Written for the person about to spend the money. Market rates rather than our rates, the questions worth asking a supplier, and the cases where the honest answer is that you should buy something off the shelf instead.
Four cost bands, six things that genuinely move the figure, and an honest account of when off-the-shelf software is the better answer. With UK day rates and the running costs that follow launch.
Five-year figures land closer together than anyone expects, which is why the spreadsheet is the wrong place to make this decision. The arithmetic, the signals that point each way, and the middle path most people miss.
Four build bands, the maintenance bill that decides whether an app is affordable at all, and an honest look at when a web app or a progressive web app is the better product.
Two bands, three line items that surprise every founder, and a clear account of what belongs in a first release. A properly scoped MVP will feel too small — that feeling is the point.
Template sites, freelancers, agencies and full custom builds sit at very different points on the same scale. Here is the band for each, the seven factors that move the figure, and the running costs most quotes leave out.
Published local price bands for brochure sites, business websites and e-commerce, why the West Midlands sits below London, and the two questions worth asking a local agency that you would not ask a national one.
Four monthly tiers from basic updates to business-critical support, the five things any honest plan includes, and the four signs a care plan is mostly hosting with a monitoring script attached.
Five monthly budget bands, what each one can genuinely cover, why £150 a month cannot work arithmetically, and how long a retainer takes to pay for itself.
Eight out of ten business websites are better served by a properly built WordPress theme than by a framework rebuild. The comparison table, the two criticisms that are really criticisms of bad builds, and the cases where custom genuinely wins.
One codebase or two is the whole question, and for most business apps the answer is one. The comparison, the cases where native genuinely earns its second invoice, and the third option that gets recommended far less often than it deserves.
The platform decision is more about your team than your technology. Where the fees stop being trivial, why custom commerce is rarely the right answer, and what to ask before you commit.
We are an agency, and we still recommend a freelancer in several situations. UK market day rates for all three routes, the hidden costs of hiring, and the six questions worth asking whichever you choose.
The channel you start with depends on three things nobody writes down: your timeline, your margins, and whether your customers search at all. Plus the mistake that wastes more budget than choosing wrongly ever does.
Tell us what you're building, improving or transforming. We'll propose a plan, timeline and a realistic cost estimate.
