Website costs
Most small businesses in the UK are quoted somewhere between £500 and £5,000 for a website of five to ten pages. Where yours lands depends less on the page count than on who does the work, who owns the result, and what you keep paying once it’s live.
By Paul Morris · Updated
YOUR 995 WEBSITE · NOTHING HIDDEN
AT 995£995
NO VAT · UP TO 10 PAGES · YOURS TO KEEP
01 — The short answer
Prices for the kind of site most local businesses need: who you are, what you do, your prices or past work, and an easy way to get in touch.
| Route | Upfront | After launch | Do you own it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Build it yourself (Wix, Squarespace) | £0 | A monthly plan, plus your evenings | Your words and photos, not the site |
| “Free” website company | £0 | A monthly fee for as long as it’s live | Usually not |
| Budget freelancer or template build | £500–£1,500 | Hosting and changes, priced separately | Usually; check |
| Experienced freelancer, custom design | £1,500–£5,000 | Hosting, plus a support plan if you want one | Usually |
| Small agency | £5,000+ | Often a minimum support contract | Read the contract |
| 995 | £995, no VAT | Nothing required; £35 a month if we look after it | Yes, all of it |
02 — Where the money goes
A website quote is mostly someone’s days multiplied by their day rate. For a small-business site, those days go on the same five jobs.
Who the site is for, what they need to know, and what you want them to do next.
Layouts for phones and desktop, and the type, colour and spacing that hold them together.
Writing or editing the copy so it sounds like you and answers what customers ask.
Turning the design into a site that loads quickly and works on every screen.
Testing, connecting the domain, and telling Google the site exists.
Quotes differ because suppliers fill those days differently. A template build skips most of the design. A cheap quote often assumes you’ll supply every word and photo yourself. An agency quote adds people who never touch the site: account managers, project managers, salespeople, and an office to put them in. None of that is wrong, but it’s worth knowing which of those you’re paying for.
03 — DIY and “free” websites
Both routes cost nothing to start. The bill arrives later, as time, a subscription, or both.
About £144–£288 a year
At the time of writing, Squarespace’s Basic and Core plans cost £12–£17 a month billed annually, or £16–£24 month to month, before any paid apps.
The bigger cost is your time. A builder gives you the tools, not the decisions: what to say, in what order, and how to get a stranger to pick up the phone. And moving platform later usually means rebuilding.
Monthly, for as long as it’s live
Some companies build a site for nothing, sometimes in a day, then charge every month. Before you agree, ask:
If the answers are “we do”, “it goes offline” and “no”, the website isn’t free. It’s rented.
More on how these offers work, and when one makes sense: is a free website for your business really free?
04 — Why quotes vary
When two quotes for the “same” site look nothing alike, one of these four is almost always the reason.
The number of pages matters less than what they have to do. A booking system, an online shop, customer logins or a link to your accounting software each add days of work.
Writing is the job most often left off a cheap quote. If the supplier writes or edits your copy, expect to pay more. It’s often money well spent: the words are what persuade someone to call.
Agencies carry costs that freelancers and small studios don’t, spread across every project. That’s why a small-business site from an agency rarely comes in under £5,000.
A business must register once its taxable turnover passes £90,000, then add the standard rate of 20%. That turns a £3,000 quote into £3,600. If you’re VAT registered you can usually reclaim it; if not, it’s a real cost. Check which figure you’ve been given.
05 — After launch
The build is paid once. Running the site isn’t, and these are the costs least likely to appear on a first quote.
Your web address, renewed every year.
Somewhere for the site to live, a security certificate, backups and updates.
An address at your own domain, often a separate subscription per person.
New prices, opening hours and photos. Some suppliers include a few; others charge by the hour.
Add-ons for WordPress and website builders, some of which bill monthly.
Ask for these as a yearly figure. A cheap build tied to an expensive monthly plan can cost more over three years than a dearer build you own outright.
06 — Comparing quotes
Whoever you go with, a quote worth trusting answers all of these before you pay a deposit.
Ask before you pay
What goes on those pages depends on the business. We’ve set out what a typical site needs for salons & barbers, builders, trades, cleaners, play cafés & soft play and cafés & restaurants.
What you get at 995
one amount · 25% deposit to start · no VAT
We’re a team in the North East, and we build websites for anyone, anywhere. One price for everyone, with nothing added on top. Shops, booking systems and customer logins are quoted separately and agreed before we start.
Once it’s live, take it on yourself for a one-off £195, or leave it with us for £35 a month. No contract either way.
Up to 10 pages, agreed up front
We work out the pages and what goes on each one together, and agree the scope before any design starts — enough to sell what you do properly.
A proper design system first
Type, colour, spacing and buttons signed off before any code, so every page hangs together. It’s yours to keep, too: the same system works for signage, social posts, menus, vans — anywhere the business shows up.
Modern, mobile-first design
Thumb-sized tap targets and a fast first load, because most customers meet you one-handed.
Accessible to everyone
Built to WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility standards: readable contrast, clear text, full keyboard and screen-reader support. Nobody gets shut out — and search engines reward it too.
The words worked out together
We draft, you mark it up, we iterate until it sounds like you.
Your photos, properly treated
Cropped, straightened and colour-matched. Good phone photos are genuinely enough.
Structured to be found — by Google and AI
Clean headings, schema, sitemap and fast Core Web Vitals.
Google Business Profile tidied
Hours, photos, and the map pin in the right place.
Your domain, included
We move yours across or register a new one. The DNS is our problem.
After that, looking after it is optional — do it yourself, or £35 a month and we keep it running.
For a brochure site of up to 10 pages, yes. £995 pays for a few days of focused design and engineering. It’s lower than an agency price because there’s no account manager, sales team or city-centre office on the invoice, not because the work is cut short. If a business needs more, such as an online shop or a booking system, we quote for it up front so the full cost is known before anything starts.
Only if the person building it is VAT registered, in which case 20% is added to their price. Suppliers have to register once their taxable turnover passes £90,000, so many freelancers aren’t. We’re not VAT registered, so our price is the whole price. If your own business is VAT registered, you can usually reclaim VAT you’re charged, so ask your accountant how a VAT-inclusive quote compares.
It depends how it’s built. Every site needs its domain renewed and somewhere to be hosted, and many add subscriptions for email, plugins or apps, plus someone’s time to make changes. With us you choose: take the site on yourself after a one-off £195 handover and pay your own domain and hosting directly, or leave it with us for £35 a month, which covers hosting, backups, security patches and small changes.
Sometimes the job is bigger: lots of pages, custom features, brand strategy or ongoing marketing. Often it’s the business behind the quote. An agency has account managers, project managers, salespeople and an office to pay for, and that cost is spread across every project. For a large or complex site it can be worth it. For a local business that needs to be found and contacted, most of that cost buys nothing your customers will see.
Rarely. Companies that build sites for nothing make their money later, usually through a monthly fee that lasts as long as the site is live. Before you agree, ask who owns the design, words and domain, what happens if you stop paying, and whether you can take the site with you. If the answers are “we do”, “it goes offline” and “no”, you’re renting.
Book your slot
We keep a small number of builds running at once, so the queue is real. No payment now — we’ll come back the same day to confirm and take the deposit.