It really depends on the clients requirements. There is a lot of functionality available right out of the box, however I find that almost all clients want it customized in some way. There's plenty of plugins you can use, but ultimately if a client wants it a certain way that is different than stock or what a plugin provides, then you have to code.
From your description of "I have not done code in years and years" I think it's likely you would find yourself in over your head fairly quickly...
I can tell you from my experience that you will be digging into the code sooner than later. Its very easy to set up an elgg website and someone without any knowledge of coding can also do it but optimizing and customizing it for your client will need a lot of coding.
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