What it costs, in full
Everything on this page is the real number. If something is not listed here, it is not something I will bill you for later.
The website build
Three sizes, depending on how much site you actually need. Design, copywriting, build and launch are included in all of them.
50% to start, the rest when you have seen the finished site and are happy with it. Every build includes hosting at R350 a month, with the first month free.
The three sizes
- Starter — R1 200. 3 pages: home, about, contact. Enough to look real and take a call.
- Standard — R1 800. 5 pages, adding services, a gallery of your work and customer reviews. Most businesses take this one.
- Professional — R2 500. 8 pages, with a page per service and per area so each one can be found on Google separately.
- Bookings, quotes or a lot of pages — from R7 500. Quoted after a chat, because it depends entirely on what it has to do.
- An online shop — from R25 000. Stock, card payments in your name, delivery rules. Always quoted, never guessed.
Moving up a size later costs the difference, not the full price again.
Included in every size
- A design you see and approve before I build anything
- Copywriting from your answers, which you approve word by word
- Contact form that emails you, tap-to-call, optional WhatsApp button
- Google Business Profile set up or corrected
- Your photos cropped, compressed and captioned
- Two rounds of changes after you see the finished site
- Redirects from your old site, so you keep any traffic it had
Hosting and looking after it
Included with every build, first month free. Month to month after that, no contract, cancel whenever. This is what keeps the site online, secure and current.
If you cancel, the files are yours and I will help you move them elsewhere.
Included
- Hosting on a South African server, so it loads fast locally
- SSL certificate, renewed automatically, so you never see a security warning
- Daily backups kept for 30 days
- Uptime monitoring, so I usually know before you do
- Small text and photo changes, usually same day
- Seasonal updates: new prices, holiday hours, a new service
"Small changes" means swapping text, adding photos, updating hours or prices. A whole new page or a redesign is quoted separately, and I will tell you before I do anything chargeable.
Email on your own domain
you@yourbusiness.co.za instead of a gmail address. It is a small thing that changes how people read your quotes.
Add or remove mailboxes any month. Most businesses take two: a shared info@ and one for the owner.
Included
- 10GB per mailbox
- Works with Outlook, Apple Mail, Gmail and your phone
- Spam and virus filtering
- Your existing mail moved across, nothing lost
- Set up on your devices for you
- Proper SPF, DKIM and DMARC, so your mail reaches inboxes
What is not included
Every one of these is something other people quietly add to the invoice later.
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Your domain name | About R120 a year | Paid to the registrar, registered in your name. I will set it up for you at no charge, but I do not mark it up. |
| Online shop or payments | Quoted separately | Selling online is a genuinely different job. If you need it, say so and I will price it honestly. |
| Booking system | Quoted separately | Often a third party tool is better and cheaper than building one. I will tell you which. |
| Logo design | Quoted separately | If you have no logo I will set your name in type at no extra cost, which is usually enough. |
| Photography | Not offered | Photos off your phone genuinely work better than stock. If you want a professional shoot, hire a local photographer. |
| Paid advertising | Not offered | Not my area. I will not take a management fee for something I am not good at. |
| Changes beyond two rounds | R450 an hour | Rarely needed. I will always tell you before the clock starts. |
About the money specifically
Are there any hidden costs?
No. The build fee and the monthly are the whole cost. The only thing not included is your domain registration, which is about R120 a year, paid to the registrar in your name rather than to me.
Do I have to take the hosting?
Hosting comes with every build, and the first month is free. It is what keeps the site online, secure and current: the SSL certificate, daily backups, updates and small changes. There is no contract, so cancel any month you like and I will hand over the files and help you move them.
Is there a contract?
Not on the monthly. It is month to month and you cancel by telling me. If you leave, I hand over the files and help you move them somewhere else. That is written into the terms.
Why is this cheaper than the agencies?
Because there is no office, no account manager, no sales team and no project manager taking a cut. It is me, working directly with you, using tooling that removes most of the repetitive work. The saving is real overhead being absent, not corners being cut.
What if I am not happy with it?
You do not pay. You see the design before I build, and the finished site before it goes live. If at either point it is not right, tell me and I will fix it. If it still is not right, we shake hands and you owe me nothing.
Do you take a deposit?
Not for a straightforward site. For larger jobs, or anything with a shop or booking system, I will ask for half upfront and say so clearly in the quote before you commit to anything.
Get a straight quote
Tell me about your business and I will confirm the price and timeline. If it is not a fit, I will say so rather than sell you something.