites for inspiration is fine, "recreate X" is not a scope, it generally means the client hasn't thought it through. For a start, you don't know which parts of that site are really standing out to the client.
So sit down with them and plan it properly, get them to lay out what they want from the ground up, without resorting to "however bragster/youtube/ebay do it".
Just bullet point it, really quick and dirty. you'll then have an idea of the true scope.
then you can throw some numbers next to each one, and watch them add up to over 10k. this will illustrate your point, and help your friend/client far better than "Trust me don't bother it's impossible"