The honest answer is a range, and the range is wide because "a website" covers a five-page brochure and a store with 3,000 products. What follows is the Canberra market as it stands in October 2026, from figures the studios themselves publish, then how we work out a quote.
Of the Canberra web design studios on the first page of Google, two publish prices. One says websites start from $5,000 including GST and that most small business sites from a design studio land between $5,000 and $15,000. The other lists packages from $5,500 for a five to seven page site, from $8,800 for ten to fifteen pages, and from $12,000 for twenty pages or more, all including GST and a year of hosting. Those are their figures, read from their sites on 30 October 2026, and they are a fair picture of studio pricing here.
Below the studios sit freelancers and small shops. A template-based site from a freelancer is commonly quoted between $2,000 and $8,000. Below that again are DIY builders at a few hundred dollars a year plus your own time, and the $1,500 quote that leaves out the content, the photos and the search setup.
We sit in a different place to all of those, because we do not sell packages. Work is charged from $120 per hour. After a free discovery call we estimate the hours, give you a fixed quote in writing, and that is the number you pay. A small job is a small bill, and a large job is itemised so you can see where the hours go.
What is included
Page count and copy
The biggest driver. Each page needs a structure, copy and images. Writing the copy for you adds hours; supplying it ready adds none.
Design from scratch or a tidy-up
A full custom design costs more than restructuring and restyling a site whose content already works. We will tell you which one you actually need.
Features
Booking, quoting with photo upload, customer logins, a product configurator or an online store each add defined blocks of hours, quoted as their own lines.
Migration and redirects
Moving off WordPress, Wix or Webflow means exporting content and mapping every old URL. Skipping it is how rebuilds lose their rankings.
Photos
The most common reason a build stalls. If real photos do not exist we say so early and quote a shoot as its own line.
Search setup
Titles, descriptions, structured data, sitemap, Search Console, analytics and conversion events. Included in every build we do; check whether it is included in any quote you compare.
How we work
- 01
Free discovery call
What the site has to do, what exists now, and what you can supply. Half an hour, no cost.
- 02
Hours estimate
We break the job into lines, estimate the hours for each at $120, and send the total as a fixed quote.
- 03
Fixed price in writing
You pay the quoted figure. If the scope changes you get a new line, agreed before the work, never a surprise on the invoice.
- 04
Handover with no retainer
Login, walkthrough and documentation. Nothing monthly unless you choose to keep us on call for changes.
Worked examples at our rate
These are guides, not quotes. Your job will be estimated line by line, but they show the scale.
- Mobile-first tidy-up of an existing eight-page trade site, tap-to-call on every page, wording tightened: a recent job was $1,200 fixed.
- Five to seven page brochure site for a local service business, your copy and photos supplied, search setup and analytics included: roughly 30 to 50 hours, so about $3,600 to $6,000 (estimate).
- The same site with a self-managed editor for prices, photos and pages, like the air-conditioning site in our case studies: add roughly 15 to 25 hours (estimate).
- A rebuild off a subscription platform with every URL redirected, plus a 3D product configurator, like the Queanbeyan trailer site: quoted per project after the discovery call.
What it costs to run afterwards
This is where the real difference between quotes hides. A statically rendered site like ours costs the domain renewal and hosting that is free to a few dollars a month at the traffic a Canberra business gets. There is no plugin stack to patch and no mandatory maintenance plan.
Compare that with a platform subscription of several hundred dollars a year for the life of the site, or a WordPress care plan at a monthly fee, and a cheaper build can cost more by year three.
Five questions to ask any quote
- Is the copy written for me, or am I supplying it?
- Are the old URLs redirected, and who checks Search Console after launch?
- Who owns the domain, the hosting account and the code when it is finished?
- What is the monthly or annual cost after launch, and what happens if I stop paying it?
- Is search setup (titles, structured data, sitemap, analytics, conversion events) included or extra?
Frequently asked questions
How much does a small business website cost in Canberra?
Canberra studios that publish prices start between $5,000 and $5,500 including GST for a five to seven page site, and say most small business sites land between $5,000 and $15,000. We charge $120 per hour with a fixed quote, so a comparable brochure site with your copy and photos supplied is typically $3,600 to $6,000 (estimate).
Why do you charge by the hour instead of selling packages?
Because packages charge every client for features half of them do not use. Estimating the hours for your job and fixing the price in writing gives you a smaller bill for a small job and an itemised one for a large job.
Is the quote really fixed?
Yes. The estimate becomes the price. If you add scope during the build, that is a new line agreed before the work starts, never a surprise on the invoice.
What will the website cost me each month?
Usually nothing beyond the domain renewal. Hosting is free to a few dollars a month at local-business traffic. There is no mandatory maintenance plan.
Is a $1,500 website a bad idea?
Not always. A small, well-scoped job can cost that or less; our recent eight-page mobile tidy-up was $1,200. It is a bad idea when the price only works by leaving out the copy, the photos, the redirects and the search setup, because you pay for those later anyway.
How much does it cost?
Work is charged from $120 per hour. For a defined project we estimate the hours after a free discovery call and give you a fixed quote, so you know the total before anything starts.
Related work
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