A simple small business website of five to ten pages typically costs $1,000 to $15,000 to build, according to a 2024 survey of more than 100 web development companies. Where you land depends on who builds it, how many pages it needs and who writes the words. We build them at Telos Creative in Windsor, Colorado.
This is how we explain pricing to the owners we meet. Nobody publishes an average for Colorado, so you won’t find one here. Every figure on this page is national or international and says where it came from. What we can add from working in Fort Collins, Loveland and Greeley is what pushes a quote up or down, and what to check before you sign.
What Are You Actually Paying For?
A website quote is usually one number for something that has four parts. Only one of them is the build.
The build
Design, the pages themselves, the words on them and the photos. This is the number people compare, and it is the one that varies most between quotes, mainly because of what is and is not included in it.
Hosting and a domain
The site has to live somewhere and the address renews every year. On a builder this is the plan you pay for. As one public example, Wix’s US pricing page listed its Light to Business plans at $17.77 to $39.77 a month billed yearly when we checked in October 2026. A custom site pays a host instead.
Keeping it running
Software updates, security, backups and the small edits every business needs through the year. Some builders handle the technical part for you. On a custom site somebody has to, and that is either you or a care plan.
Your time
The cost nobody quotes. Writing the pages, finding photos, answering questions and approving drafts can take an owner more hours than they expect. A cheaper build that leaves all the writing to you is not always cheaper.
What Are The Three Ways To Get A Website Built?
Build it yourself on a website builder
The lowest cash cost and the highest cost in time. It is a sensible start for a brand new business, and plenty of good sites began this way. The limit shows up when you need the site to compete in search. A template gives you a layout and leaves the hard question open: which page should win which search?
Hire a freelancer
One person who designs and builds, sometimes writes as well. Quality ranges from excellent to poor, and price is a weak guide to which you will get. Ask to see three live sites they built and ask who will host it, who owns it and who you call when something breaks in two years.
Hire an agency
Several people: strategy, writing, design, development and usually search. It costs more, and it is worth it when the website has a job to do, such as bringing in a steady flow of calls. Our web design service is built that way, around the message first and the layout second.
Time matters as much as money. The same GoodFirms survey put most small business builds at one to twelve weeks. If a quote promises a finished site in days, ask who is writing the words.
What Makes One Quote Higher Than Another?
Two quotes for “a website” can describe very different jobs. These five things explain most of the gap.
How many pages, and how different they are
A landscaping company with one page for everything is a smaller job than one with separate pages for patios, irrigation and lawn care. Separate pages also tend to rank better, which is why they cost more and are usually worth it.
Who writes the words
Copywriting is the most common hidden difference, and if we could ask one question of every quote, it would be this one. Some quotes include the writing. Many quietly assume you will supply it. Clear writing is also what turns a visitor into a call. We cover what a messaging-led build involves in how much a StoryBrand website costs.
Photography
Real photos of your work, your team and your vehicles beat stock every time. A quote either includes a shoot, asks you to provide photos, or quietly uses stock.
Features
Online booking, payments, a form that feeds your customer system, a client login. Each one adds build and testing time.
Whether it is built to be found
A site can be built to look good, or built to look good and rank. The second needs page titles, a fast mobile layout, one clear page per service and a structure search engines and AI assistants can read. Our SEO audit checklist shows what we check on every site.
What Should A Website Quote Include?
Ask for these in writing. A good builder will answer all of them without hesitation.
Ownership. The domain is registered in your name and you will own the finished site and its content.
Monthly costs. Hosting, care plans and any software subscriptions are listed separately from the build.
Revisions. How many rounds of changes are included before extra charges start.
Writing and photos. Who provides them, and what happens if they are late.
Search basics. Titles, descriptions, speed on a phone, and a link to your Google Business Profile.
Tracking. Calls and form submissions are counted from day one, so you can tell whether the site works.
Comparing search quotes too? Monthly SEO is priced very differently to a build. We explain those numbers in what SEO should cost in Fort Collins.
When Is A Cheap Website The Expensive One?
When it has to be rebuilt within two years, or when it never brings in work. The build price is paid once. A site that looks fine but sits on page three of Google, or that buries the phone number below the fold on a phone, costs you every week in the calls that went to someone else.
The fairer comparison is total cost over three years against the inquiries it brings in. A builder site that brings two good jobs a month is a bargain. An expensive site that brings none is not, however good it looks. If your site already exists, a free website audit will show where it stands before you spend anything.
Questions We Get Asked About Website Costs
Is $500 enough for a small business website?
It can pay for a builder plan and a domain for a year if you do the design and writing yourself. It will not usually pay for someone else to build the site for you. The 2024 GoodFirms survey of web development companies put a simple five to ten page business site at $1,000 to $15,000.
Do I have to pay monthly for a website?
Almost always, yes. Something has to host the site and the domain renews every year. On a builder that is a monthly or yearly plan. On a custom site it is hosting plus whatever care plan you agree for updates and backups. Ask for these costs separately from the build price.
Who should own my domain name?
You should. Register it in your own name, with your own login, even if someone else builds the site. If a designer registers it for you and you later part ways, getting it back can be slow, and the domain is the address every listing and review link points to.
How long does it take to build a small business website?
The same GoodFirms survey put most small business sites at one to twelve weeks. In practice the slowest part is rarely the design. It is gathering the words, the photos and the decisions, which is why a quote that includes the writing usually finishes sooner.
Is a website builder good enough for a small business?
For a new business that needs a simple online presence, often yes. It stops being enough when the site has to rank for competitive searches and bring in steady inquiries, because that depends on structure, speed and writing that a template does not supply on its own.
Does the price of a website include SEO?
Sometimes the basics, often nothing. Ask exactly what is included: page titles and descriptions, a fast mobile layout, a page for each service, connection to your Google Business Profile, and analytics that count calls and form submissions. Ongoing SEO work is usually a separate monthly service.
Not sure what your current site is worth keeping? Our free audit checks it in about two minutes, or get in touch and we can go through a quote with you over coffee in Windsor. More on how we work locally: web design in Fort Collins, website design in Loveland and web design in Greeley. Related reading: AI visibility for local businesses. Arnold Jakobsen founded Telos Creative and is a StoryBrand Certified Guide.
