If you’re a UK small business owner looking to hire a web designer, you’re in one of the hardest buying markets out there.
There are thousands of them. They all look similar. Their websites all say the same things. The prices range from £299 to £15,000 for what sounds like the same job. And if you get it wrong, you’ll spend 6 months building something that doesn’t work, and another 6 months trying to undo it.
This is the honest guide to choosing one. What to look for, what to run from, and the seven questions that tell you within a 20-minute call whether they’re worth hiring.
The 3 types of web designer you’ll meet
Before the questions, understand who you’re dealing with.
The DIY-assist
Prices from about £200 to £500. Usually selling a quick template-based site. Your content pasted in. Basic tweaks. Often part-time, often offering website building on the side of something else.
Right for: a business that literally just needs an online presence and has under £500 to spend. Not right for a business that wants the site to earn its keep.
The solo freelancer or small studio
Prices from £1,500 to £4,000. One person, or two or three people. Does the full job (strategy, copy, design, and build) usually under one roof. The quality varies wildly within this bracket, which is why the rest of this article exists.
Right for: most solo service businesses. This is where the sweet spot is.
Northern Sauce sits here, at £2,499.
The agency
Prices from £4,000 to £15,000+. Team of people, account managers, formal process. Longer timelines (8 to 16 weeks). Often a better brand experience, sometimes better strategy, sometimes just pricier process.
Right for: businesses with 10 or more staff, complex requirements, or the need for ongoing marketing support. Overkill for a solo consultant or sole trader.
Most small UK service businesses should be looking at the middle tier. That’s where this article’s focused.
What a good web designer for a small service business actually does
Before you hire someone, know what they should be doing. Most people hire a web designer thinking the job is “make my website look nice.” It isn’t.
A proper web designer for a small service business does seven things:
- Strategy. Works out who the site is for, what they care about, and what the site needs to do. Before any design starts.
- Messaging. Writes the words that name the problem, the person, and the promise, in plain language that sounds like the business.
- Copy. Writes the actual page copy. Not “sends you a template to fill in.” Writes it.
- Design. Designs every page, every section, every interaction. Not from a generic template, but for this business, this audience, this goal.
- Build. Builds the site on a platform you own. Makes it fast, works on mobile, works for Google.
- Launch. Handles the launch cleanly. Moves the old site out of the way. Gets the new one live without breaking anything.
- Handover. Teaches you how to run it. Proper training, not “here’s the login, good luck.”
If the person you’re hiring is only doing steps 4 and 5 (design and build), you’re paying for a brochure. That’s not what a small business needs.
7 questions that reveal whether they’re worth hiring
Ask these on the first call. Listen for the shape of the answers, not just the words.
1. “What’s your process? Walk me through it from first call to site being live.”
A good answer sounds like a proper process. Discovery, strategy, messaging, wireframing, design, build, launch, handover. Specific stages, specific timelines, specific deliverables at each stage.
A bad answer is vague. “We’ll chat, I’ll design some pages, you’ll give feedback, I’ll build it.” That’s not a process. That’s someone making it up as they go along.
2. “Who writes the copy?”
If they say “you,” it means you’re doing a massive chunk of the job. Most small business owners can’t write good website copy, which is why their current site doesn’t work. Hiring a designer who needs you to write the words doesn’t fix that.
If they say “we can, for an extra fee,” ask what the fee is. It’s usually £75 to £200 per page, so £500 to £1,500 extra on a small site.
If they say “it’s included,” that’s the answer you want. Ideally with some process for how they’ll learn about your business deeply enough to write properly for it.
3. “What happens after the site’s live? What do I own, and can I update it myself?”
The right answer: “You own everything. The domain, the design, the site. You can update any text or image yourself. Adding pages is possible without a developer. If you want ongoing support, we offer it, but you’re not locked in.”
Red flag answers: vague on ownership, pay-monthly forever models, “you’ll need to come back to us for changes.”
4. “How much is it, and what’s included?”
Good: a clear fixed price, published on their website, with a clear list of what’s included and what isn’t. Anything you need to pay extra for is stated upfront.
Bad: “It depends on the project, we’ll send a quote after the call.” This often means they price by how much they think you can pay, not by what the work actually costs.
The best ones publish prices publicly. Confidence shows up in transparency.
5. “Can you show me 3 recent sites you’ve built for businesses like mine?”
Ask for businesses specifically like yours. A portfolio of wedding photographers doesn’t prove they can build a site for an accountant. The way services work, the way decisions get made, the way copy needs to read. All different.
Good: they pull up 3 sites, tell you the story of each one, explain what the client needed and what they built. Specific, comfortable, honest.
Bad: a portfolio of 40 sites with no context. Or only their own agency’s work shown. Or pulling up work they built years ago.
