There Are Two Types of Clients
One walks into the chef’s kitchen with a ready-made recipe and says:
– Here you go, I’ve brought the ingredients — all fresh, portions worked out by a dietician, even the basil is from my garden.
The chef nods, peels, chops, mixes, serves. The client’s happy, the dish is ready, the bill is fair.
The second client comes with a different approach:
– Hello, I’d like something delicious. I don’t know what exactly, but it should match my style. And I’d like it by tomorrow. Oh, and my budget is kebab-level.
Except… they didn’t bring any ingredients, any recipe, or even mention whether they like rice.
And here’s the thing — I’m that chef. Only instead of pots, I have a text editor, fonts, colours, layouts — and in this kitchen, I cook up websites.
And I can often whip something up even without a full fridge. But the less I get — the more I have to create from scratch. And that’s no longer just cooking. That’s a full-on creative process, which costs time, energy — and yes, you guessed it — more money.
Designing a Brand Isn’t Just Assembling a Website
You see, there’s a difference between someone handing me a logo, colour palette, and fonts and saying:
– Please make a decent layout out of this.
and someone else saying:
– We don’t have anything, but make it look nice, modern, and make sure people like it.
That’s like assembling a car from ready-made parts…
or building it from scratch, without a blueprint, without components, and with questions like:
- Will the seats be comfortable?
- Will the colour match my office?
- Can you add a “Buy Now” button that lights up and shines?
That’s when I sit down, look at the project and know one thing:
This is no longer “just putting a site together.” This is brand design.
And that’s a whole different ballgame — and a completely different price tag.
How Much Does a Website Cost When the Client Brings Everything – and When They Bring Nothing?
Sometimes when I hear the question:
– Why does it cost so much if it’s just a website?
I feel like replying with another question:
– Why does sushi cost more than a hot dog?
Because what for one person is “just a website”, for another is their entire company’s face.
No Branding Means No Foundation
When a client has no branding, it’s not just that there’s no leading colour. There’s no font, no guidelines, no communication style either.
And then… guess who has to figure all of that out?
Exactly. The same person who was supposed to “just build the site.”
It’s like going to a car body shop and asking:
– Can you build me a car?
– Sure, do you have the parts?
– No, but I kind of like the colour red.
– And the engine?
– Something quiet, but accelerates like a Tesla.
So, out of courtesy, we sit down, sketch things out, suggest solutions. We pick colours that suit the brand’s character, fonts that don’t look like they came straight out of Word 2003, layouts that make sense. Only then do we start to “build.”
But that’s no longer just assembling. That’s full-on design.
And if someone wants it to look professional, well — sorry — that’s not a “website price” anymore. That’s the price for thinking, for the idea, for experience.
A Real-Life Example (and a Wall Colour)
The client says:
– I really love this website, the colours are perfect. I’m planning to repaint my office — could you tell me exactly which shades these are?
And at that moment I know one thing:
Yes, we’ve created branding.
The client just doesn’t know yet that this is something people usually pay for separately.
So How Much Does a Good Website Cost?
Before anyone clutches their head or starts calculating in gold, platinum or two sacks of onions — publication date: April 2025.
Scenario 1 – The Client Comes Prepared
- Logo – ready.
- Colours – defined.
- Fonts – selected.
- Texts – written.
- Photos – consistent.
- Structure – planned.
My job? Assemble it all, add polish, ensure consistency.
Price: from £2,000 to £4,000 – depending on refinement and extra features.
Scenario 2 – The Client Has an Idea and a JPG
- Logo? “We’ve got something in JPG.”
- Colours? “Something blue-ish, but not too cold.”
- Fonts? “There are some cool ones in Canva.”
- Texts? “We wrote a bit, but maybe you could tidy it up?”
- Photos? “Phone pics for now, but we’re planning a shoot.”
- Structure? “Not sure how many pages — could you suggest something?”
At this point, I’m not just cooking. I’m designing the kitchen, writing the recipe, doing the shopping, and guessing what the household might enjoy.
Price: from £6,000 to £9,000 – sometimes more. And that still doesn’t include full branding services.
Scenario 3 – Everything From Scratch
If we’re talking about a full package:
- branding,
- strategy,
- visual identity,
- website design,
- copywriting,
- photo session,
- target audience analysis,
- conversion-optimised structure
then welcome to the world of marketing agencies.
Prices? From £15,000 upwards.
And they can go… well, as far as your budget does.
A Website ≠ a Brand
A website isn’t the same as building a brand from scratch.
It’s like walking into a bakery and ordering a wedding.
You can — but you’ll also need to hire a few chefs and a DJ.
One Last Thing – Transparency
Before anyone grabs a calculator or rings their accountant — the prices I listed above are not my rates.
These are industry ranges, based on a review of competitor offers from different areas of the market — not necessarily in London, not necessarily freelancers, often teams or agencies.
It’s just an attempt to show the scale. And the difference.
Because between “I’ve got everything, let’s build a site” and “I have nothing, please build my online presence and identity” — there’s a gap. And that gap has a cost.
And One More Thing…
Every time someone came to me — with a logo, without a logo, with a vision, or completely lost — we sat down together, mapped out the situation, figured out what was there and what was missing, and looked for a solution.
I didn’t send anyone away to an agency charging £15k.
I never said, “Come back when you’ve got a full brand book.”
We just looked for a sensible way to build an honest website for an honest price.
Because any site can be built — you just need to know what it’s made of.
And if something’s missing, it can be named, added, completed.
You just need to know what’s an ingredient and what’s a topping.
And that’s exactly why this article was written.
Not to discourage anyone.
But so that a client who comes in with three photos and an idea in their head —
knows what else might be worth sorting out before we jump into this creative ride together.