What goes into the cost of a business website?

Start with one customer action.

A contractor may need visitors to understand a service and request an estimate. A barber may need them to choose a service and book an appointment. Those are different projects, even if both sites have five pages. The work depends on the journey, the content and the systems behind it.

Write down the action that matters most, who takes it and what they need to know first. This makes it easier to separate the essentials for launch from ideas that can wait. A page count alone leaves too much room for two estimates to cover different things.

Compare the work behind the pages.

Design and development are only part of the scope. A business starting from scratch may also need an identity, service descriptions, photography or help organizing its offer. A business with approved copy and useful assets can start from a different point.

For Changement de Thermos, we helped shape the business name and created the logo, visual design and website. That is a broader brief than refreshing an existing site with an established brand. The right comparison is the agreed work, rather than the number of screens in the final design.

• Identity: reuse the current brand or develop a new one?
• Content: who writes, edits and approves each page?
• Images: which real project photos and brand assets are ready?
• Functionality: enquiries, appointments or a client portal?
• Review: what is included in feedback rounds and launch support?

Plan English and French together.

For a Montreal business serving customers in both languages, treat English and French as part of the initial plan. Each version needs readable copy, meaningful page titles and a working path to the same service or booking action.

Confirm whether translation and review are included, who approves the terminology and what happens when a service changes. A language switch should take visitors to the equivalent page. Designing this early avoids treating the second language as a last-minute extra.

Check the tools you already use.

Before building a new booking system or business tool, review the one already doing the job. A clear link from the website may be enough. An embedded experience is another option if the provider supports it and it works well on a phone.

Custom functionality adds design, development and ongoing responsibility. It makes sense when an important workflow cannot be handled by the existing tools. Include the actual limitation in the brief so the estimate addresses a business need.

Include ownership and ongoing costs.

Ask who owns the domain, content, source files and service accounts, and what you receive at handover. Keep an inventory of any hosting, domain, booking or other subscription costs. Distinguish those recurring charges from the initial project estimate.

Also agree how updates will work. A site whose services rarely change has different editing needs from one with frequent promotions or new locations. A managed platform can be a practical option when its built-in features fit; a custom site gives more room to shape the experience, with a different maintenance arrangement.

• Initial project scope and exclusions
• Third-party fees and who pays them
• Business ownership of accounts and assets
• Editing, maintenance and support responsibilities
• Launch checks and the handover process

Bring a short brief to the first conversation.

Share your current website, the customer action you want to improve, the services to explain, the languages needed and the tools already in use. Add your available content, any important deadline and a budget range you are comfortable discussing.

We use that conversation to define the scope and prepare an estimate before development begins. The goal is a launch that answers the customer’s questions and gives the business a clear next step, with the responsibilities understood from the start.