If you've searched "how much does a website cost" recently, you've probably seen numbers ranging from $0 to $50,000. That range isn't wrong — but it's not useful either. This guide breaks down what you actually pay at each tier, what you get, and what makes sense for a local service business.
The four tiers of website pricing
| Option | Cost | Timeline | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace) | $0–$50/mo | Weeks (your time) | Absolute beginners, tiny budgets |
| Freelancer | $500–$3,000 | 2–6 weeks | Simple sites, tight budgets |
| Specialist (like SiteRedesign) | $799–$1,500 | 3–5 days | Local service businesses |
| Traditional agency | $5,000–$20,000 | 6–12 weeks | Enterprise, complex needs |
DIY website builders: $0–$50/month
Platforms like Wix, Squarespace, and GoDaddy Website Builder let you build a site yourself for the cost of a monthly subscription. The catch: your time isn't free. Most small business owners spend 20–40 hours building their first site, then end up with something that looks like a template because it is one.
DIY sites also tend to be slower, harder to rank on Google, and more difficult to update without breaking things. If you're a plumber or HVAC contractor, your time is worth $80–$150/hour — spending 30 hours on a website costs you $2,400–$4,500 in lost billable work.
Freelancers: $500–$3,000
A freelance web designer can build you a decent site, but quality varies enormously. The lower end of the range ($500–$1,000) usually means a basic template with your logo swapped in. The higher end ($2,000–$3,000) gets you something more custom but often takes 4–8 weeks.
The biggest risk with freelancers: they're a single point of failure. If they get sick, take on other work, or disappear, your project stalls. And most freelancers don't specialize in local service business SEO — which is the main reason your site exists.
Website redesign specialists: $799–$1,500
This is the category SiteRedesign sits in. We focus exclusively on local service businesses — plumbers, HVAC contractors, restoration companies, junk removal, and similar trades. Because we do the same type of project repeatedly, we've built systems that let us deliver faster and cheaper than a generalist freelancer or agency.
At $799, you get a complete redesign: new design, mobile optimization, local SEO setup, and launch in 3–5 business days. No monthly fees, no hidden costs. We show you a full preview before you pay anything beyond the initial review.
See what your site could look like. We pull your existing site, redesign it, and send you a live preview — free, no commitment. Most business owners are surprised at the difference.
Get a free preview →Traditional agencies: $5,000–$20,000+
Full-service agencies charge more because they have more overhead: project managers, account executives, sales teams, and office space. You're not paying for a better website — you're paying for more people involved in the process.
For a simple local service business site (5–10 pages), there's no reason to pay agency rates. The result will look similar to what a specialist produces, but take 3x longer and cost 10x more.
What actually determines website cost
Beyond the tier, these factors move the price up or down:
- Number of pages. A 5-page site costs less than a 30-page site. Most local service businesses only need 5–8 pages.
- Custom functionality. E-commerce, booking systems, and membership areas all add cost. A brochure site doesn't need any of this.
- Content creation. If you need copywriting from scratch, that adds $300–$1,000. If you have existing content, less work is needed.
- Ongoing maintenance. Some providers charge monthly retainers ($50–$500/mo) for updates. Others, like us, hand you the site and you own it outright.
- SEO work. A site built with local SEO in mind from the start will cost slightly more but earn it back in search traffic.
Hidden costs to watch for
Some providers quote a low number and add costs later. Common ones:
- Hosting fees — $10–$50/month on top of the build price
- Domain transfer fees — you should own your own domain
- Revision fees — "2 rounds of revisions included, $150 per additional round"
- Content migration fees — moving your existing text and images
- Stock photo licenses — if the designer sources images for you
At SiteRedesign, the price you see is the price you pay. We use your existing content and source free stock photos from Unsplash and Pexels where needed. No monthly fees — we build it, deploy it, and you own it.
What's the right budget for a local service business?
If you're a plumber, HVAC contractor, junk removal company, or similar trade business in the US, the right range is $799–$1,500. That gets you a professional, mobile-ready, SEO-optimized site that will rank better than your current one within 60–90 days of launch.
Anything below $500 is usually a DIY template that won't outrank competitors. Anything above $3,000 for a simple service site is agency overhead you don't need.