6. “What happens if I’m not happy with something midway through?”
Listen for the process. “We’d loop back, talk about what’s not working, adjust.” Specific language about feedback stages and revisions.
Red flag: a defensive answer. If “what if I don’t like it” makes them tense, they haven’t thought about it properly. Or they’ve thought about it and don’t want to deal with it.
7. “Why did you start doing this?”
Doesn’t seem like a technical question, but tells you a lot. You’re hiring someone for months of close working. If they have no coherent reason for being in this job, it shows.
Good: a real story. A problem they wanted to solve. A moment they realised they could do it better. A reason to care.
Bad: “I needed a flexible side hustle” or “I’m good at design software.” Both mean they’re not in it for the long run, which means they’re not in it for your project.
5 red flags that should send you running
The shortlist of things that, no matter how good everything else looks, should make you walk away.
Pay-monthly-forever as the only pricing option
If the only way to work with them is £75 a month forever, you never own the site. You’re leasing. Most of these packages total £2,500 to £6,000 over 3 years, for a site you don’t keep. A one-off project is always better value.
Vague scope and pricing
“We’ll send a quote after we understand your needs.” Fine on the surface. Suspicious when there’s no published starting price anywhere. Good designers know roughly what their work costs. Hiding that usually means they’re pricing by feel.
No strategy in the process
If the process goes straight from “chat” to “design,” there’s no strategy. You’ll get a pretty website that says nothing specific, gets no enquiries, and disappoints you within 6 months.
A portfolio of work that all looks the same
If every site they’ve built has the same look and feel, they’re probably using one template and customising it. That’s fine for a £500 starter project. Not fine for a £2,500 investment. Real custom design looks different for different businesses.
Defensiveness or dismissiveness on the call
You’re about to hand this person a chunk of money and 6 weeks of close working. If they’re prickly, defensive, or dismissive during a free initial chat, that’s how the rest of the project will feel. Worse. Not better.
What you should expect to pay in the UK in 2026
The honest numbers, because everyone dodges this one:
- £299 to £899: template-based starter site, no strategy, basic copy, short timeline. Fine for a brand new business that just needs an online presence.
- £1,500 to £3,000: proper solo freelancer or small studio. Should include strategy, copy, design, and build. The sweet spot for most small UK service businesses.
- £3,000 to £8,000: small agency. Better process, more polish, higher overhead.
- £8,000+: full agency with custom work. Usually overkill for a solo business.
If you’re a consultant, accountant, coach, tradesperson, or creative, your project should cost in the £1,500 to £3,000 range. Anything under, you’re missing strategy or copy. Anything over, you’re paying for agency team and overhead you don’t need.
What hiring a good one actually feels like
For the first time in a while, you stop being the one explaining things. The designer asks questions you hadn’t thought about. Then they tell you what they think the website needs to do. And you realise, actually, they understand your business better than you’d expected.
The process feels like working with someone who’s on your side, not selling to you. They say no to ideas that won’t work, even when you’d happily pay for them. They disagree with you sometimes, and the disagreement is useful.
At the end of it, you’ve got a website that says what you do clearly, looks like it belongs to your business, and does some of the job you’ve been doing on every sales call.
That’s the bar.
The simplest next step
If you’re looking for a web designer for your small UK service business, and you’re in the £1,500 to £3,000 bracket, book a 20-minute call. No pressure, no sales pitch. Ask me any of the 7 questions above. If it’s a fit, great. If not, I’ll tell you who else to look at.
Fixed price. £2,499. Strategy, copy, design, and build. Live in 4 to 6 weeks. You own everything from day one.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to design a website for a small business?
For a proper UK build with strategy, copy, design, and build all included, expect £1,500 to £3,000. Under £1,000 usually means something important is missing. Over £5,000 usually means you’re paying for agency overhead. Northern Sauce is priced at £2,499 for this reason. It’s the honest middle of the market.
How much does it cost to hire a web designer?
Depends what you mean by “hire.” For a one-off project, £1,500 to £3,000 for most small service businesses. For ongoing work (rare and usually unnecessary for a solo business), day rates typically run £300 to £600 per day. If you’re being quoted a day rate for a one-off project, it’s often more expensive than a fixed price and always less predictable.
What is the 3-second rule in web design?
A visitor spends about 3 seconds on your homepage deciding whether to stay. In those 3 seconds, they should understand who you help, what you do, and what makes you different. If your homepage still says “Welcome to…” after 3 seconds, you’ve lost them.
What are the 5 golden rules of web design?
Most lists give you some version of: clear navigation, responsive design, fast loading, readable fonts, consistent layouts. All useful. None of them matter more than messaging. A site that hits all 5 rules and doesn’t clearly say what you do is still a broken website.
