Quotes for a redesign routinely differ by a factor of ten and the reason is almost never that one supplier is greedy. Four unlike projects share the phrase: putting a new skin on the same site, rebuilding it on the same platform, moving it to a different platform, and rewriting the content while doing any of those. Each has a different cost, a different risk and a different reason to do it, and a quote is meaningless until you have said which one you want.
The four projects, and what each actually costs you
A reskin changes the appearance and leaves the structure, which is cheap and fixes appearance problems only. A rebuild replaces the templates and the code on the same platform and can fix speed and structure. A replatform moves everything, which is the largest risk because every address can change. A content rewrite is the most labour and usually the part that changes results. Most briefs describe one and budget for another.
Content is the line item that gets cut and should not be
It is the most expensive part because it needs somebody who understands the business, and it is the part that determines whether the new site performs better than the old one. Projects that save money by moving the existing text across get a better-looking version of the same results. If the budget will not stretch to both, a smaller design change with rewritten content beats the reverse almost every time.
Redirects are where redesigns lose their traffic
Every address that changes needs a permanent redirect to the page that replaces it, mapped individually and checked after launch. This is unglamorous, it is usually the cheapest line in the quote, and skipping it is the single most common way a redesign is followed by a traffic collapse that takes months to recover. Ask to see the mapping before launch and insist it is somebody's named responsibility.
Ask what the redesign is meant to change
The reason usually given is that the site looks dated. That is a real problem and it is rarely the expensive one. If enquiries are low, the cause may be the traffic, the offer, or the follow-up, none of which a redesign touches. Establishing what is actually wrong before committing the budget is the difference between a project that pays and a more attractive version of the same disappointment.
Budget for what happens after launch
A redesign is a beginning: the first month after launch produces broken links, missing redirects, forms that fail on one browser and pages nobody proofread. Retaining a share of the budget for that period, and agreeing who does the fixing, is what separates projects that settle down in weeks from ones that limp for a year. Suppliers who treat launch as the end of the engagement are pricing a different thing from what you need.
Questions people ask about website redesign cost
Why do redesign quotes vary so much?
Because four unlike projects share the name, and because content is priced very differently by different suppliers. Specify which project you want and whether new content is included, and the range narrows sharply.
Will a redesign improve our rankings?
Not by itself, and a careless one will damage them by breaking addresses. A redesign that fixes speed and structure and includes rewritten content can help considerably; a reskin with the old text usually changes nothing.
What is the most important technical step?
Mapping every old address to its replacement with a permanent redirect, and checking it after launch. It is cheap, it is boring, and skipping it is how redesigns lose their traffic.
Should we redesign or fix what we have?
Establish what is actually failing first. If the site is slow, unmaintainable or unusable on a phone, rebuild. If enquiries are low but the site works, the problem is more often the traffic, the offer or the follow-up.