Where the Time Goes on a Website Design Project

Most people picture a website quote as one block of work. It is five, and they are not equal. Design takes the largest share of the hours on our standard builds, development follows, and the remaining 30% goes into the work around them.

Applied to our package prices, the split shows what each part of the work costs:

Why Design Is the Biggest Part of Website Design Cost

Design is 40% of the hours because it decides how the website works for the visitor, not only how it looks. It covers the layout of every page, the path a visitor takes from landing to enquiry, how each section stacks on a phone, and the editing of every image so it fits the page.

This is also where template and custom websites part ways. A template starts with a finished layout and adapts it. A custom design starts from a blank page. The design share is where that difference in price comes from, and our guide to what affects website prices compares the two approaches.

What the Development Share Pays For

Development, 30% of the hours, turns the approved design into a working website. On our builds that means a WordPress website with an easy-to-use content management system, contact forms, WhatsApp chat, Google Maps, and the Google Business Profile, Analytics and Search Console connections.

Functionality lives here. A booking calendar, an online checkout or a quote request system all add development time, which is why two websites with the same page count can end up at different prices.

On custom builds the split shifts. Booking systems, portals and integrations need far more development time, while the design share shrinks because much of the work sits behind the pages rather than on them. That is why custom builds are scoped per project rather than priced from a package.

Content Handling: The 15% You Control

Every project starts with a content request folder listing the text, images and brand files we need. Content handling, 15% of the hours, covers placing that material, formatting it and fitting it to the design.

This is the share a client influences most. Content that arrives complete, final and organised page by page moves quickly. Content that arrives in pieces, or keeps changing, stretches this stage and delays everything after it. Late content is the most common cause of project delays we see.

If you don’t have the words ready, copywriting is priced separately at R990 per 1,500 words.

Revisions: Two Rounds, Planned In

Revisions take 10% of the hours. Every package includes two rounds of changes to the prototype, usually completed within 2 to 7 working days.

The way to get the most from them is to send one consolidated list per round, from one decision-maker. Scattered feedback from several people tends to contradict itself and eats into the rounds. Changes outside the original brief, such as a new page or new functionality, are quoted separately.

Project Management and Our Build Process

Project management is the smallest share, 5%, because a fixed process does most of the organising. Every standard build follows the same five steps:

• Quote acceptance and a 50% deposit.
• Content request folder sent to the client.
• Website prototype, 7 to 35 working days depending on the package.
• Two rounds of revisions, 2 to 7 working days.
• Final payment and launch.

How to Lower Your Website Design Cost

The split shows where a client can save and where they can’t. Design and development are the work you are paying for, and cutting them cuts quality. The savings sit in the other 30%.

• Supply final, complete content before the project starts to keep the content stage short.
• Send revisions as one list per round from one person, so two rounds are enough.
• Decide on functionality before the quote, so development is priced once and correctly.