Website design / A practical guide
What does a business website cost in the Netherlands?
A useful quote starts with what the website needs to do. Here is how to compare the work behind the price.
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Start by comparing the same work.
A website price depends on the work included. A single page built around supplied text and imagery is a different project from a site that needs positioning, new content, several page types, and an integration with another system. A headline price alone does not tell you which of those you are buying.
Before asking for a quote, write down the job of the website, who it needs to reach, the pages you expect, and the action a visitor should take. Include what you already have: copy, photography, brand assets, and a site you might want to keep parts of. This gives a designer something concrete to estimate.
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Five things that shape the quote.
First, direction: does the offer already make sense, or do positioning and page structure need work? Second, content: who is writing, gathering, and approving the words and images? Third, page types: a case study, service page, and booking flow have different design requirements.
Fourth, functionality: payments, booking systems, accounts, search, or unusual integrations can change the build considerably. Fifth, handover: whether you want to edit content yourself influences the technology and training the project needs. Make those choices visible in the proposal.
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Separate the build from ongoing costs.
Ask which costs are one-off and which recur. A domain, hosting, a content management system, external services, and support may have separate arrangements. Establish who owns each account and what happens if you stop working together.
For a redesign, include the transition: preserving useful URLs, moving approved content, keeping analytics connected, and checking the contact route. Those tasks are easy to miss when two quotes appear to describe the same number of pages.
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Ask questions that make a proposal easier to judge.
Which pages and page types are included? Who supplies the first draft of the copy? What feedback rounds are included? How are changes to scope handled? What will I be able to update myself? Who looks after the site after handover?
At Paper Plane, I start with a conversation about the problem, then put the agreed scope and cost into a proposal. You do not need a finished brief. Your current website, an outline of what is getting in the way, and any timing constraints are a useful place to start.