This is a question I get a lot, usually in the prospecting of new clients but sometimes even with current clients who have a new project to tackle. The answer is hard to capture as most work in designing web sites is an hourly value, even if there is a total project bid or number of pages designed. It is the easiest way to price out web sites: the estimated time involved applied to an hourly fee. Some people price it out as an average amount of hours per day to adjust the delivery date. There are plenty of approaches that work, but generally there is an hourly cost involved somewhere.

My approach is dynamic for my work load. I first take my average hourly cost, which is $30 per hour, and evaluate the work to be done in terms of effort. Sometimes I discount my hourly fee because, up front, there is low effort involved. Then I consider the time involved and set a tentative deadline. That affects effort, such as projects that need to be delivered within 24 hours. I do set an average number of hours per day, anywhere from four to eight. I then prioritize based on my current workload with other projects. Is this a project that needs my immediate attention or do I have a pressing deadline that cannot be missed? Priority will affect the effort involved, and therefore the cost drivers for the other factors.

Basically, the effort involved is the biggest driver of cost. Here’s a quantitative equation to explain:

Cost = (Fee * Effort) * (Timeline * Effort) + Priority

(* is multiplication)

Taking that all into consideration, let’s attack the question based on a consensus of other sources. Doing a Google search for “average cost web design” came up with some good examples.

720MEDIA posted in 2008 an average cost of a small web site at between $500 and $1500, which accounted for a 3 to 10 page web site with simple SEO setup; a 10-25 page site, which is typical for mid-sized businesses, is $1500 to $2500. A July 2009 article on EzineArticles.com, written by Lawrence C. Scott, an independent designer, set a typical e-commerce web site at around $4000 (which is a “web firm price”; I don’t agree with his average of $750 for a freelancer, which drastically undervalues the effectiveness of freelance designers). The Small Business Support Network writes that a starting cost of a small business web site would be between $750 and $1000 on average, with annual costs at $250 for maintenance design. A 2001 discussion on Sitepoint is a good contrast, discussing good small business starter sites being anywhere from $200 to a few thousand. Further contrast is an example of a site designed on NetObjects Fusion a couple years back posted on Yahoo! Answers, which puts that site’s cost at $6200, something I would assume to be an e-commerce custom build or other database-driven solution.

By far, the best ballpark estimator I’ve seen is on DesignQuote.net.

So what does this say? Seems there is a blur of cost estimates all over the place. This means our discussion about effort, time and priority are closer to the truth than we thought. The consensus averages basic, static sites at about $1000 to $2000, considering it would be coded by hand (not using open source software, specifically). You can find it lower or higher, depending on how fast you want it, how much time the designer has to do it and the effort for that designer to do it. Perhaps you find a great designer who can throw out a basic web site in a day with minimal effort; he 0r she may charge considerably less than the average. Same for a student who is trying to build a portfolio and is willing to work on the cheap. In comparison, a startup firm who is focused on revenue and may still see basic web sites as considerable effort in their schedule could be closer or higher than the average.

You get what you pay for. That’s the bottom line. This is not Wal-Mart, with web sites on store shelves like toasters. They have that, though: it’s called “website-in-a-box”, those software packages that cost an average of $69.99 that claim to allow you to create a professional web site in minutes with little effort. Those sites are very limited, very generic and, in both visitor and designer opinions, low-grade edging on unprofessional. You won’t make money with that kind of site now. Consumers are getting smarter, and more hungry for companies bent on capturing their attention.

Later, we will discuss how open source software, the biggest trend in the last decade, is improving cost going forward.

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