How to estimate the cost of a finished site?

Question

Freelance

We made a website with a partner on a construction theme.
The client is familiar. We went for big concessions on payment.
We agreed that the payment for the work will be every month the N-th amount (for the site + promotion), after the launch of the site.
Additionally, the client had to allocate a budget for SEO promotion.
The client was warned that the effect of SEO would not be immediate.
It took about half a year to create the site + periodic corrections / alterations to this day.
- A ready-made site with an admin panel,
-- with the ability to add pages: such as landing pages, articles, house projects pages
-- reviews, portfolios, comments for articles and house projects, project filter
- We promoted the site for some keys (including high-frequency ones) to the first page of Yandex and Google. Due to the technical setup of the site, buying links, ordering articles.
- Filled the site: more than 100 pages, more than 100 house projects.
After the launch, the client paid according to the contract, then less and less referring to the lack of funds.
The client needs to be presented with a choice: either let him pay under the contract or resell the site.
The client spent 3 times less on promotion than debts for work.
How to estimate the cost of a site?

Answer 1

After the launch, the client paid according to the contract, then less and less referring to the lack of funds.

Give him what he paid for under the contract.
The rest is not his until he repaid the loan for the work done.
If the contract allows (the developer has all the rights to the created site), then you can sell a copy of the software, otherwise you can’t sell anything (because the customer’s rights under the contract will be violated).

Answer 2

It is not necessary to sell the site, you can try to monetize it through advertising, for example. It’s definitely not worth listening to bad advice and deleting links, as advised here, but you can agree with the client that you will take profits from the site until he pays the debt.
It’s definitely not worth abandoning the promotion, because the site can potentially already generate income. judging by your words, it is on the first pages for high-frequency queries. If you don’t know how to monetize, then it’s time to learn, I can share links if you don’t know how to do it.

Answer 3

After the launch, the client paid according to the contract, then less and less referring to the lack of funds.

If there is a contract, then the site belongs to the client and you do not have the right to sell it. Do you have the right to make a copy on another domain, you need to look at the contract, what is there and how it is written. Consult with a lawyer who deals with this topic. If the lawyer gives the go-ahead that you can put a copy on another domain, then put a copy with non-existent contact information and send out advertisements to competitors that you are renting out a ready-made site for XXX money per month, which hangs on the first pages of search engines for such requests.
If a copy cannot be used, then no luck.
In any case, you need to stop the promotion until the full payment of the debt under the contract. In two or three months, the site will go down and the client will come to you.

Answer 4

Why evaluate?
If he is ready to buy, he himself knows for what amount