Hiring a web design agency: cost, timelines and what to ask before you sign

How much should a small business website cost?

Budget $1,000 to $3,000 CAD for a straightforward small business site. Canadian providers that publish their prices show $1,000 to $15,000 CAD. The spread is scope, not quality: a 5-page site with one form is not a 40-page store with checkout. We gathered those published Canadian figures in how much a website costs in Canada.

Make every quote name the page count, the forms and the launch date. A price without a page count is a guess, and it moves once the work starts.

How long does it take to build a website?

2 to 3 weeks is normal for a small business site, once your content is ready. The coding is rarely the holdup. Photos, service descriptions, hours and prices come from you, and that is where most projects sit for a month. A store or a booking system adds a week or two, because payments and calendars need testing.

Before you start, put your logo, 10 job photos and your service list in one folder. Projects that begin with that folder finish on time.

Agency, freelancer or do it myself on a page builder: which is right for me?

Choose by how much of your own time you can give it, and for how long. A page builder costs the least up front and the most in hours, because you become the person who edits and updates it forever. A freelancer costs less than an agency and answers fast, but one person gets busy, and support depends on them.

An agency costs more and should come with a written scope, a launch date and someone on the hook after launch. The 5-year totals are in our custom site vs page builder comparison.

What questions should I ask a web designer before hiring them?

Ask the 5 questions that decide whether you get a website or a headache:

• What exactly do I get, page by page, and what is the launch date?
• Who owns the site, the domain and the files if I leave?
• Is this hand-coded or built on a page builder, and what does that cost me later?
• After launch, who fixes a broken form, how fast, and at what price?
• Can I see 3 live sites you built for businesses like mine?

If a quote cannot answer the ownership question in one sentence, keep looking.

Where do I find a good web designer?

Start with the sites you already like in your own trade, then find who built them. Most builders credit themselves in the footer or in a portfolio. A live site in your industry tells you more than any sales page.

Referrals from other owners, your chamber or your suppliers come second, because they include how the person behaved after launch. Whatever the source, open 3 of their live sites on your phone. If those load slowly, or the phone number does not dial on tap, that is your answer.

How much does a website redesign cost?

A redesign usually costs the same as a new site of the same size, because the work is the same. The design, the code and the content still get rebuilt page by page.

What you save is discovery: your services, photos and wording already exist, so the project starts faster and often finishes faster. The cost climbs only when you carry over an old system, a database or store data. Ask for that migration as its own line item, not as a surprise at the end.

Redesign or rebuild: how do I know which one I need?

Redesign if the structure works and the look is dated. Rebuild if the site is slow, breaks on phones, or nobody can edit it without paying someone.

A redesign changes the layout, colours, photos and wording on the pages you already have. A rebuild replaces the code underneath, which is what fixes speed, mobile layout and the way Google reads your pages. One test: open your site on your phone, on mobile data. If you are counting while it loads, new paint will not fix it.

When is it time to rebuild my small business website?

Rebuild when the site is costing you customers, not when it hits a certain age. 4 signs usually show up together:

• it is slow or awkward on a phone
• your hours and prices are out of date, because updating is a chore
• the pages do not show up on Google for your service and your city
• the form or the phone number is buried

Any two of those and the site is losing jobs every week. Count the calls the site brought you last month. If the answer is zero, you have your decision.

What should a contractor or home-service website include to get leads?

5 things do most of the work:

• a phone number in the header that dials on tap
• the towns you serve, written out
• real photos of your own jobs
• prices, or at least ranges
• a form that asks for 4 fields instead of 12

After that, the page should answer the question a caller has before they call. Two builds on our portfolio show it. Northline Roofing points every screen at two actions, call Jake or send the form. I Am Junk lets someone fill the truck on screen, see a price, and carry that into a booking.

Why is my website getting traffic but no leads?

Almost always because the page never asks. Visitors land, read, and find no obvious next step, or they find a form that wants their life story. The fixes are small. One clear action per page, a number that dials on tap, a short form, and proof beside the button.

Then check what happens after the click. If those calls ring to a phone nobody can answer on a job site, the website is working and the phone is not. BMV Courier prices a run on the page in 5 steps, so the quote arrives without a call at all.

How often should I update my website?

Change the facts the day they change: hours, prices, staff, service areas and anything seasonal. Then add something small every month. A few new job photos, a short page about a service people keep asking about, or fresh reviews.

A page that changes gives Google and AI assistants something new to read. A site frozen in 2021 gives them nothing. The look itself runs on a longer clock. Plan a serious refresh every 3 to 4 years, or sooner if the phone test says your site feels slow.

Do I need a bilingual website if I do business in Québec?

If you sell to customers in Québec, yes, French is required. Québec's Charter of the French language, updated by Bill 96, requires the commercial publications of businesses operating in Québec to be in French. The Office québécois de la langue française states that a consumer has the right to a complete French version of a business website (OQLF).

Build both languages at the same time instead of translating at the end. Adding French to a finished English site costs more, and it always leaves some pages in English.

What does Samro charge and how does the process work?

Samro Studios builds these sites, and the prices are public. A custom build is $895 to $1,795 CAD one time, plus $20 CAD a month hosting starting 30 days after payment. You can spread it instead: from $99 CAD a month, $199 CAD for e-commerce, on a 12-month term (how the monthly plans work). Support is included either way.

You tell us about the project and we send an exact number. We build in 2 to 3 weeks, and you approve the finished site before it goes live. Love your site or your money back until then. Tell us about your project.