What you are paying for
A redesign is a set of separate jobs, and each of them may or may not be in the quote:
- Design. A new look for the existing pages: layout, type, colours, the mobile version.
- Build. Turning the design into a working site — on the current engine or on a new one.
- Content. Reusing the copy and photos you already have, or writing and shooting new ones.
- Structure. Keeping the same pages, or rethinking the site: new sections, merged pages, a new menu.
- Search safety. Keeping the page addresses, setting up redirects, checking everything after launch.
- Extras. New forms, online payments, a second language, links to a booking or CRM system.
Two quotes can both say “redesign” and cover very different parts of this list. Before comparing prices, compare the lists.
Why some redesigns are cheap
The cheapest redesign is one where most of the work is already done. The domain is bought, the hosting is paid for, the copy is written, the photos exist, and the structure works — only the look is out of date. Then the job is design and build on top of the existing content, and it takes days, not months.
That is exactly the case our $30 redesign is built for: 3–5 working days on your own domain and hosting, with the page addresses and search rankings kept.
What makes a redesign expensive
- New copy for every page. Writing is often a bigger job than design. Our copywriting, for comparison, is from $12 per screen.
- A new structure. Rethinking the pages means new layouts, new redirects and more testing.
- Leaving a website builder. Builders keep their markup closed, so the “redesign” becomes a new site plus moving the content across — with us, $55 for a landing page plus from $40 for the migration.
- Custom features. Catalogues, online payments, customer accounts.
- Many rounds of approval. Every extra round is paid for somewhere, even if it is not a separate line.
What is usually not in the price
Check the quote for these:
- the domain and hosting — paid to the provider, roughly $10–15 a year and $3–5 a month;
- stock photos, fonts and paid plugins;
- edits after launch;
- ongoing support and updates.
None of this is a trick. These things just need to be agreed in advance, so the total does not grow after the work has started.
When a redesign is not enough
A new look will not fix a site that does not answer customers’ questions, has no prices, or hides the booking button. If the problem is what the site says rather than how it looks, you are paying for a new site with new content, not for a redesign. And if the site is on a builder you want to leave, what you need is a migration.
A useful test: if you could print the current pages, hand them to a customer and they would find everything they need — the content is fine, and a redesign is the right job.
How to get an honest quote
Send the address of your current site and say what bothers you about it. A good studio will tell you which of the jobs above you actually need — and which you do not — before it names a price. Before you sign, also read how to redesign a website without losing SEO: it is the part of a redesign that is easiest to leave out of a quote.