Maintenance burden: SMB sites $1,800–$12,000+/yr; portals $10,000–$25,000/yr — meaningful fractions of build cost

Claim: Maintenance commonly runs at meaningful fractions of build cost annually: $1,800–$12,000+/yr for SMB sites; $10,000–$25,000/yr for portals.

Source: Industry-consensus across agency sources.

Confidence: Industry-consensus.

Caveat: Vendor incentive on both sides — agencies that sell maintenance retainers and SaaS vendors selling alternatives both have reasons to surface these figures. See R6 — Flag the vendor incentive on every cost claim — AWS price-cut count, SaaS build-vs-buy ranges, agency portal estimates.

Why this matters for Candid: The ongoing-cost side of the ceiling. A client who hears "$25k to build" should also hear "and then $10k–$25k/yr to keep it working" — that's the honest scope.