We are not going to publish a price list for other people's work. Rates vary by supplier, by scope and by year, and a number quoted here would be wrong for someone within months.
What is stable, and more useful, is the structure of the cost. Understanding where money goes lets you read any quote properly, including ours.
The one off costs
| Component | What drives the number |
|---|---|
| Discovery and planning | How clear the brief is before work starts |
| Design | Number of unique page layouts, not number of pages |
| Content and copywriting | Whether you supply text or the supplier writes it |
| Photography | Half day or full day, travel, whether you already have usable images |
| Build | Number of unique templates, integrations, whether you need to edit it yourself |
| Testing and launch | Number of devices and browsers, complexity of the forms |
The ongoing costs people forget
- Domain renewal, annually, and it must not lapse.
- Hosting, monthly or annually depending on the platform.
- SSL certificate, often included, sometimes not. Ask.
- Software updates, if the site runs on a platform that requires them.
- Backups, and more importantly a tested restore.
- Content changes after launch, whether by you or billed by the supplier.
- Email hosting, which is separate from website hosting and frequently forgotten.
Why the same brief gets very different quotes
Usually one of four reasons. The suppliers understood the brief differently, which is a brief problem. They are proposing different levels of custom work, from a configured template to a bespoke build. They include different amounts of content production. Or one has priced the ongoing relationship into the build and another has not.
Ask each supplier to break the quote into those components. Differences that looked arbitrary usually become obvious once itemised.
A quote you cannot break into components is a quote you cannot compare. Ask for the breakdown before you compare totals.
Where it is worth spending more
Photography, content, and the mobile experience. These three determine whether the site works on the phone your customer is actually holding, and they are the three most commonly cut when a budget tightens.
Where it is usually worth spending less: animation, custom illustration, and features nobody has asked for yet. These can be added later once the site is earning its keep.
