How much to charge for a website redesign
How much to charge for a website redesign comes down to one question: what is the current site costing this business? Nobody pays for a redesign because they want new colors. They pay because the site looks out of date next to competitors, does not turn visitors into calls, breaks on phones, or is so hard to edit that nobody touches it. Price the build on a share of what fixing that is worth, add lines for content, protecting what already works and integrations, and quote a monthly plan. Do not price it on pages or on hours.
Redesigns are good work to sell with Claude Code, because a fresh, modern design comes together fast once you know what the client wants. That is also why the build is the wrong thing to price. The slow, risky part of a redesign is everything around the design: getting the content out of the old site, making sure old links still land somewhere, keeping the forms and the booking tool working, and not losing the search traffic the client already has. Price only the design and you will do the rest for free.
Refresh, redesign or rebuild: name it before you price it
Clients use "redesign" for three very different jobs, and a quote breaks down fast when you and the client picture different ones. Name it in the first call.
Three jobs clients call a redesign
| Job | What changes | What stays |
|---|---|---|
| Refresh | Look and feel: fonts, colors, spacing, images | Pages, structure, platform and content |
| Redesign | Look plus layout, page structure and much of the copy | Usually the platform and most of the URLs |
| Rebuild | Everything, often including the platform it runs on | Only the brand and whatever content is worth keeping |
A refresh is the smallest job and the easiest to price. A rebuild carries the most risk, because new platform usually means new URLs, new forms and new hosting all at once. When a client asks for a redesign, ask which of these they mean, then write the answer into the proposal.
The CCC Redesign Quote
Five parts of a website redesign quote
| Part | What it prices | Question to ask the client |
|---|---|---|
| Base build | The problem the new site fixes | What should the site do for the business that it does not do today? |
| Pages and content | Page count, new copy, moving old content | Who writes the words, and which old pages are worth keeping? |
| Protect what works | Old URLs, redirects, search traffic, forms | Which pages bring in traffic or leads today? |
| Integrations | Forms, booking, payments, email, CRM, analytics | What does the site send data to, and what does it pull from? |
| Keep plan | Monthly updates, fixes, hosting and small edits | Who will change the site after launch, and how often? |
Base build. Work out what the problem costs. If the site loses leads, how many enquiries is a good month versus a bad one, and what is one customer worth? If staff cannot update it, how much time goes into workarounds, or how often does wrong information stay up? Price the build at a fraction of one year of that value so the client can see it pay for itself.
Pages and content. Count the pages, then ask who writes the words. New copy for every page is a separate job from building the pages, and "we will send the content" is the most common reason redesigns stall. If the client is writing it, put a date on it in the proposal. If you are writing it, price it as its own line.
Protect what works. This is the line clients do not know they are buying. If page addresses change, every old link, bookmark and search result pointing at them breaks unless you redirect it. Price a list of every old URL mapped to its new home, the redirects themselves, checking that forms still deliver, and moving across tracking so the client can still compare before and after.
Integrations. A contact form that emails one person is small. A booking tool, a payment flow, a newsletter signup and a CRM connection are each their own piece of work, and each one is a thing that can silently stop working on launch day. List them and price them one by one.
Ask these before you quote
- Who owns the domain, the hosting and the current site? You need admin access to all three before launch, in the client's name, not yours.
- Which pages matter? Ask for the pages that bring in the most visits and leads. Those get the most care, and their addresses should change only if there is a good reason.
- Who needs to edit the site after launch, and how comfortable are they? A site only you can update is a support ticket waiting to happen.
- How many people sign off on the design? Every extra approver adds rounds. How many revisions to include in an AI project covers how to cap them.
- Is there a hard date, like a launch, a season or an event? A fixed date with no content ready is a risk you should price.
More questions that save a bad quote are in client discovery questions before you quote.
Always quote the Keep plan
A website is never finished. Prices change, staff change, a new service needs a page, a plugin or dependency needs an update, a form stops sending because an email setting changed. If nobody owns that, the shiny new site slowly turns back into the old one the client just paid to replace.
Quote a monthly plan in the original proposal. Say what it covers: updates and security fixes, checking forms and integrations still work, hosting if you manage it, and a set amount of small edits. Say what it does not cover: new pages, new sections and new features, which are quoted separately. How to price a maintenance retainer covers the structure.
How to present the redesign quote
- Lead with the outcome in their words. One line on what the new site does for the business, then the price.
- Itemize it. Base build, pages and content, protect what works, integrations, then the Keep plan. Itemized quotes get trimmed, not rejected.
- Gate payments on proof. A deposit to start, a payment when the client approves the design on the key pages, and the final payment after launch once redirects and forms are checked. How to structure milestone payments for an AI project covers the schedule.
- Write the scope down. Which job it is (refresh, redesign or rebuild), the page list, who writes the content and by when. That list ends the "can you just add" conversation before it starts, and how to handle scope creep covers the rest.
And skip hourly. Claude Code makes the build fast, so hourly pricing turns that speed into a pay cut. I covered why in why I stopped charging hourly for AI builds. If the client also wants a members area, a booking system or a dashboard behind the new site, how much to charge for a booking system and how much to charge for a dashboard cover those lines.
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Frequently asked questions
How much should I charge for a website redesign?
Price it on what the current site is costing the business: lost leads, lost sales and time wasted working around it. Charge a fraction of one year of that value for the build, add lines for content, protecting what already works and integrations, and quote a monthly plan.
Should a website redesign cost less than a new website?
Not always. A redesign has to protect old URLs, search traffic, forms and content that a brand-new site does not have. A light refresh can cost less, but a full redesign or rebuild often carries more risk than starting from nothing.
Should I charge extra for writing the content?
Yes. Writing copy for every page is a separate job from building the pages. If the client writes it, put a delivery date in the proposal. If you write it, price it as its own line.
Should I charge a monthly fee after a website redesign?
Yes. Sites need updates, security fixes and small edits, and forms and integrations break when settings change. A monthly plan covers that work and keeps the new site from drifting back into the old one.
Should I charge hourly for a website redesign?
No. Claude Code makes the build fast, so hourly pricing punishes you for that speed. Price on the value of what the new site fixes, with each part itemized.
Last reviewed by Duncan Rogoff on October 14, 2026
