Freelance web project

Quote estimator

Set the scope and watch the range move. Switch off whatever you're not doing. See the size of the job before you say a number out loud, and leave a written trail of what's included. The rates start at US freelance market levels for 2026, so change them to suit your market and what you're comfortable charging.

Recommended: $16,871 fair range $15,183 – $20,245 188 h · blended $76/h

Discovery & planning

$1,500
Kickoff & requirements workshop $300
Goals, priorities, what “done” actually means 4 h
Audit of existing sites, content & assets $450
Two live sites, so double the discovery 6 h
Sitemap, IA & content plan $450
Which pages survive the merge 6 h
Brand & visual direction $300
Moodboard, type, color, image style 4 h

Design

$3,010
Homepage concept & design $1,400
The showpiece: hero, sections, imagery 20 h
Interior page designs $560
Per unique template, not per page 8 h
Mobile & tablet design pass $350
Most traffic arrives on phones 5 h
Revision rounds (2 included) $420
Extra rounds become change orders 6 h
Design asset prep $280
Image treatment, icons, textures 4 h

Build & development

$3,750
Theme / framework setup $600
WordPress theme or Next.js scaffold 8 h
Page builds $750
Block-based pages from approved designs 10 h
Product showcase / gallery modules $900
Filterable, image-heavy, the “car site” feel 12 h
Quote-request & contact forms $375
Lead capture + notifications 5 h
Responsive & cross-browser QA $450
Every page, every breakpoint 6 h
Technical SEO & performance $375
Speed, meta, sitemap, structured data 5 h
Accessibility pass $300
Contrast, keyboard, alt text 4 h

Content

$770
Copywriting & editing $330
Only if the client isn't supplying it 6 h
Photo sourcing & retouching $440
A shoot day is priced separately 8 h

Migration & launch

$1,950
Domain, DNS & hosting setup $300
Who owns the domains? 4 h
Content migration $900
Pulling content off two platforms 12 h
Redirect map (301s) $450
Preserves the SEO equity you're merging 6 h
Analytics, email & form wiring $300
GA4, Search Console, inbox routing 4 h

Internal work & automation

$1,530
Server / hosting internals $360
Access, backups, staging, mail 4 h
Internal tools & automation $900
The “internals” she actually needs fixed 10 h
Documentation & staff training $270
So they aren't dependent on you 3 h

AI & agent setup

$1,710
AI agent design & build $760
What the agent does, on what data 8 h
Integrations & data wiring $570
Email, CRM, sheets, APIs 6 h
Testing, tuning & handoff $380
Guardrails, evals, documentation 4 h

Pass-through costs (one-time)

not labor$450
Stock imagery & asset licensing $120
Photos, icons, textures you don't own$120
Premium theme / plugins / licenses $180
Annual or one-off, verify before quoting$180
Domain & hosting (first year) $150
Client's cost usually. List it anyway.$150

Nail these down before you quote

Every one of these is a scope-creep trap if it's vague when you name a price. Walk the list on your Thursday call and write the answers down.

Scope & quote summary

Send this with the quote, or print it to PDF and attach it. It's the part that stops the "oh, I thought that was included" conversation.

Website redesign & systems: estimate
$16,871 ($15,183–$20,245)

Included scope

  • Labor$14,220
  • Pass-through costs$450
  • Subtotal$14,670
  • Contingency & adjustments$2,201
  • Recommended quote$16,871
  • Fair range$15,183 – $20,245

Assumptions

Not included

Terms