Most website development companies operate at an hourly rate. As a result, your website could end up costing you anywhere from £5,000 to £100,000, depending on the functionality and interface you need from the site.
According to research, the average cost for building a site is around £6,750. However, this is a basic site. The difference in the price tag of a lifestyle blog and an eCommerce site can be in the tens of thousands.
So, how much should you be paying for website development in London?
Should You Hire a Freelancer for Web Development?
Freelancers are a popular and affordable option for building a site. They typically charge an hourly rate well under what you would pay with a professional company.
While they are a great choice for building a blog or lifestyle site, they might not offer you the best option for advanced builds. Freelancers are solo developers, and tasking them to build a complete eCommerce site will leave you wanting for months until launch.
Freelancers also have no contractual obligation to you, and nothing is stopping them from walking out on your project halfway through the build because they get bored or feel they can’t handle the workload – leaving you holding the bag.
Hiring a Web Development Company
Hiring a web development company mitigates the risk of working with freelancers. However, that dedication and commitment come at a steeper cost.
The average hourly rate of a web developer could be anywhere from £75 to £180 or more. It depends on how many people are working on the project and the size of the task.
While you’re spending more, you’ll get a faster turnaround and a team that’s ready to assist you with managing the site.
If you’re based in London, or otherwise just looking for a web development company in London, you can read our guide on finding the best website development company in London here.
Does the Developer Charge a Flat Rate?
Some web developers forego the hourly rate and charge flat rates for projects based on an initial consultation. During the consultation, they’ll note all your website requirements and issue you a quote for the work.
A flat rate allows you to budget for the build costs, and it keeps the development team accountable to their quote, ensuring you don’t overrun your project costs. Most developers will account for a 10% to 15% overrun on their costing included in the pricing, allowing for wriggle-room in the project if they start going over the expected quote.
Factors Affecting the Costs of Website Development
When hiring a web development company, you’ll need to consider the following for your cost analysis.
Project Complexity and Timeline
What website are you building? As mentioned, there’s a big difference between designing a blog and an eCommerce site.
The complexity of the project matters, as does the timeline for delivery. If you need a fast build without skimping on the quality, you’re going to end up paying a lot more for an expedited build.
How Many Pages?
Once again, this comes down to the complexity of the site. If you’re launching a blog, then you can probably learn how to load new pages and content to your WordPress CMS yourself, saving you a bundle in ongoing costs every time you want to publish a post.
However, if you’re building an eCommerce site, you’re going to need several pages, complete with optimized listing and images, and that’s where it starts to get expensive.
If you have 100-products requiring 100-independent pages, you’re going to have 100X the cost of the lifestyle blog that only needs one or two pages at launch.
Integrations
Lead magnets, sales funnels, plugins, and other technologies create the user interface and experience for the site, and this is where you’re going to run into the bulk of your expenditure.
These components are vital for your website, allowing you to build a list and market to your prospects and customers. However, it can cost a pretty penny for a site with all the bells and whistles.
Design
The site design is one of the more affordable aspects of the process. You might be able to get away with a free template, or you might have to fork out for a custom template coded to your needs.
The coding work and additional design features can ramp up the price, so make sure you understand the costs before agreeing to the project.
Ongoing Maintenance and SEO
Building your site is only part of the parcel. After the build, the developer optimizes the site to appeal to the search engines.
You could end up paying around £500 to £2,000 or more for your monthly maintenance costs, depending on the size of the website and the work involved with the project. SEO is critical for the fast indexing and ranking of your site.
Marketing Costs
Fortunately, it’s possible to do a lot of the marketing of your site yourself. However, many startups simply don’t have the time to do it.
As a result, they outsource tasks like link-building and content outreach to marketing agencies. You can expect to pay anywhere from £500 to £2,500 per month for your marketing costs.
How Much Should You Be Paying for Website Development?
When hiring your web developer, it’s hard to ascertain if you’re getting value for money or the form is ripping you off. Here’s a basic price list of what you can expect to pay for development tasks on your website.
- Basic setup: £150 to £200.
- Design and build: £5,000 to £8,000.
- Content: £500 to £1,000.
- CMS training: £500 to £600.
- Website SEO and ongoing maintenance: £500 to £2,000 per month.
The average cost of building a website is £6,750. However, it’s possible to go way over this figure, depending on what you want from the project. It’s a good idea to sit down with the dev team, discuss your budget, and get a package that meets your needs based on the amount you have to spend.
Choose a Professional Web Development Company
If you’re planning on working with a professional company for your website build, make sure you ask them for referrals from past clients. The last thing you want is to hire an agency with a bad reputation.
If you’d like further information on how much a website costs, you can read our blog about that here. If you’d prefer a more specific price point, you can contact us and we’ll happily discuss your next website project!
