The price I was quoted for the CMS package was $250/mo.

The comparative factor is the all-in-one in-house support: billing/processing support, hosting support, and CMS support under one roof.

They told me some big name sites, by name, that use this plan.

If you buy (license) a 3rd party package on your own, there's money down, money per month, and remote support, that may or may not be familiar with your host.

The next best 3rd Party CMS I've seen is $500 down, $150/mo, or $10K to purchase. I'd say the $0 down, and extra $100/month to have all three legs of support in-house is worth the reduced aggravation.

There's no script for sale, or CMS package I've seen that requires more than an elementary knowledge of php programming to run, customize or upkeep.

I've been doing PHP since this time in 2006 - which is 6 years later than the rest of the world. I paid a local guy face-to-face $100 to show me how to set up my first SQL table, and to write a .php web page to display, add, edit and delete table data via a PHP script code.

Once I had a look at it, I realized the structure was the BASIC language I learned in 1973. With structure in mind, you just Google "php - what you want to do", and find code help ranging from "dictionaries," to scripts for sale (shareware or paid), to on-line classroom tutorials.

That and then study some of the tutorials to get fancier.