What Actually Drives the Price
Page count and template count. Twenty pages built from four templates cost far less than twenty individually designed pages. Most of the design cost sits in unique layouts, not in the number of URLs.
Custom design versus a bought theme. A purchased theme is cheap up front and expensive later: it carries code you never use, slows the site down, and constrains every future change. A custom design costs more at the start and less over five years.
Content. Who writes the copy, takes the photographs and produces the video is frequently the largest hidden line. Projects stall on content far more often than on code.
Functionality. A brochure site, a site with a booking system, and a site with e-commerce plus ERP integration are three different products that share a word.
Integrations. Payment providers, accounting, CRM, stock, cargo and marketplace connections each carry their own scope and testing.
Languages. A second and third language multiply content, testing and SEO configuration, though not the design.
Realistic Brackets
We publish ranges rather than a single number because a single number would be dishonest. As a guide, in our market:
- Small business site — up to about eight pages, custom design on a light custom theme, mobile-first, basic SEO setup, contact forms.
- Corporate site — bespoke design system, service and case-study sections, blog, structured data, analytics, admin training, typically multilingual.
- E-commerce — everything above plus catalogue, checkout, payment and shipping integrations, and stock synchronisation.
- Custom platform — portals, dealer systems, booking engines or anything with real business logic behind the pages, priced as software rather than as a website.
Where you land inside a bracket depends far more on scope decisions than on who builds it. We show you the cost of each decision before you make it.
Why the Cheapest Quote Usually Costs More
A very low quote is normally achieved in one of four ways: a bought theme with a page builder, no original content, no testing beyond a quick look on a laptop, or no ongoing responsibility after launch. Each is fine if you know you are buying it. The problem is when you discover it in month four.
The recurring pattern we are asked to fix is a site that loads in six seconds, cannot be edited without breaking, has no SEO foundation and no backups, and whose original builder has stopped answering. Rebuilding it costs more than doing it properly once.
That does not mean expensive is safe. Ask any supplier three questions: what exactly is in the price, who owns the code, and what happens after launch. The answers separate a real proposal from a number.
The Costs Proposals Leave Out
- Hosting and domain renewal, and whether the SSL certificate is included
- Maintenance: updates, backups, security monitoring, uptime
- Content production: copywriting, photography, video
- Stock photography and font licences
- Third-party services: payment gateway fees, e-mail delivery, live chat
- SEO work after launch, which is where organic traffic actually comes from
- Changes after go-live, and what the hourly rate for them is
We list all of these in our proposals whether or not we are supplying them, because a budget that ignores them is not a budget.
How We Quote
We do not price from a form. We have a short scoping conversation, agree what version one must do, and then send a written proposal that itemises design, development, content, integrations and testing separately, with the timeline and payment milestones.
The price is fixed against that written scope. If you later want something that was not in it, we quote that separately before doing it rather than after. And whatever we build, you own the code.