Ask three web companies what a website costs and you may get three very different numbers. That is not always because someone is overcharging. “A website” can mean a five-page brochure built from a template, or a fully custom site with booking, integrations and hundreds of pages. This guide explains what drives the price so you can compare quotes fairly.
1. The number of unique page types
Cost is driven less by the total number of pages than by the number of different page layouts. A homepage, a service page template, an about page and a contact page are four designs. Once the service template exists, adding the tenth service page is mostly content work. When you request quotes, list the page types you need, not just a page count.
2. Custom design vs. an adapted layout
A custom design starts from your brand and your customers, and is designed page by page. Adapting a proven layout or theme is faster and cheaper, and for many small businesses it is perfectly good. Ask each company which approach they are quoting, because the difference in effort is large.
3. Features and integrations
Each of these adds real work, and should be listed separately in a quote:
- Online booking or scheduling integrations
- E-commerce (products, payments, taxes, shipping)
- Member areas, logins or client portals
- Connections to CRMs, email marketing or accounting tools
- Multilingual content
- Custom calculators, directories or search
4. Content: who writes it?
Many quotes assume you will supply finished text and photos. If you need help writing copy, structuring pages for SEO, or sourcing images, that is additional work. It is often worth it: clear, specific content does more for enquiries than any design flourish.
5. Accessibility, SEO and speed
A professional build should include accessibility testing, on-page SEO setup and speed optimization as standard. Some cheap quotes leave these out entirely, which means paying later to fix them. If you operate in Ontario or serve US customers, accessibility is not optional. See our guide to AODA website compliance.
6. What happens after launch
WordPress, themes and plugins need updates. Backups need testing. Someone needs to answer when the site goes down. Ask every company what happens on day 31, and what it costs. A cheaper build with no care plan can cost more over three years than a properly maintained one.
How to compare quotes fairly
- Send every company the same brief: page types, features, content needs and deadline.
- Ask for a fixed price with a written scope, not an hourly estimate.
- Check what is included: accessibility testing, SEO setup, training, post-launch support.
- Ask who owns the site, domain and content when the project ends. The answer should be “you”.
- Ask to see sites they have built, and whether they still look after them.
The bottom line
The right price is the one that buys a site that brings in business and stays healthy for years. Learn how we approach WordPress website development, or read how a WordPress project works step by step.
Need a hand?
TheWebsiteMakers.ca is a Toronto-based team with 19+ years of experience building websites for businesses across Canada and the US. We design accessible websites, host them on servers we manage ourselves, and look after them every month. Get a free, no-obligation quote.