Recap: How Much Does it Cost to Design a Website?

A massage therapist can get away with a $18/month SquareSpace website. In fact, if a massage therapist came to us with a $10,000 website budget, we’d probably advise her to start with something non-custom, like SquareSpace.

She most likely does not need to start out with a custom website and will probably not get a high ROI on a custom website. For a professional company, however, a custom web design is usually a must.

PRICING BY HOURS

Almost every custom web design agency will end up pricing your website project based on the number of hours it will take and their hourly rate.

EXAMPLE HOURLY RATES

While hourly rates vary, in the Australia, hourly rates will typically be:

$50/hour (cheap)
$75-$125/hour (moderate)
$125-$200/hour (premium)

EXAMPLE PROJECT COST

Just like in building a house, there are seemingly endless options for a custom website, all of which directly impact cost. When building a website, you need to think of every feature as directly impacting scope (or cost).

EXAMPLE PROJECT SPECIFICATIONS

Fully custom website
10-20 pages
Built onto a content management system (CMS) like WordPress
4 templates (ex: Home, informational pages, contact page, landing page)
Responsive web design (mobile-optimized)
2 forms (ex: contact form)
HOURS FOR EXAMPLE PROJECT
You might estimate a total of 120 hours for your project, which breaks down like so:

Design: 45 hours
Development: 45 hours
Testing & Quality Assurance: 10 hours
Content Loading: 10 hours
Deployment and Post Launch Testing: 5 hours
Training: 5 hours

Based on that example project of 120 hours, a cheap website (at $50/hour) would cost $6,000 to create, a moderately priced project (at $100/hour) would be $12,000, and a premium website (at $150/hour) would run you $18,0000.

Invest Intentionally

As a professional company, your website is often the primary channel that potential clients and partners use to judge you. Don’t skimp. But don’t spend blindly.

Invest intentionally.

Summing Up

A good custom web design doesn’t come cheap. And with any big purchase that you make, it’s important to know what exactly you’re paying for, so you can make sure you’re really getting your money’s worth.

Why would one developer quote you $5,000 and another $10,000? To find out the answer, you’ll want to ask how many hours they each estimate the project to take–and make sure you have a solid understanding of what the finished product will be like.

Want to find out how much we charge for a custom web design? Get in touch for a free quote.

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If you would like some more information on how to leverage the latest trends for your business, contact Steve at insight.web@insightdesign.com.au or call 08 9381 5900

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