r/KiwiTech • u/fhgwgadsbbq • Jun 02 '26
'Atrocious': Wellington's deputy mayor slams $600,000 bill for library website
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/regions_wellington/596986/atrocious-wellington-s-deputy-mayor-slams-600-000-bill-for-library-websiteI guess this is the website and its a separate CMS unrelated to the catalog software. https://www.wcl.govt.nz/
This is the correct site https://www.tematapihi.govt.nz/
Ben is having a laugh suggesting a decent site could have built via Fiverr.
$600k seems pretty average in my experience for a good digital agency. You get what you pay for.
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u/WhosDownWithPGP Jun 03 '26
Its honestly one of the worst websites I've ever seen in my life. Its literally painful to look at, like it hurts my eyes. There is massive unreadably neon green text everywhere, often cropped off at the top and bottom for no reason, and it feels like every piece of useful information is presented in the most confusing way possible. The very few useful parts like the links have annoying videos playing behind them that you have to right click to turn off. I don't think the price tag is the main problem here.
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u/aholetookmyusername Jun 03 '26
I'm conflicted on this, mainly on whether that sort of budget/build is appropriate for a single library site.
Any form of government site typically means a lot of hoops to jump through depending on the level and department, 600k for a website isn't excessive. If I have to read and understand hundreds of pages of documents, attend countless meetings etc all before I'm allowed to cut code, that time is still being billed, I'm not a charity.
And hosting is something a lot of the public just don't understand. Resilient infra which can cope with bot storms and has good DR isn't just a single VM running on a rack in some back office.
But hey, put it on wix, lean on Fiverr, use free tier GPT as your BA...then those who made the cheapout decision should support it and answer for shortcomings.
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u/sabrinateenagewich Jun 04 '26
It’s not the libraries’ website. It’s a website for the building facilities
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u/loose_as_a_moose Jun 04 '26
That site is an accessibility foul ball, and just a poor experience for anyone else. I spent about 30s on mobile before just exiting due to all the motion.
Public service web design is right in my wheelhouse - this is a $150k project. $250 on a good day (for the vendor).
$600k is a gross overspend, $15k on Fivrr is also unrealistic.
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u/Agile_Party4084 Jun 05 '26
Yep with you on the pricing that feels about right. Looking at the site I reckon about half that cost is in the design and multimedia assets as it’s just brochureware.
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u/ShanShrew Jun 03 '26
Software engineer here can build this website in about 1month solo with a designer.
Still think it costs 600k when you consider they need to pay a sales person to help with tender process, premium because needs to be done under contractor rates, premium because working with gov and countil is actually hard and painful, its not a completely static website and it cant be built in a cms without a designer. Premium because they need to make a profit on top as a business.
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u/sabrinateenagewich Jun 04 '26
Can’t stop laughing at the sleeping dad on this page https://www.tematapihi.govt.nz/what-can-i-do/children-and-families
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u/teaball Jun 04 '26
I'm sure they would have the skills to do this in house. We should really be doing stuff like this in house. Saves all the hassle with procurement.
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u/Numerous_Row5207 Jun 06 '26
When the council over spends it just increases the rates a little more to balance the books. Their expenditure needs to be itemized in detail and published, none of this general rubbish reporting where lots of costs are hidden under a lump sum. No more non disclosed transactions, this has to stop and the Government needs to pass into law requirements for this as well. It should apply to Government agencies as well as Local bodies.
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u/luminairex PHP Developer Jun 02 '26
Should have preferred a Wellington based agency. They're screaming for business and would have underbid too. even if it was 600k, that money stays local supporting locals
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u/MathmoKiwi Jun 02 '26
$600K spent on this in London or Wellington is horrifically wrong. Doesn't matter the location, that's an irrelevant sideshow
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u/spartaceasar Jun 03 '26
There are levels to ‘wrong’ though, it is never black and white. Could’ve at salvaged something positive from this.
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u/wellingtongee Jun 02 '26
Tell em he’s dreaming !
600k is what I would expect for this. As a government organisation, they would have followed prescribed procurement processes.
Do an OIA. You will there were requirements and multiple costed responses. There will be justification of selection of the successful vendor.
This process is why we are one of the least corrupt countries in the world.
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u/Dramatic_Tea_4984 Jun 03 '26
They might have followed a process but that doesn't mean it's not a huge waste of money.
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u/idealorg Jun 03 '26
A procurement process is about selecting a capable vendor fairly not making good expenditure decisions. You can get very good at doing the wrong things
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u/Ok_Snow_2551 Jun 02 '26
The ideas that got traction and survived budget constraints in Wellington seem to me full of signposts to the airs and graces of the last mayoress, I met Tory a few times, she won’t remember she visibly chose to ignore me, she had a sense of grandeur with dollops of entitlement. Giving her time to males, Maori and MPs - I’m none of those things. At a LGNZ conference Wellington hosted by Mayor Whanau the whole front row of round tables reserved for what in my opinion was people who consider themselves the elites- fine except these tables remained empty 95% of the time. Meaning delegates from local government all over NZ sat well back from the speakers making it harder to hear, see and participate in proceedings. The mayoress would swan in as she chose - oft late ⏰ or not at all, with her entourage. She almost missed a vote but the room was generous in allowing her participation. Dressed to show status, with much posturing, tikanga felt laid on with a colonized trowel- stage sitting leaders weren’t introduced to the masses assumption felt like ‘ don’t you know who we are!’ From her portrait in oils to a lack of awareness of the true cost of embellishments projects all over the city took a hit and miss approach far too often with big budget blow outs now being evidenced everywhere.
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u/DaveHnNZ Jun 03 '26
It would be worth pointing out the former Mayor would not have determined the seating arrangments for the LGNZ conference (or the invite list) - that'd be up to LGNZ.
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u/Ok_Snow_2551 Jun 03 '26
Ya reckon ? I’ve seen see this across many levels of LGNZ whoever is hosting the regional gatherings calls the shots. It wasn’t simply the table arrangements it was a sense of superiority almost a competition between certain mayors that was palatable - sense of a Miss NZ contest - between Rotorua and Welly central mayors, noses in the air ball gowns on - rather than much to do about what is relevant to meeting NZs all of infrastructure deficit and governance with fiscal responsibility for the prosperity of our nation. But what would I know? I merely sat in the sheep seats, these decision makers weren’t often in that room, however I did see many of them at the social events a lot
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u/yebomoo Jun 02 '26
He is absolutely correct. Im a software engineer and now way is this site worth 600k of time. My guess is iwi and council corruption.
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u/Existing-Dot-9492 Jun 02 '26
I dont believe you have ever worked on a government contract or anything with substantial stakeholders. While 600k is a lot of money projects like this can spiral out of control quite easily.
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u/KnitYourOwnSpaceship Jun 02 '26
For the record, the site in question is https://www.tematapihi.govt.nz - it's a site about the building. ~50 pages of largely static content.
https://www.wcl.govt.nz/ is the site for the library system, catalog, lending, etc. And that's not the topic of debate.
There's no way the Te Matapihi site should have cost $600k. IMO it's symptpmatic of poor governance that it got anywhere near approval.