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Every redesign conversation starts somewhere around the same place. A client sends over a Figma file, a mood board, or a list of three competitor sites with notes like “something like this but more modern” or “cleaner, like what [company name] did recently.” Sometimes there’s a colour palette. Sometimes there’s a reference to the CEO’s preference for a particular font. Almost always, there’s a deadline tied to something that has nothing to do with the website’s actual performance — a trade show, a rebrand, a new financial year.

I’ve been on a lot of discovery calls where someone opens with “we need a new website.” Sometimes they’re right. The site is six years old, it’s not mobile-responsive, the brand has changed, and the user experience is genuinely causing people to leave. A redesign is the correct move.

Every week someone contacts Chillybin asking for a website redesign. New look, fresher colours, more modern feel. Totally reasonable ask. The problem is that about half the time, when I dig into what’s actually going on with the site, a redesign isn’t what they need. It’s what they think they need because nobody has ever explained the difference.

I’ve been building websites since 1998. I’ve sat across from hundreds of business owners who’ve just received a proposal, and the conversation follows a pattern so consistent I could script it. They’ve been quoted somewhere between $8,000 and $15,000. They’ve decided that feels expensive but manageable. They’ve mentally allocated the budget, maybe set a timeline, and they’re ready to go.

I have been on both sides of hundreds of discovery calls. Running Chillybin since 2009, I have sat across from clients trying to figure out whether to trust us. Before that, I was a freelancer watching agencies oversell and underdeliver. And before that, I was building sites in 1998 when the entire concept of a “web agency” barely existed.

I’ve been asked about web design pricing more times than I can count. The question usually comes in one of two forms: a prospective client who’s just received a $1,200 quote from someone on Fiverr and a $22,000 quote from an agency and genuinely cannot understand why the gap exists, or a business owner who’s been burned before and wants to know what they should have paid.