The cost of website development can vary greatly from firm to firm. For a 10-page website with a Content Management System (CMS) and news section, a full-service marketing agency may charge $10,000 or more, while a small studio may charge as little as $1,200. This does not mean that one is ripping you off and the other is giving you something for nothing. Price discrepancies can have a number of causes including differences in hourly rates, differences in the services offered as part of the deal, differences in workflow from one company to another, or even the quality of the people working on the job. Knowing why you’re seeing the price you’re seeing is important if you want to make a decision about what web design company to hire.
As a small business designing its first website, or perhaps redesigning an old one, cost may be one of the most important factors. Larger companies may not care about pricing at all. Depending on your company, your needs in terms of customer services, and the goals for your website, the price tag you are seeing may seem more or less reasonable. Whichever you are, this article explains the various services that go into the development of a website, and the hours and dollar figures attached to them.
Standard services
Planning
No matter how small your website project, some degree of planning will be required to determine the technical specifications, your requirements, communication goals, asset identification and location, etc. At a minimum, you can expect your web design company to invest an hour in planning, but don’t be surprised to see as many as 10 or 20 hours invested in this stage, depending on the complexity of the project. Keep in mind that the more time invested in planning, the greater the likelihood that the project will end successfully.
Graphic design
The way your website ends up looking will be the result of time invested by a graphic designer, or perhaps a team of designers, art directors and creative directors. Designers will work with strategists and content developers and branding specialists to determine the look and feel of your site, and how to best communicate your messages. Even a simple brochure site requires graphic design, and larger sites may require complex designs that differ on every page. This can sometimes be the longest stage of the entire process.
Coding
Coding is the process of converting a graphic design, usually created in design software like Photoshop or Fireworks, and converting it to the HTML code that can be viewed in a web browser. The smaller and simpler the site, the less coding will be required. Simple brochure sites can sometimes use a single template that is applied to every page. Larger or complex sites will often have unique coding requirements for every page.
Programming
If your site requires custom programming for a shopping cart, or for a custom Content Management System (CMS), or to access your company’s existing data, custom programming may be required. This is usually handled by a programmer or group of programmers, who will work with the HTML coding team to integrate programming requirements with the final site. Depending on your needs, programming may be the largest component of the final price tag. If your site can be built on an off-the-shelf or Open Source CMS like WordPress or Drupal, programming requirements will be significantly less.
Writing
If you are asking your web design company to write the content for your site, you can expect the price tag to rise considerably. Writers may often go through a process of interviewing key stakeholders, researching, and writing multiple drafts of copy before it is approved to appear on the live site. Even if you have existing content, writers may often be asked to review it with an eye to clarifying your messages, or to optimize your content for search engines.
Project Management
Although project management may not appear as a line item on the proposal you see, it will likely be buried in the pricing for other services. Project management is not very sexy, but it’s a required service if you want your website project to proceed smoothly and meet its estimated budget. Project Managers will work with every team member, often coordinating the order of work, and managing the expectations of both the web development team and the client (you). In general, between 10% and 20% of the price on your proposal will be assigned to project management, whether you see it as a line item or not.
Extended Services
Client Services
Client services are generally embedded, though not often visible, on the pricing you will see from larger agencies or studios. If you have an account manager at your web development firm, or somebody who is the point person assigned to take your calls and pass your requests on to the team, then you are likely paying a client services fee. If you like to see a smiling, friendly account manager who quickly responds to all your requests, you can expect to be paying a sometimes hefty additional fee. Client services fee can range from 10% to 30% of the price of a website.
Administrative Fees
Administrative fees are generally buried in the pricing you see, and never itemized. In most cases, you will not be paying administrative fees unless you are dealing with a large agency, and again, these will be buried in the pricing and not visible as a line item. Administrative fees cover such costs as accounting, photocopying, clerical and secretarial services, and other shop costs that larger companies must pass on to clients. You will see the same fees when you get your car repaired, often called “Shop Supplies”.
So how much should my website cost?
As an example, let’s look at a standard 10 page website. The proposed site will have a uniquely designed home page, two distinct sections within it, and a total of seven other pages that can be described as template-based sub-pages. The site is to be content managed using an off-the-shelf CMS like WordPress or Drupal. The site will also include a “news” or “blog” section for timely content. Writing is not required.
The table below shows the hourly estimate you can expect to see from a small studio compared to a large agency.
| Service | Small studio | Large agency |
|---|---|---|
| Planning | 1 hour | 3 hours |
| Graphic Design | 8 hours | 24 hours |
| Coding | 7 hours | 10 hours |
| Programming | 8 hours | 24 hours |
| Project Management | 3 hours | 6 hours |
| Client Services | 0 hours | 9 hours |
| Administrative fee | 0 hours | 5 hours |
| TOTAL | 30 hours | 80 hours |
How much am I paying per hour?
Hourly rates are generally standard in whatever region your web development company operates. In Winnipeg, larger studios and agencies currently charge in the $100/hour to $150/hour range. Smaller studios generally charge about 50% of larger agencies, so you can expect to pay between $50/hour and $75/hour. Freelancers may charge as little as $25 per hour, but are often incapable of handling the complexities and skill requirements of larger jobs.
So what’s the bottom line?
The table below shows the costs associated with each phase or service in the development of our 10-page website.
| Service | Small studio | Large agency |
|---|---|---|
| Planning | $50.00 | $375.00 |
| Graphic Design | $400.00 | $3,000.00 |
| Coding | $350.00 | $1,250.00 |
| Programming | $400.00 | $3,000.00 |
| Project Management | $150.00 | $750.00 |
| Client Services | $0.00 | $1,225.00 |
| Administrative fee | $0.00 | $625.00 |
| TOTAL | $1,350.00 | $10,125.00 |
For our sample site above, I would expect to see pricing range from $1,000 to $2,500 for small studios, or $5,000 to $10,000 for large agencies. Large agencies will often discount their rates to bring in new customers, as will smaller studios. As a rule of thumb, you should not expect to pay less than $1,500 for a professionally designed, coded and programmed website. If you do, you are likely getting exactly what you pay for — something you won’t be happy with for long.
Note: For individuals seeking professional services for personal sites or blogs, pricing may be substantially less, even from small studios.
