If you ask three designers for a quote and get three very different answers, nobody is necessarily overcharging. They may be quoting different jobs. Knowing what moves the price lets you compare like with like, and it helps you spend on the parts that matter for your business.
The number of pages and how different they are
A five-page site with a home, services, about, portfolio and contact page is a different job from a site with a page for every service and every town you cover. More pages means more design, more writing and more testing. Pages that share a layout cost less than pages that each need their own.
Custom design or a template
A template is faster and cheaper, and it can be a fine choice for a simple site. A custom design takes longer because it is built around your business, your customers and the way they decide. If your competitors all look the same, a custom design is one way to stand out.
Online selling
Taking payments changes the job. Product pages, checkout, shipping and tax settings, inventory and confirmation emails all need setting up and testing. A store also needs to be simple enough that you can add products yourself afterwards, which is worth paying to get right.
Writing and photos
Someone has to write the words and provide the images. If you supply finished copy and good photos, the project moves faster. If you need help with either, that is extra work. Real photos of your business are usually worth the effort, and they are one of the things that make a site look trustworthy.
Connections to other tools
Contact forms that reach your phone or CRM, online booking, analytics, chat and email lists all need to be connected and tested. Each one takes time, and each one is worth having only if you will use it.
Replacing an existing site
Rebuilding a site that already gets traffic adds careful work: finding the pages that rank and redirecting every changed address so you do not lose them. It is more work than a first build, and it is the part that protects what you have already earned. There is more on this in how to redesign without losing rankings.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Is the price fixed, or hourly? A fixed quote lets you plan. Hourly billing can grow without warning.
- What exactly is included: pages, revisions, copywriting, photos, setup of hosting and analytics?
- Who owns the domain, the hosting account and the site when it is finished? You should own all three.
- How long will it take, and what do you need to supply to keep it on schedule?
- Who do I contact after launch, and how quickly do they reply?
I work from a free 15 to 20 minute call, then give a fixed quote before anything starts. Most small business sites take two to four weeks from that call to launch, depending mostly on how quickly content and photos come back. If you want to talk through your own project, the website design page explains how it works.