I know the guy pretty well (he actually taught me coldfusion for peanuts many years ago)

The support and hosting is only £400 per year which is less than the deal I'm getting at the moment with my hosting company.

He has suggested he can do it privatly using the same modules (as he is the one who developed them) In a way that can be handed over to me. This would mean waiting about 6 months for him to build it and would mean getting limited support.