An honest answer from a studio that publishes its prices
By Graham Long, GNL Studio · Published 11 August 2026
Ask ten web designers what a website costs and you will get ten hedges. That is partly genuine: the price really does depend on what you need. But it is also because most of the industry prefers not to publish prices. We do publish ours, so this guide can be specific: we will explain what actually drives the cost of a small business website, then show you real numbers using our own published pricing as the worked example.
How many pages, and what kind. A five-page brochure site for a trade business is a different job from a twenty-page site with project galleries and area pages. More pages means more design, more writing and more build time.
Design complexity. A clean, fast site built around your brand costs less than bespoke interactive features, animation and custom graphics. Most small businesses need the former and are quoted for the latter.
Content. If you have good photos and know roughly what you want to say, the job moves quickly. If copy needs writing from scratch and images need sourcing, that is real work and it belongs in the quote, not smuggled in later.
E-commerce. The moment a site takes money, the scope changes: checkout, payment processing, order handling, confirmation emails, and monitoring after launch. That is why online shops are quoted individually rather than bundled into a flat price.
Integrations. Booking systems, payment links, maps, third-party tools: each is usually modest on its own, but they add up and belong in the conversation up front.
Moving from an existing site. If you already rank on Google, a careless rebuild can throw that away. Migration done properly includes redirects, SEO continuity and a switchover with no downtime, which is part of the work.
Being found. A website nobody finds is a brochure in a drawer. Local SEO work, from page structure to area pages to Search Console, is what connects the site to the searches your customers actually make.
What happens after launch. Hosting, security, backups, content changes and ongoing improvements are a running cost wherever you go. The question is whether it is a predictable one.
Complete custom websites at GNL Studio start from £995 + VAT, designed and hand-coded from scratch, with a working demo before anything goes live. Care plans run from £25 a month for hosting, security and support, up to £100 a month where ongoing SEO and content work is included. Online shops and booking systems are quoted individually. There is a 12-month minimum term, after which one month's notice, and your website files are yours to keep whatever you decide. Full details are on the pricing page.
Do-it-yourself builders look inexpensive per month, but you pay in your own evenings, and the result still has to compete with professionally built sites in search results. At the other end, large agencies carry account managers and overheads that a small business is ultimately paying for. The sensible question is not "what is the cheapest website" but "what will actually bring in enough work to pay for itself". A joinery workshop we rebuilt now sits at number 1 locally for its trade searches; that is what the money is for. The write-up is in the Forest Joinery case study.
Whoever you talk to, including us, ask these: Do I own my website files, and can I take them elsewhere? What exactly does the monthly fee cover? Will I see the site before it goes live? What happens to my Google rankings if we rebuild? How fast does the site load on a phone? Clear answers to those five questions tell you more than any price list.
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