Web Design Costs: Considerations to Make When Choosing a Design Firm

Contemplating a new website design? Perhaps you’re going through a rebrand and need to redesign your website. Whatever the case, web design cost is something you will need to consider. How much should you pay a designer or design firm? What is a fair rate and at one point do fees become exorbitant? Actually, there is no simple answer here, as many variables will affect the price you pay in the end. It’s better to understand a few key factors first.

Know Your Project

Before you start thinking about mood boards or anything else, you need to make sure that you know your project. Information gathering is the first stage in any project, and web design is no different. What sorts of information do you need to gather? Here are a few examples:

• Who are the stakeholders involved with the web design project?
• What is the overall budget for the project?
• What is the goal of the project?
• Is your web design project focused on user experience improvements, or are you starting from scratch?
• Do you need a web design firm to handle ongoing maintenance, or will this be a one-project deal?
• Do you require custom functionality to be used in house within your company?
• Do you require functionality crucial to delivering the right user experience?
• Is DIY Worth Considering?

Most business owners find themselves forced to wear many hats. One that you might be contemplating putting on is that of a web designer. There are plenty of DIY web design tools on the market that promise the ability to quickly and easily design a professional-looking website, but is this the right choice for you?

Before anything else, you’ll first need to consider whether or not you have the resources to invest. Building a website is not something you can do for an hour here and an hour there. It requires a significant investment of time and effort. Would that time be better spent doing something else, such as serving your customers?

For most business owners, the answer is going to be that your time is best spent doing what only you can do – building a successful company, serving your customers, developing products or services, and the like.

You also need to ask yourself whether you really have the skills necessary to design a site that complies with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, that offers the best user experience possible, and that supports your branding efforts. Again, while you might be very good at what you do, chances are excellent that web design is not among your professional skills. Going with an experienced design firm is usually a better idea.

Understanding Web Design Cost Components

As mentioned previously, there are many variables that go into the cost that you’ll pay for web design. These can include a setup fee, the cost for design, development design, maintenance costs, and the cost of any changes needed to the website down the road.

You’ll also find that the hourly rate charged by web design firms can vary drastically depending on the size of the company, the experience offered by the designer or design team, and other factors. For instance, a freelance web designer might charge somewhere around €75 per hour, while an experienced firm with a large team might charge €250 per hour. Some designers might charge significantly more than this. This gives you a wide range of potential total costs. Suppose that the average web design project requires roughly 700 hours of labour. You could be charged hundreds of thousands of euros depending on your decisions and the web design partner that you choose.

Finding the Right Web Design Provider

When it comes to choosing the right provider, you need to base your decision on many factors, including:

• Cost/Rate – What is the designer’s hourly rate or predicted cost of the design project?
• Communication – How frequently do they prefer to communicate and by what means?
• Scope – Do you know the full scope of the project and has that been communicated to the designer?
• Goals – Do you know your goals with your website build or redesign? Have you communicated those to the designer/team?
• User Experience – Is the designer/team capable of creating the ideal user experience for your website visitors?

Additional Factors That Affect Your Budget

Web design will certainly be the largest single charge you pay, but there will be additional issues that need to be accounted for here. With any website, you will need a content management system or CMS. These run the gamut from free, such as WordPress, to expensive proprietary options. You’ll also need to consider hosting.

In the end, web design costs vary significantly, and they largely hinge on your needs, requirements, and goals.