The answer of course is “it depends,” but what exactly does it depend on?
Custom WordPress websites built from scratch—meaning not a modification of an existing theme—vary wildly in price. A young junior developer may be willing to build one for a couple thousand dollars while an established agency may charge $150k+. Of course, as experienced senior designers and developers, we charge more than junior developers, but as independent contractors, we charge substantially less than large agencies. Here’s a breakdown of how we price website projects.
Our team works in three phases: Discovery, Design, and Development. In the first phase, we examine your specific needs and create discovery documentation outlining the user experience. Second, we design the user interface and mockup the page layouts necessary to build out the site, focusing on just the unique pages and functionality that define the theme. We don’t mock up every page, but we will mock up the key templates that are used by every page. Finally, we implement the design as a custom WordPress theme, focusing on speed, scalability, security, and backend management.
The exact cost depends upon three primary factors:
- The number of unique page layouts that need to be built
- The design complexity, especially when it comes to adapting the site design for tablet and mobile
- The custom functionality required to implement the design
Every project has different requirements, so we don’t provide exact pricing until we know what those requirements are, but here are some sample price ranges:
Minimum Project
- 4 – 6 unique pages
- Minimal complexity & functionality
- $8,000 – $15,000
Small Project
- 6 – 10 unique pages
- Some complexity & functionality
- $12,000 – $20,000
Average Project
- 8 – 12 unique pages
- Moderate complexity & functionality
- $18,000 – $28,000
Large Project
- 10 – 16 unique pages
- Significant complexity & functionality
- $25,000 – $35,000
Maximum Project
- 15 – 30 unique pages
- Extensive complexity & functionality
- $30,000 – $50,000
The biggest variable in any given range is the required custom functionality. Typically, we avoid off-the-shelf WordPress plugins, choosing instead to custom build features directly into the theme itself to ensure the site is fast, secure, and easy to use. The more custom functionality required, the greater our level of effort.
If you’ve outgrown your off-the-shelf WordPress theme, or can’t find one that meets your exact needs and would prefer a custom, from-scratch WordPress website designed and developed by experienced independent contractors to meet your specific business needs, contact us today.
tl;dr — The cost of a website depends on the level of effort required to create it. In general terms, custom WordPress websites like we create can range from $0 to $150k+, but most of our sites are $12,000 – $35,000.
