We custom build all our websites so you’re only ever paying for the design and functionality you require. The answer therefore to how much a website costs to build genuinely does depend. However, we appreciate that’s not the most useful answer when you’re initially exploring options and trying to work out whether your budget matches your expectations for your website.

So you can get an immediate idea as to what you should be budgeting, we have put together the following guide setting out ranges, as well as what goes into determining the cost of a build so you can plan accordingly.

A rough guide to costs

• A simple informational / educational site: To market your business or promote a specific campaign/project: £2,000–£5,000
• A more complex business website: (See below for what drives price): £6,000–£15,000
• An ecommerce website: From £8,000
• Ongoing maintenance: From £75 per month for technical and security maintenance work.
• Ongoing support: From £110 per month. All our websites are built so you can manage your content and grow the website as your organisation grows. However, if you don’t have the time to do so, we can create bespoke support packages for you.

These are indicative, approximate guides only. So, if you know what you need, but you’re concerned your budget doesn’t quite stretch to where you need to be then give us a call; payment plans are available and we’ll give you an honest assessment of what is and isn’t possible, even if that means we’re recommending a DIY option or working with another agency.

Who fits into these brackets?

Because every project is bespoke, to work out where your project might sit we have outlined the type of organisation or project which tends to fall into these different tiers.

The £2,000–£5,000 bracket:

This tends to be most appropriate for early-stage businesses, local service providers building on a social media presence, or established companies launching a standalone marketing campaign or website for community engagement and consultation. These organisations need a well put together, professional online presence to establish trust, but their core technical requirement is straightforward: clean layouts, a contact form, and standard newsletter integration for example.

The £6,000–£15,000 bracket:

This tends to be more appropriate for established businesses going for growth, scaling SMEs, or non-profits turning over £1m+. These organisations usually have an existing website, but one they have completely outgrown. They require more on the technical front, such as custom-filtering resource libraries and / or news areas, password protected member areas, multi-language support, or direct integrations with internal CRMs like HubSpot or Salesforce for instance.

The £8,000+ ecommerce bracket:

Designed for businesses where their website is their primary revenue driver. This covers inventory management, product filtering and selection, custom shipping rules, secure payment gateways, and tailored user accounts designed to maximise conversion rates.

What actually drives the price?

1. Functionality over Page Count

We don’t charge based on the number of pages your website needs, or ever limit you to a specific number. This is principally because it’s not about the number of pages but what goes into those pages.

A website can have a small number of pages but be more expensive than a larger (by page) site if the functionality is more complicated. For example, a 50-page site of plain text and images with a contact form and newsletter integration is a more straightforward build than a 8-page site that requires a searchable resource library, gated content, and a live booking system.

2. Design & Brand Maturity

If you have an established brand, we’ll work with your existing guidelines during the design stage to develop concepts for you to explore. Alternatively, if you don’t have a defined brand, or if you’re looking to make a shift, we factor additional time into the design stage to refresh your online look or create a new visual identity from scratch.

3. Timeline & Momentum

In the same way postal delivery costs increase depending on how soon you want your item so too can the cost of a website.

We always try to maintain pace when designing and delivering a website; if a project starts to drag, for whatever the reason – unplanned leave, illness, competing priorities – we find attention can falter to the detriment of the project. However, if you need a website in an out of the ordinary quick timeframe then this can add to the cost as we allocate time and resources from other areas / projects to yours. If this is the case we’ll let you know from the start.

What actually happens during our Discovery phase?

Before expecting you to commit to any of these costs, we will always conduct an initial discovery session with you and your team with plenty of opportunity for follow up questions and discussion.

We don’t just ask ‘What pages do you want?’ We dig into what really drives your business and what your ambitions are for it. During this session, we’ll ask questions like: Where does your team spend the most time answering repetitive admin questions?, How do your internal systems connect to your website? and explore what journey a cold lead takes before they trust you enough to buy.

Based on this conversation, we follow up with a comprehensive fee proposal. This will set out the exact specification, timeline, and associated costs so there are no surprises mid-build.

Why the cheapest option often costs more (The Iceberg Effect)

Just because something is expensive doesn’t mean it’s necessarily good, or right for you. On the flip side, be cautious of anything which appears too cheap -> when you buy a cheap website, often you are only paying for the surface layer – the digital coat of paint so to speak.

Looking beneath the surface, beneath the iceberg:

• The edit tax: This is where you find out the backend is built so rigidly you have to pay a developer every time you want to make page / section updates. Your website should be built so you can manage it and it can grow with you.
• Plugins: The cost of a build can be reduced through an over-reliance on third-party plugins which allow coding corners to be cut. If not continuously maintained, these plugins eventually conflict, breaking your site’s functionality and / or opening up severe security risks.
• Speed & reputation: A poorly coded site that loads slowly will frustrate your users, reduce conversions, and will not perform as well as it should on the search engine optimisation front.

Assessing value can feel like a difficult area to tackle if you’re not comfortable with coding and some of the jargon that can be thrown about when it comes to website development. But, a good agency will take the time to answer your questions in non technical language and discuss with you your options and what they mean.

What our web build prices don’t include

We’re a boutique agency specialising in design and website development and focused on doing these things properly for our clients rather than trying to do everythin. There are therefore some services you might need which we don’t offer, but which we can collaborate with others on. For example:

Content & copywriting: We build the structural layouts and user experience and can advise on hierarchy and signposting content, but we rely on your team to provide the core text and imagery. (If you hate writing or find it too difficult to promote your own services then just let us know as we can bring in a specialist copywriter to handle this for an additional fee).

The bottom line, your return on investment

A website should cost what it takes to do the job properly for your organisation — where you are now, and where you want to be as an organisation in the future.

A well-designed, well-built website earns its cost back over time, which is why it’s best viewed as an investment. If a £10,000 website automates your booking process and saves your admin team hours of manual data entry every week, then it won’t be long before it’s paid for itself in operational efficiency. That’s the difference between a website that just sits there and one that actually works for your business.

You should always understand exactly what’s driving your costs, clear numbers, not vague promises. If you’d like that clarity for your specific project, get in touch, we’re always happy to go through your vision, advise on how to achieve it and what it would cost to do so clearly and up front.