Hey website developers, I have a couple questions for you.

[mccoy178]

Hello, I am in the pool industry and I have wanted to create an excellent website for my customers for a long time.  I am ready to put the time in, but I need a ton of help and advice.  Please take a look at my ideas and if you have time, please give me any suggestions you may have.  Thanks for looking.

I want a website where people can do three things: 1) Get an accurate estimate for a pool liner replacement, 2) Be able to sign up and pay for their pool to be open/closed and also pay for liner replacement jobs with credit card/paypal, 3) Be able to purchase liners and equipment from an online catalogue.  I would like to have a front page that emphasizes those three features.  Once a feature is selected, I would like each to be able to do the following:

1) Liner estimates

I would like the customer to be able to select all the features of their pool by providing a tree that would eventually get them a complete estimate.  I would need to provide help tabs at each step and would like to use pictures if possible to help the idiots of the world.  I.E. the first page would ask,"Is your pool an above ground or inground pool?" and have a picture of both styles.  For arguments sake, let's say it's an above ground pool.  When they go to the next option, it would ask,"Is your pool round, rectangle, or oval?" and again provide picks of all three styles.  Does this make sense?  At the end of the questionnaire, I would like the customer to have a completed form with the lines of the estimate filled out giving them the opportunity to see the totals and if they like, submit the form to us with their info for further contact.  It would be neat if they could set up accounts so they could pay online later, but that may be a bit much.

2) Sign up and pay for Openings and Closings

This could be a simple page that just lists what we do.  All the customer would have to do is select the size of their pool and a few other options for pricing and get a grand total on the same page.  Again, it would be great if customers could create an account so that they could pay online.  For this service, most of the time the customer is not home so we have to wait for a check and it can be a hassle.

3) Online Catalogue

We wouldn't offer many products, but I noticed that people will pay to have things brought to their door steps.  Again, an account setup would be excellent, but almost any way for them to pay would suffice.  When I bought my web address, I did pay for the secured account where customers could use credit cards.


So, seeing the ideas that I have, can you guys give me tips on where to start and how to make this happen?  If I could see a sample of the code I need to use and how to use it, I could put in the million hours it would take to make the trees, the artwork, the catalogue, the accounts, and anything else it would take.  There is a lot of money to be had in my line of work and if I'm going to present a website for the public, I want it to be the real deal.  Thanks for any suggestions in advance.