"My nephew can build me a website for £200."
We hear some version of this regularly. And genuinely — sometimes it works out fine. A simple five-page brochure site for a local tradie built on a template can do the job.
But often it doesn't. And the businesses that end up back on the market for a proper website a year later are the ones who've learned the hard way that cheap has a cost.
Here's an honest breakdown of what that cost actually looks like.
What You're Actually Paying For
When someone quotes you £500 for a website, that price typically includes:
- A template theme (free or bought for £20–£60)
- An hour or two of customisation — swapping colours, adding your logo, uploading some text
- Basic hosting setup
What it doesn't include:
- Custom design matched to your brand
- Performance optimisation
- Proper on-page SEO
- Mobile testing beyond "it looks okay on my phone"
- Security hardening
- Ongoing support or updates
That's not a website. That's a placeholder with your name on it.
The Hidden Costs
1. Monthly Platform Fees
Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify all charge monthly fees that don't disappear. Wix starts at £13/month. Squarespace at £13/month. Shopify at £25/month. Over three years, you've paid £468–£900 just to keep the lights on — before you've touched hosting or domains.
2. Plugin and Add-On Costs
WordPress is "free" until you need it to actually do things. The plugin ecosystem means that form builders, SEO tools, performance plugins, security scanners, and backup tools often cost £5–£30 each per month. We've seen small WordPress sites with £120/month in plugin subscriptions that the owner had completely lost track of.
3. Developer Fixes
Templates break. WordPress updates break themes. Plugins conflict with each other. When your website goes down on a Bank Holiday because a plugin update clashed with your theme, you're calling a developer at emergency rates. Budget at least £500–£1,000 per year for reactive fixes on a self-managed WordPress site.
4. Lost Business
This is the cost nobody puts in the spreadsheet. A slow, generic, unoptimised website ranks poorly, converts poorly, and drives customers to competitors who have invested in theirs.
If your website generates zero enquiries per month and a properly built one generates five, and your average customer is worth £1,000 — that's £5,000 a month in lost revenue. The upfront cost of a bespoke site looks very different in that context.
Three Years: The Real Numbers
| | Template / WordPress | Bespoke | |---|---|---| | Build cost | £500–£2,000 | £1,500–£5,000 | | Platform fees (3yr) | £468–£1,800 | £0 | | Plugin costs (3yr) | £180–£4,320 | £0 | | Hosting (3yr) | £100–£300 | £150–£360 | | Reactive fixes (3yr) | £500–£3,000 | Minimal | | Total (3yr) | £1,748–£11,420 | £1,650–£5,360 |
The bespoke site isn't just cheaper over time for many businesses — it's faster, unique, and you own it outright.
When Cheap Is Fine
We're not here to tell you every small business needs a £5,000 website. They don't.
A template site is probably fine if:
- You need a simple online presence quickly and temporarily
- You have the technical skills to manage it yourself
- Your business doesn't rely on the website for leads
- You're testing a business idea before committing further
But if your website is your primary lead generation channel, your shop window, or the first thing a potential customer Googles — it's worth investing in something that actually works.
What to Ask Before You Commit
Before signing off on any website build, ask:
- Will you own the code and content, or are you licensing a platform?
- What's the monthly cost once the site is live?
- How will it perform on mobile? Can I see a PageSpeed score?
- What does ongoing support look like?
- Has the developer built for businesses like mine before?
The answers will tell you more than the quote.
We build bespoke, hand-coded websites for local UK businesses that are designed to rank, convert, and last. Talk to us about your project.
