Cost of Web Design in Houston: What to Expect
For those looking for a quick answer: I charge $1,300 for a custom-designed 10 page website, or $500 for a template-based website with 5 pages. To ease the hit to your wallet, I ask for half up front and half upon completion. I’m also usually willing to break it down into 3 payments if you ask nicely.
If that price seems high or low, keep reading for a breakdown of what all goes into a web design quote, and what to look for when you’re getting web design quotes from different firms or freelancers!
Red Flag #1: Is the Web Design Quote too Low?
Like me, you probably wish everything in the world were cheaper. Especially if you’re a small business owner. The costs of doing business seem to go up and up. So if you get a quote for a new website in which the cost seems too good to be true, well, it probably is.
Put simply, you get what you pay for.
A lot of times, web designers in third world countries, or those just embarking on their freelance web designer careers can and will work very cheap. Occasionally, everything proceeds swimmingly, the designer does a great job, and your businesses benefits! In my experience, though, that’s the exception, not the rule. Many times in my career as a web designer, I’ve had clients coming to me to either finish or fix a website that was just, well, shoddily made. Or the web designer just stopped communicating altogether.
The benefits of building a website with an established, experienced web designer or web design agency, honestly, are worth the few hundred extra bucks it’ll cost. If you absolutely can’t afford anything more than five hundred bucks for a business website, I’d recommend creating a Facebook Page for your business first, and waiting an extra month or two to start your project. I offer that service for $250, or you can learn how to do it yourself.
It’s much better to do something right the first time around, then to have to constantly fix it later on.
Red Flag #2: Is the Web Design Quote too High?
Just as often as you might get a “discount” quote from a newbie web designer or a foreign-based freelancer, you’ll probably also get a quote so high you’ll feel like it should have been sent to your massive competitor.
Unless you’re wanting a really, and I mean really advanced website, your project shouldn’t cost more than a couple grand. There are simply too many quality web designers out there who’s work is great, and who’s prices are reasonable. Finding that sweet spot is key.
Summing Things Up
As you’ve probably noticed, the cost of web design is going to vary pretty dramatically based on your needs. I love giving advice and quotes to anybody, whether they’re ready to pull the trigger immediately, or they want to wait a few weeks or months to get financially ready for the investment.
Be sure to keep in mind that different firms and freelancers have different ways of coming up with their quotes. And the most important thing to remember: you get what you pay for, to a point! Going cheap is almost always a bad idea. And paying astronomical prices for a product that is way more advanced than you need probably isn’t the right way to go either.