What a website actually costs a small business in the Lakes

It's the first question everyone asks, usually apologetically. Fair enough — it's a big purchase for a small business. Here's the honest version, with numbers.

The short answer

For a small local business — a café, a shop, a trade — a proper website usually lands somewhere between £800 and £3,000 to build. Hosting and care is typically £15–40 a month on top. That's a wide range, so here's what moves you up and down it.

What changes the price

• How many pages. A single page with your hours, menu and contact details sits at the bottom of the range. Ten pages with events, galleries and booking sits at the top.
• Content. If you have photos and words ready to go, that saves time and money. If I'm chasing you for a menu, writing every page from scratch and arranging photography, that's real work too — worth every penny, but it's priced as work.
• The tricky bits. Online booking, taking payments, stock levels, tying into your till. All possible; all extra.
• The state of what you have. Migrating a decade of posts from a creaking site is a different job from starting fresh.

What shouldn't change the price

• Your postcode. Local should mean local — not a premium.
• Whether you know what you want yet. A good web person helps you work that out in the first conversation; that's part of the job, not an extra line on the invoice.

The monthly bit

Hosting, security, backups and small changes. I keep care plans deliberately small and cancellable — around the price of a couple of coffees a week, not a second rent. You should be able to leave any time, and you should never feel stuck.

How to judge a quote

Ask what's included: words, photos, the domain, email? Ask what happens when you want a change in six months, and what it costs. Ask who owns what. If any of those answers are vague, that's your answer.

That's the honest version. If you'd like the specific version for your business, tell me what you do — I'll reply with a plain price.