If you've started looking into getting a website built, you've probably already noticed that prices vary wildly. One agency quotes £500. Another quotes £8,000. A freelancer on Fiverr offers something for £99. It's almost impossible to know what's reasonable, or what you're actually getting for your money.
This guide gives you an honest breakdown of what websites actually cost for small businesses across Cheshire and the North West in 2026, what drives the price up or down, and what questions you should ask before committing to anything.
Short answer: A professionally built website for a small business in Cheshire typically costs £1,000–£5,000 for the initial build, with ongoing hosting and maintenance adding £50–£200/month. Anything significantly below that range is almost certainly built on a template.
What Affects the Price?
The biggest variable isn't size or complexity. It's who builds it. Here's an honest breakdown of the four main options available to small businesses across Cheshire and the North West.
1. DIY website builders (Wix, Squarespace, GoDaddy)
Cost: £10–£40/month
You build it yourself using drag-and-drop tools. Fast to get online, but you're limited to their templates, their hosting, and their rules. Fine for a temporary placeholder, but most businesses move on from them within a year or two. They also tend to load slowly, and slow sites rank lower on Google, which costs you enquiries over time.
2. Freelancers
Cost: £500–£3,000 typically
Variable quality. A good local freelancer can do excellent work at a fair price. The risk is continuity. If they become unreachable after launch, you're stuck. Always ask for references, check their recent work, and make sure you own the files outright when the project is done.
3. Template-based agencies
Cost: £1,000–£3,000
Many agencies build on WordPress or Squarespace templates and call it bespoke. It can look custom on the surface but runs on a generic foundation. Not necessarily bad, but updates often require plugins, performance can degrade over time, and you may find your site looks similar to competitors using the same theme.
4. Bespoke web design studios
Cost: £1,500–£8,000+
A site built specifically for your business from scratch. No templates, no page builders, no generic code underneath. Faster, cleaner, and easier to maintain long-term. Designed around your actual customers, not a generic layout. This is what most established businesses in Cheshire end up choosing once they've tried the cheaper options.
What Does £1,500 Actually Get You?
For a small business in Crewe, Nantwich, Knutsford, Wilmslow, or anywhere across Cheshire, a fixed-price project starting from £1,500 should include:
- A custom design built around your brand, not a template someone else is using
- A mobile-first layout that works properly on every device and screen size
- Clean, fast-loading code, not a bloated WordPress install with 40 plugins
- Basic SEO foundations built in from the start
- A contact form and clear calls to action designed to generate enquiries
- Two rounds of revisions included
- A handover walkthrough so you understand how everything works
That's a reasonable benchmark for the Cheshire market. If someone is offering significantly less than this for something described as "bespoke", ask them specifically what that word means.
Price Comparison: What Are You Actually Getting?
| Option | Typical cost | Ongoing | Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY builder (Wix, Squarespace) | Free–£300 setup | £15–£40/mo | Platform owns it |
| Freelancer | £500–£2,500 | Varies | Usually yours |
| Template agency | £1,000–£3,000 | £50–£150/mo | Usually yours |
| Bespoke studio | £1,500–£5,000 | £75–£200/mo | Fully yours |
The Hidden Cost of Getting It Wrong
A lot of Cheshire businesses come to us after spending £500–£800 on something that didn't work. A template that looked fine at first but loaded slowly, generated no enquiries, and broke when they tried to update it. The rebuild ends up costing more than doing it properly would have done.
The hidden cost of a cheap website isn't what you paid for it. It's the business you didn't get because it didn't perform.
Three things worth thinking about before you decide:
- Speed matters for Google. Slow-loading sites rank lower in search results. A bloated template can cost you organic traffic you'd otherwise have had for free.
- Ownership matters when things change. If you're on Wix or Squarespace and they increase their prices or change their terms, you can't easily move. A custom-built site is yours. It can live anywhere.
- Design matters more than you think. Visitors decide whether to stay or leave within a few seconds. A site that looks generic or loads slowly gives the wrong impression before you've had a chance to say anything.
Do I Need to Pay for Copywriting?
If you supply your own text and images, the build cost stays lower. If the studio also writes your content, expect to add £300–£800 to the project. Good copywriting is often the difference between a site that generates enquiries and one that doesn't. Don't underestimate it.
A well-written page that clearly explains what you do, who you help, and what to do next will outperform a beautifully designed page with vague copy every single time.
What About Ongoing Costs?
A website isn't a one-off purchase. Hosting, security updates, content changes, and performance monitoring all need covering on an ongoing basis. Most reputable studios offer a monthly retainer covering everything. Others hand the site over and leave you to manage it.
For small businesses in Cheshire, a monthly retainer of £75–£150 typically covers:
- Managed hosting on fast, reliable infrastructure
- Security and performance monitoring
- Content updates on request (text changes, new service pages, etc.)
- Direct access to the person who built the site
Know exactly what's included before you sign anything.
What About Adding AI Customer Support?
Many Cheshire small business owners don't realise a website can handle more than just showing information. An AI assistant, trained specifically on your business, can answer enquiries, capture leads, and handle routine questions automatically, 24 hours a day.
For businesses where enquiries come in evenings and weekends, such as estate agents, trades, and professional services, this determines how many leads you actually capture versus a competitor who responded first.
Delegait AI can be added to any website from £275 per month, with no long-term contract. If we built your site, integration takes a single line of code.
Six Questions to Ask Before You Hire Anyone
- Is this a bespoke design or a template? Get a straight answer, not a vague one.
- Who will own the site when it's finished? You should own it outright, with no strings attached.
- What's included in ongoing support? Don't assume hosting is included. It often isn't.
- Can I see examples of sites you've built for similar businesses? Any reputable studio should be able to show you relevant work.
- Is there a fixed price, or could it change? Hourly rates can lead to bill shock. Fixed-price projects don't.
- What happens if I want to make changes after launch? Understand the process before you start, not after.
The Bottom Line
A professionally built website for a small business in Cheshire costs £1,500–£3,000 for the initial project. Ongoing hosting and maintenance typically adds £75–£150 per month. Anything significantly cheaper is almost certainly a template or a corner being cut somewhere.
A website built properly generates enquiries you wouldn't otherwise have got, and saves time you'd otherwise spend answering the same questions manually.
If you're based in Crewe, Nantwich, Knutsford, Macclesfield, Wilmslow, Chester, or anywhere across Cheshire and the North West and want a straight conversation about what a website would cost for your specific business, get in touch below. No pitch, no pressure, just a clear answer.