Well first some free info.
Hosting cost less then 10.00 a month.
There are several hundreds of default templates which can work for most sites.
0.00
Most free plug-ins will also work to give a custom advantage.
0.00
So were does the cost go?
Content for starters, but one shouldn't spend more than ones budget allows.
What is a time frame for getting a site up and online?
24/48hrs
Domain Names are around 1.00 to 40.00 /yr
Are site easy to manage?
Yes and no
It will really depend on how much time you are willing to learn a few steps to not only allow you total control but to keep things fresh and exciting for your fans. But yes you should over come any fears of technology. If you can tweet you can manage the basics of a customer site.
Sound tough, well its not.
One last free advice:
if you just starting as it can always be tweak(hence custom) you shouldn't really spend more than 400.00 as anything if you start on a small budget you can alway add a bonus to your webmaster for the great work in such a short time.
-just one more thing to remember
An existing bad site, yes it can be fixed, but sometimes it cheaper to start from scratch instead of fixing a badly coded site. (An no squarespace is very limited some things might look good but you will reach limits quickly in feature you might want.)
Ok well there a free consult. But like everyone here we all like to make some money.
Very last thing if you do your own hosting you don't have to deal with your fans getting overwhelmed by spam ads and links.