A WordPress redesign budget should distinguish three purchases: a visual refresh within the existing theme, a substantial redesign of the site, and a replacement of the underlying build. They can look similar in a proposal but involve different work. The figures below show how an illustrative £1,500 refresh can become a £6,060 commitment over three years, while a more expensive initial rebuild may remove costs or constraints that would otherwise continue.
These are planning examples, not UK market averages or Smartcon Works quotations. The useful question is what your particular site needs to retain, replace and maintain. Before commissioning another WordPress redesign, also establish whether you still need its publishing system.
What kind of WordPress redesign are you buying?
A cosmetic refresh
A refresh keeps the working theme, page builder, content structure and most functions. The designer may improve typography, spacing, colours, image treatment and a few layouts. This can be sensible when the website already explains the business well and the technology remains supported.
It does not necessarily remove slow plugins, awkward editing conventions or a confusing service hierarchy. Ask the supplier to identify the retained components. If every requested layout needs an exception to the theme, the apparent saving may disappear into workarounds.
A substantial redesign
This changes the way information is organised and presented while retaining WordPress. It may include a new theme, revised templates, rewritten service pages and a simpler plugin setup. Content stored in ordinary posts and fields may transfer reasonably cleanly; pages assembled with a particular builder can need manual reconstruction.
Count reusable layouts separately from individual pages. One service template populated twenty times is different from twenty bespoke layouts, but both still need content checking. Include search results, archive pages, form messages and mobile navigation in the scope where they exist.
A complete rebuild
A rebuild replaces the implementation. It might use a clean WordPress installation with a bespoke theme, or move to a custom-coded site with a separately chosen editing arrangement. Neither approach requires changing the domain or every URL. The cost lies in recreating the functions you actually need and transferring useful content safely.
Our general UK redesign cost guide covers the wider scope questions. The additional issue here is whether the existing WordPress setup is an asset worth retaining or a dependency you are paying to carry forward.
Before you pay to redesign WordPress, do you still need WordPress?
Look at the work your team has done in the last year. Who signed in? What did they change? Did they publish articles every week, or ask a developer to replace a telephone number twice? A CMS has commercial value when people use its capabilities. Its presence on the current site is not, by itself, a requirement for the next one.
A relatively stable B2B site can suit a lean custom-coded architecture: defined service pages, selected projects, approved technical information and a straightforward enquiry route. The frontend can be built around those tasks without a general-purpose theme or plugins for functions the business does not use. Direct control of HTML and layout can also make accessibility and performance requirements easier to implement deliberately.
That is a reason to investigate, not a guarantee. Custom sites still depend on hosting, build tools, forms and any connected services. They need maintenance and an agreed route for changes. If the only person able to deploy the site is its original developer, a small codebase has not solved supplier dependence.
Keeping WordPress is often sensible for regular publishing, multiple nontechnical editors, an established approval workflow or important integrations that already work. Recreating those capabilities elsewhere may cost more than repairing the present implementation. A well-built WordPress site can be fast, accessible and straightforward to operate.
Try this practical test: ask each supplier to demonstrate how your team would add a case study, replace a document and correct a service description. Record the time, permissions and outside help required. Our WordPress and custom-coded comparison helps turn that exercise into an architecture decision.
The quote should expose WordPress-specific work
Request an inventory of the active theme, child theme, page builder, plugins and external connections. For each, record its purpose, licence holder, renewal date and replacement plan. An agency-owned licence may cease to cover your site when you leave; a plugin that appears redundant may still handle a form or redirect.
Migration should name the records being moved: pages, posts, categories, media, custom fields and downloads. Ask who checks embedded images, links inside copy, formatting and unpublished material. An export file is a starting input, not proof that the new pages are complete.
Keep useful URLs wherever practical. Where addresses must change, allow for an old-to-new map, relevant redirects and post-launch checks. Google’s site-move guidance treats preparation, mapping and monitoring as distinct tasks. A plugin installation alone does not complete them, and nobody can guarantee unchanged rankings.
For performance and accessibility, specify acceptance work: representative page tests, keyboard navigation, readable mobile content and usable form errors. Ask whether the supplier will examine third-party scripts and large media as well as the theme. A new design cannot compensate for every expensive external widget.
A three-year total-cost comparison
The following hypothetical scenarios concern a small established business with approved copy, one enquiry form and occasional updates. All amounts are in pounds sterling, excluding VAT. They are chosen to demonstrate the calculation, not to describe typical prices or an available package.
On smaller screens, scroll across to read all columns.
| Cost | Retained-theme refresh | WordPress rebuild | Custom-coded rebuild |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial work | £1,500 | £4,200 | £4,800 |
| Hosting and technical care per month | £90 | £110 | £45 |
| Separate licences per year | £120 | £180 | £0 assumed |
| Domain renewal per year | £20 | £20 | £20 |
| Content changes per year | £300 | £300 | £600 |
| Three-year total | £6,060 | £9,660 | £8,280 |
The calculation is: initial work + 36 monthly charges + three annual licence, domain and content allowances. For the custom-coded example: £4,800 + £1,620 + £60 + £1,800 = £8,280.
The refresh includes limited layout changes and testing but retains the current structure. Both rebuild examples assume agreed layouts, transfer of a small content set, URL checks and launch testing. The WordPress rebuild retains editor access; the custom example assumes changes through a developer and therefore allows more for content work. Hosting and care are bundled in each monthly figure, so they must not be counted again.
New copywriting, photography, ecommerce, extensive archives, CRM work and internal staff time are excluded. The totals assume unchanged annual prices and no major incidents. They also do not make the refresh equivalent to a rebuild: if the retained structure cannot meet the brief, its lower total does not solve the problem.
Test the assumptions that could reverse the result
If the custom site needs a CMS costing an illustrative £1,600 to integrate and £20 a month to operate, its three-year total becomes £10,600. Conversely, a simple WordPress build may need fewer paid licences or less support than this example. Replace every allowance with a supplier’s actual scope and your expected publishing workload before drawing a conclusion.
Ask whether VAT applies and how it affects your cash budget; these examples exclude it throughout. Also check introductory hosting prices, renewal increases, annual prepayment and whether support covers recovery or only investigation. Our maintenance cost guide explains what those recurring lines should buy.
Maintenance continues after the new design launches
WordPress core, plugins and themes need an update policy. The official WordPress update guidance recommends a backup before updating. For a business site, establish who checks the important journeys afterwards and who can restore service if something fails.
A custom-coded site may remove the live WordPress application and its plugin update workload. It does not remove domain renewals, account security, form delivery checks or updates to dependencies and connected services. The maintenance advantage depends on the architecture actually delivered, rather than the phrase “custom code”.
Six questions to send with the brief
- Which current components would you retain, and which problems would remain?
- What content and URLs are included in migration, and who checks them?
- How would our team complete its three most common editing tasks?
- Which performance, accessibility and enquiry checks are included?
- What are the three-year recurring costs, exclusions and licence arrangements?
- What files, accounts and instructions would a replacement supplier receive?
Smartcon Works builds custom-coded business websites because focused scope and direct control of the frontend suit the businesses we serve. If that fits your requirements, our website redesign approach is a useful next step. If publishing workflows are central to your operation, make preserving them a condition of the brief.