The redesign quote depends entirely on which of three very different jobs you actually need. Most quotes are confusing because nobody says out loud which job they priced. Here are the three, with numbers.
Option 1: Refresh ($800 to $2,500)
Your site structure and content are fine. It just looks 2019. New colors, new typography, updated photos, tidied layout, same pages and URLs.
Best when: your business is the same, your offers are the same, and your only problem is that the site looks dated next to competitors.
Timeline: about 1 to 2 weeks.
Option 2: Rebuild ($3,000 to $10,000)
New design, restructured pages, rewritten content, new functionality (booking, payments, better forms). The sitemap can change. This is a new website that happens to replace an old one.
Best when: your business changed (new services, new market), your site cannot do what customers now expect, or conversion is bad despite traffic.
Timeline: 3 to 6 weeks.
Option 3: Relocate (+$500 to $2,000 on top of either)
Moving platforms: WordPress to a modern static site, Wix to something you own, an old custom CMS to anything else. Migration is its own work: content export, URL redirects, SEO carry-over, testing.
Best when: the current platform is the actual problem (slow, locked in, expensive to change).
What drives the price up or down
Down:
- You have decent content and photos already
- You can write your new page text (even rough drafts)
- Your sitemap stays mostly the same
- Someone in your business can make decisions quickly
Up:
- Professional copywriting ($500 to $2,000)
- New photography ($500 to $2,000)
- E-commerce or booking functionality (+$1,500 to $4,000)
- Many stakeholders with different opinions (the invisible cost: weeks of delay)
The hidden costs nobody quotes
SEO migration. If your site ranks on Google today, the redesign must preserve that. Redirects, metadata, sitemap updates. Usually a few hundred dollars if planned. If forgotten, it costs you your rankings, which cost you far more to win in the first place.
Content deathmarch. The #1 redesign killer. Design finishes, then the site waits 3 months for someone to write the pages. Decide who writes content before you sign anything.
The rebuild of the rebuild. Redesigning into a locked-in platform you do not own means paying this again in 4 years. Ask what you own when it is done.
The 60-second self-diagnosis
Answer these four questions honestly:
- Does my site clearly say what I do, for whom, in 5 seconds? If yes, structure is fine.
- Do customers contact me through the site? If yes, conversion is fine.
- Would I show this site to my best customer with pride? If no, design is the problem.
- Can my site do the one thing customers keep asking for? If no, functionality is the problem.
Your answers point at your option: design problem, take a refresh. Structure or functionality problem, rebuild. Platform problem, relocate. Paying for all three when you need one is the most common overspend I see.
One warning about "free redesign" offers
Some hosting companies and marketers offer free redesigns because they lock you into years of expensive hosting. The math works for them, not you. Total cost of ownership over 3 years is the number to compare, not the upfront fee.
If you tell me what your site does now and what is bugging you about it, I will tell you which of the three options you actually need and what it would cost. Sometimes the answer is "do nothing," and I will say that too.