If you have ever asked three people what a website should cost, you probably got three wildly different answers. One person says a few hundred dollars. Another says ten thousand. A third says it is "free" with a monthly subscription. All three can be true, which is exactly why the question is so confusing.
This guide gives you honest ranges, explains what actually moves the price up or down, and shows you how to compare offers on what you will really pay over a few years, not just on day one.
The honest ranges
For a typical local business (a contractor, a salon, a restaurant, a shop), website pricing tends to fall into a few rough tiers:
- Do-it-yourself builders: low or no upfront cost, but a monthly subscription for as long as the site exists, plus your own time to build and maintain it.
- Budget "starter" sites: often a few hundred dollars upfront. These are usually a template with your name swapped in, and many come with a required monthly fee attached.
- Professional small business sites: commonly in the high hundreds to a few thousand dollars. This is where you get a site built around your services, your area and how customers actually contact you.
- Custom builds: a few thousand dollars and up, for things like booking systems, many service-area pages, online ordering or detailed project galleries.
These are broad ranges, not rules. The point is to know which tier you are shopping in so you compare apples to apples.
What actually drives the price
1. Number of pages
A one-page site is cheaper than a five-page site because there is less to plan, write, design and test. Most local service businesses do well with a handful of focused pages: Home, Services, About, Work or Gallery, and Contact.
2. Writing the words
The text on your site is what convinces someone to call. If you write it yourself, the price goes down. If you want help turning "we do roofs" into clear service descriptions, that takes time and is worth paying for.
3. Branding
If you already have a logo and colors, great. If you are just starting out, adding an original logo and basic brand guidance raises the cost, but it also means your truck, cards and website finally match.
4. Features
Click-to-call buttons and a contact form are standard. Online booking, ordering, menus that update often, multiple locations or lots of service-area pages add work.
5. Care and attention
This one is harder to see on a quote. A site that loads fast on a phone, puts your number where thumbs can reach it, has the right page titles for Google and has been checked on real devices before launch takes more effort than a template that "works." That effort is often the difference between a site that gets calls and a site that just exists.
Why a cheap site can cost more
A low upfront price is tempting. Before you sign, ask a few questions:
- Is there a required monthly fee? A small monthly charge does not feel like much, but over three years it can add up to far more than a one-time build.
- Who owns the site? Some offers keep the site on their platform. If you stop paying, the site goes away, and you start over.
- Is it built for your business or just renamed? A generic template with filler text rarely tells a customer why they should call you instead of the next result.
- What happens when you need a change? Find out whether edits are included, billed per change, or only available on a higher plan.
A good habit: add up the upfront price plus every required fee over three years. That number is the real price.
How we price at Southside Sites
We keep it simple and put the prices on our site. Every package is a one-time price:
- Starter, $799: up to 5 pages, mobile-first layout, click-to-call and a contact form, basic on-page SEO, and handoff of your site files.
- Website + Logo, $1,299: everything in Starter plus an original logo and brand guidance, ideal if you are just getting started.
- Custom / Premium, from $1,999: scoped to your business for more pages, galleries, booking links or advanced forms.
You own your website and your domain, 100%. There are no required monthly fees. If you would rather not deal with hosting and small updates, our optional Care Plan covers hosting, security (https), backups and small text and photo updates. The first year is free, then it is $25/month, and you can cancel anytime and take your site with you. Bigger changes or new pages are quoted per job.
We also do not rush. We do high-quality work and check every detail before your site launches, on phones and on desktop.
Questions to ask any web designer
- What is the total I will pay over three years, including any required fees?
- Do I own the site files and the domain?
- Can I move the site to another host if I want to?
- How are changes handled after launch, and what do they cost?
- Will you test the site on phones before it goes live?
Any honest designer should be glad to answer all five. If you want to see the answers for us, they are all on our packages page.