Jamie Spurrell
Table of Contents
For most small businesses, a real redesign runs $3,000-$15,000 CAD, with more complex projects (e-commerce, custom booking, heavy content migration) landing $15,000-$30,000+ CAD. If a quote comes in at $50,000 or more, you're likely looking at an enterprise-scoped project (multiple stakeholders, dozens of page templates, deep integrations), not what a typical small business needs.
These are practical market ranges, not standardized rates. That gap matters because most redesign pricing guides are written with a mid-market or enterprise budget in mind, with small business squeezed into a single paragraph. This one isn't.
Signs it might be time for a redesign
Before you price anything, it's worth checking whether a redesign is actually the fix. Common signals:
- Your site looks and feels dated compared to competitors
- It's a rough experience on mobile, and most of your traffic is probably mobile
- Conversion rates (calls, form fills, bookings) have been flat or declining
- Pages take more than a couple seconds to load
- Navigation confuses people, or they can't find what they came for
- Your branding has changed since the site was built
- You're not showing up well in search anymore
- Competitors have visibly leveled up their sites
One or two of these might mean a targeted fix, not a full redesign. Several at once is a real signal.
Redesign or rebuild? They're not the same decision
"Redesign" and "rebuild" get used interchangeably, but they're different projects with different costs:
- Redesign: keep the existing platform/CMS, rework the visual design, content structure, and UX. Cheaper, faster, lower risk to your existing SEO.
- Rebuild: move to a new platform or architecture entirely (e.g., legacy site to WordPress, or WordPress to a custom stack). More expensive, more time, and requires real care around SEO migration so you don't lose ranking you've already earned.
Most small businesses asking "how much does a redesign cost" actually need a redesign, not a rebuild. Rebuilds make sense when the underlying platform itself is the problem (it's unsupported, insecure, or can't do what you need), not just when the design looks old.
What actually drives the cost
Scope and page count. Redesigning 6 core pages costs less than redesigning 40. Content-heavy sites (blogs, resource libraries, large service catalogs) take longer to migrate and restructure.
Content and SEO migration. If your current site has pages ranking in search, a redesign has to preserve that: proper redirects, matching URL structure where it matters, not accidentally deleting content that's quietly bringing in traffic. Skipping this is one of the most common, most expensive mistakes in a redesign.
Custom vs. template-based. Same tradeoff as a new build: a template-based redesign costs less; a fully custom one costs more because it's built around your brand instead of adapted to someone else's layout.
Functionality changes. Adding booking, e-commerce, or new integrations during a redesign adds real engineering cost on top of the visual refresh.
How much of the old site is reusable. Good existing copy and photography lower the cost. If everything needs to be rewritten and reshot, budget for that as its own line item.
How much does a website redesign cost?
All amounts below are approximate and shown in Canadian dollars. These are practical market ranges, not standardized rates. Providers may charge more or less depending on exactly what's included.
| Cost (CAD) | Typical scope | Best suited for |
|---|---|---|
| $500-$3,000 | Template swap or visual refresh (same content structure, minimal custom work) | Sites whose bones are fine but look tired |
| $3,000-$8,000 | Standard small business redesign (new design, reorganized content, basic SEO migration) | Where most small business redesigns land |
| $8,000-$15,000 | Redesign with new functionality (booking, lead capture, CRM integration, or e-commerce) | Businesses adding real capability alongside the refresh |
| $15,000-$30,000+ | Rebuild or complex e-commerce (new platform, heavy custom functionality, large content migration) | Genuinely enterprise-scoped projects |
The cost of not redesigning
It's easy to treat a redesign as a discretionary expense you can put off. It isn't fully discretionary once your site is actively costing you business.
Google's own AdSense Help documentation states that 53% of mobile visits are abandoned if a page takes longer than three seconds to load, citing Google/DoubleClick's mobile-speed research. That figure is specifically about page load speed, not redesigns broadly, but a dated, slow site is a common reason load times slip, which means the abandonment risk is real, not hypothetical. Every visitor who leaves before the page finishes loading is a click you paid for (through ads, SEO, or word of mouth) that never had a chance to convert.
Same logic as a website that isn't maintained: the cost isn't a single bill, it's a slow bleed you don't see on any one day. See our guide to website maintenance plans for what keeps a redesigned site from drifting back into the same state.
Hidden costs people forget to budget for
- Content migration and rewriting: moving old content over cleanly, or rewriting what's outdated
- 301 redirects: so old URLs that are already ranking or bookmarked don't break
- Training: if your team needs to learn a new CMS or content workflow
- Post-launch support: the first few weeks after launch almost always surface small fixes
None of these are optional if you want the redesign to actually work, and they're exactly what a lowball quote tends to leave out.
Red flags when comparing redesign quotes
- No mention of SEO/redirect handling: this is the single most common way a redesign quietly tanks existing search traffic
- No clarity on what's reused vs. rebuilt from scratch: a vague quote makes it hard to know if you're paying for a refresh or a full rebuild
- A price with no post-launch support window mentioned: the first few weeks after launch reliably surface small fixes; ask what's covered
- Pressure to rebuild when a redesign would do: a bigger project means a bigger invoice; be skeptical if "rebuild" comes up before your actual platform problems are established
Questions to ask before you sign off on a redesign
- Will my existing URLs be preserved, or do I need redirects, and who sets those up?
- What happens to my current search rankings during and after the redesign?
- How much of my existing content/photography will be reused vs. redone?
- Is this a redesign or a full rebuild, and why?
- What's included in the first 30 days after launch?
- What does it cost to maintain the site properly once the redesign is live?
The real question: is this the right fix?
Before you sign off on a redesign quote, ask what's actually included: content migration and redirects, mobile optimization, basic SEO preservation, and what support looks like after launch. And ask yourself honestly whether the problem is the design, or something a redesign won't actually fix, like the wrong offer, the wrong audience, or a marketing problem dressed up as a website problem.
If you're also wondering what a brand-new site costs instead of a redesign, we broke that down separately: the cost drivers overlap, but the decision itself is different. We handle both, and we'll tell you honestly which one your business actually needs before we ever talk price. Get in touch if you want a straight answer for your specific site.
Frequently Asked Questions
If your platform itself is outdated, unsupported, or can't do what you need, that's a rebuild. If the platform's fine and it's the look, content, or conversion performance that's lagging, that's a redesign: cheaper and lower-risk.
Yes, upfront. A template-based redesign gets you a professional look faster and for less. Custom costs more because it's built around your brand specifically, not adapted from someone else's layout.
Slower load times, worse mobile experience, and declining search visibility all quietly cost you visitors and leads (see the page-speed stat above). It's rarely one dramatic loss; it's a gradual one.
Often just specific pages, usually the homepage and your highest-traffic service pages. A full redesign makes sense when the problems are structural (navigation, branding, mobile experience) across the whole site, not isolated to one or two pages.
It can, if redirects and content migration aren't handled properly, which is the most common way redesigns lose search traffic. Done properly, a redesign should maintain or improve your search performance, not damage it.
Most small business redesigns take 4-8 weeks depending on scope, content readiness, and revision rounds. Larger rebuilds with heavy custom functionality can take longer.
