Guide
How much should you pay someone to build a website?
For a typical local business, somewhere between $750 and $3,000 buys a site that does everything you need. Below that you are usually buying a template someone else fills in; above it you are mostly paying for process. Here is what each price actually gets you, where to find the person, and the questions that protect you before any money changes hands.
The short answer
Under $500: a template filled in with your details, often on a platform you will pay for monthly. Fine for a placeholder, rarely more.
$500–$1,500: a freelancer or a fixed-price studio building a proper five-page site — services, about, reviews, contact — that works on phones. For most trades, salons and clinics this is the sweet spot.
$1,500–$5,000: more pages (one per service or area), professional copywriting, and search setup done carefully. Worth it if you compete in a crowded area.
$5,000 and up: agency territory — strategy, custom design and project management. US agencies typically start small business projects at $4,000–$6,000, with hourly rates of $100–$200.
What changes the price
Pages. Most of the labour is pages. Five is normal. A page for every service and every town you cover is how bigger sites get built, and it is where the money goes.
Who writes the words. If you hand over your service list, prices and a few paragraphs, it is cheaper. If they write it, it costs more and usually reads better.
Features. Online booking is modest. An online store is a different project with a different budget.
Ongoing changes. Decide before you buy whether you will edit the site yourself or pay someone monthly. Either is fine; not deciding is how a site goes stale.
To price your own site by pages and features, use the website cost calculator.
Where to find someone
Freelance marketplaces. The widest range of price and quality. You can get excellent work cheaply, and you can also get someone who disappears. Look at finished, live sites they built, not mock-ups.
A local designer. Easier to meet and hold to account. Ask other local businesses whose sites you like who built them — it is the most reliable referral you will get.
Fixed-price studios. Published prices and a fixed scope, so you know the number before any call. Less bespoke than an agency, and much faster.
Agencies. The right choice when you need strategy, a large site or ongoing marketing. Usually more than a small local business needs.
Questions to ask before you pay
Whose name is the domain registered in? It should be yours. A domain in the designer's name means they effectively own your web address.
Do I get the files? If you cannot take the site elsewhere, you are renting it.
What happens monthly, and what does it cost? Hosting, edits, security updates. Get the number in writing.
How many revisions, and what is the timeline? A clear answer here prevents most disputes.
What happens if you stop working? A good answer involves you having logins and files. A bad answer is silence.
Red flags
Guaranteed Google rankings. Nobody can promise them. Anyone who does is either lying or planning something that gets you penalised.
No written scope. If the pages and features are not listed, the price is not really fixed.
A long contract for a simple site. A five-page site should not lock you into years of payments.
No refund terms. Ask what happens if you are unhappy. A business confident in its work will tell you.
What we charge
Our prices are published: $750 for a five-page site, $1,500 for a larger site with a page for each area you serve, and $2,500 for the full local search build. The domain is registered in your name and you get the files. There is a 14-day money-back after launch.
You can also see the site before you pay anything — the free website builder makes one for your trade in about ten seconds.