How Much Does a Website Cost?
The honest answer: it depends on what you need. But here is what typical projects look like, and why quoting properly matters.
Typical Project Ranges
These are starting points. Every project is quoted individually after we understand what you actually need.
Landing Page
£395 - £500
Single page, focused message, contact form. Perfect for product launches or simple service businesses.
Brochure Site
£1,200 - £2,400
5-10 pages, multiple services, about page, contact. Most common for small businesses.
Complex Build
£3,500+
Custom functionality, integrations, member areas, or web applications. Quoted per project.
Why ranges? Because a 5-page site with content you have ready is very different from a 5-page site where I need to write everything, source images, and build custom forms. The scope determines the price.
How This Compares
| What you get | Blue Penguin | Typical Agency |
|---|---|---|
| Landing page | £395 - £500 | £800 - £1,500 |
| 5-page brochure site | £1,200 - £1,600 | £2,500 - £5,000 |
| 10-page site with content | £1,500 - £2,400 | £4,000 - £8,000 |
| Custom web application | £3,500+ (quoted per scope) | £8,000 - £20,000+ |
| Who you speak to | The person building it | Account manager |
| Hosting (per year) | £180 (via Unity Tech, direct contract) | £300 - £600+ |
| Optional care plan | £75/month (static) / £120/month (web app) | £200 - £500+/month |
| 3-year total (typical) | £2,000 - £5,500 | £5,000 - £15,000+ |
Why the difference? Agencies have offices, account managers, project managers, and junior developers. You pay for the chain. I am one person with low overheads. You get senior-level work at a fair price because there is no markup for middlemen.
What About £25 Template Sites?
You can build a website for £25/month on Wix, Squarespace, or GoDaddy. Here is what you actually get:
Template Sites
- A template used by thousands of other businesses
- Bloated code that loads slowly
- Generic design that does not reflect your brand
- Limited SEO control
- You are locked into their platform
- Hidden costs for features you actually need
- No one to call when something breaks
Hand-Coded by Blue Penguin
- Bespoke design, built for your business
- Clean code that loads in under 2 seconds
- Unique look that stands out from competitors
- Full SEO control, built in from day one
- You own the code outright
- No hidden fees or plugin costs
- One person to call - the person who built it
The real cost: A template site that takes 10 seconds to load and looks like every other business in your town will cost you more in lost customers than a proper build ever will. Google penalises slow sites. Visitors leave before the page loads. And when you outgrow the template, you are rebuilding from scratch anyway.
Hosting and Ongoing Costs
All hosting is through our partner Unity Tech. The contract is direct with them, billed at £15/month. This includes:
- UK-based servers with NVMe storage
- Daily backups and automatic failover
- SSL certificate and security monitoring
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
Domain renewals: We can manage your domain and roll the renewal cost into your monthly hosting payment. When renewal comes around, there is no upfront bill - it is already covered.
Static sites vs web applications: A static website (brochure site, landing page) uses standard hosting. A web application (member portals, booking systems, custom functionality) requires database support, API integrations, and more server resources. These need a different hosting setup and are quoted per project.
What Affects the Cost
Content
Do you have text and images ready, or do you need me to create everything? Writing 10 pages of quality content takes time.
Pages and Complexity
A simple contact form vs a multi-step quote calculator. A gallery vs a filtering portfolio. Each adds time.
Custom Features
Booking systems, member logins, payment integration, API connections. These need proper planning and testing.
Timeline
A relaxed 6-week build vs a urgent 2-week deadline. Rush work costs more because I need to prioritise it.
How I Quote
We Have a Proper Chat
Not a 10-minute call. I need to understand your business, your customers, and what you actually need the site to do. I take detailed notes and ask awkward questions.
I Do Research
I look at your competitors, your industry, and what your customers are searching for. This helps me understand the scope properly.
I Write a Detailed Brief
This document outlines exactly what is included, what is not, and how many rounds of changes you get. No scope creep because we agreed the boundaries upfront.
You Get a Fixed Quote
The price I quote is the price you pay. If you want to add things later, we discuss it separately. No surprises.
What Is Not Included
Transparency means being clear about what costs extra:
- Domain registration (we can manage this and roll it into your monthly hosting cost)
- Ongoing content updates (available at £40/hour)
- Professional copywriting beyond basic web content (I can connect you with a marketing partner)
- Photography or video production (you provide images, or I can recommend local photographers)
- Major scope changes after work has started (these are quoted separately)
Want a Proper Quote?
No obligation. No sales pitch. Just a straight conversation about what you need and what it will cost.
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