What a website actually costs

The quote is not the price

Every website quote leaves things out. Not dishonestly, usually: the person quoting is pricing the build, and the build is the part they can see. The rest turns up later, one email at a time.

These are the ones that come up on almost every project.

• The content. Somebody has to write the words and find the photographs. If that somebody is you, it is unpaid work on top of your actual job, and it is the single most common reason a site sits unfinished for three months.
• Hosting and the domain. Small, annual, and easy to forget until the renewal fails and the site disappears on a Saturday.
• Changes after launch. Ask what is included and for how long. Thirty days is normal. Silence on the question is not.
• Who owns it. If the site stops working when you stop paying, you were renting.

What to ask before you sign

Three questions, and none of them are about design.

What do I have to supply, what does it cost me a year, and what do I keep if we part ways?

A builder who can answer those in one email is a builder who has done this before. One who cannot is quoting a number and finding out the rest as they go, which is fine right up until you are the one paying for the finding out.

Our own answer is on the services page: one figure, GST shown, with what is and is not in it written down.