What Actually Drives the Cost of a Corporate Website

Two quotes for the same job differing by a factor of two is common. The reason usually isn't a difference in skill: the two are pricing different work. One describes an eight-page brochure site; the other describes a corporate site including copywriting and multiple languages.

So before asking for a number, ask what moves the number. The items below explain nearly all of the gap.

There are no figures on this page — because a number given without knowing scope is a number you'll argue about later.

1. How many unique page templates

The real measure isn't page count but how many distinct templates. A forty-page site can run on six templates; a ten-page site might need eight different layouts.

When requesting a proposal, ask "which page types" rather than "how many pages".

2. Who writes the content

If the copy comes from you, the work is design and development. If copy is included, that's a separate item and usually the longest part of the timeline — content approval rounds move slower than design.

There's a middle option: editing your existing copy. Cheaper than writing from scratch, better than leaving it untouched.

3. Where the images come from

Photography, stock licences, illustration and 3D visualisation are separate items. The difference between "images included" and "you will supply the images" is the most commonly hidden line in a quote.

4. How many languages

A second language isn't copying pages: it means a layout built to survive text expansion, a translation workflow, language switching, and reciprocal language tags on the search side. Who supplies the translated copy needs discussing too.

5. How deep the content management goes

"Editable from a panel" is a broad sentence. Text only, images too, or the layout as well? Making every field editable increases both development time and the risk of the design coming apart.

The right answer is usually in the middle: fields that change often are open, fields that carry the layout stay fixed.

6. Are there integrations

Forms, email, CRM, ERP, payments, booking, live chat. Every integration depends on the connection the other side allows, and can't be priced before that's checked.

A party that puts an integration in a quote without verifying it will either ask for more later or narrow the scope.

7. Is there a migration from an existing site

Building a new site and migrating an existing one are not the same job. Migration needs an inventory, a URL map and redirects. That work is invisible but the most expensive thing to skip — years of accumulated search value can disappear overnight.

8. Is the search side in scope

Technical SEO fundamentals (title scheme, canonicals, sitemap, structured data) are included in most serious quotes. Content strategy, keyword work and post-launch content production are a separate service.

A quote that conflates the two is either skipping the first or promising the second without delivering it.

9. Is there an accessibility target

Contrast, keyboard navigation and screen-reader support should be there at a baseline. Documented conformance to a specific standard is separate work with its own testing load.

10. What happens after launch

Delivering and withdrawing versus improving regularly against measurement are two different agreements. The second is a monthly item and should appear separately in the quote.

Maintenance, security updates and hosting belong under this heading too — most quotes never mention them and they surface later.

When comparing proposals

Ask both parties the same ten questions and put the answers side by side. The gap almost always becomes visible there. A party that can list these has thought the work through; one that quotes a single figure will either narrow the scope or ask for more later.

I've written how these items get established at Creative House on the corporate web design page. If you'd like to map your project's scope together, you can book a conversation.