Website redesign: when to refresh, when to rebuild, what it costs

Your website was fine when it launched. Now you wince slightly when you send someone the link. The photos are old, the prices are wrong on one page, and it looks distinctly 2021 on a phone.

So, redesign. But “redesign” covers two very different jobs at two very different costs, and plenty of owners buy the expensive one when the cheap one would have done. Let’s sort out which you actually need.

Refresh or rebuild? The difference in plain English

A website refresh keeps your existing site and updates what’s on it. New photos, rewritten copy, updated prices, a tidied homepage, maybe a new page or two. The structure, platform and design bones stay.

A website rebuild replaces the site. New design, new structure, often a new platform, with your content moved over (and usually rewritten on the way). The domain stays, everything else changes.

The refresh is a haircut. The rebuild is moving house. A “redesign” quote can secretly be either, so pin it down before you compare prices.

When a refresh is enough

A refresh is the right call when the foundations are sound. Broadly, that means:

• The site is less than three or four years old and was built properly at the time.
• It works well on a phone. Not just shrinks to fit, actually works.
• It loads quickly. If it doesn’t, find out why before spending anything, because slow usually has a specific cause. Our post on why websites load slowly covers the usual three culprits.
• The problem is the content: dated photos, waffly copy, missing services, wrong prices.

If that’s you, a refresh might be a day or two of work. On our managed plans, small ongoing changes are already included (30 to 60 minutes of edits a month depending on tier), and bigger one-off refresh jobs are £50 an hour, quoted before we start. A meaningful refresh often lands in the low hundreds, not the thousands.

One warning: a refresh cannot fix structure. If the site is slow or built on a creaking DIY platform, new photos are lipstick. Which brings us to rebuilds.

When you need a rebuild

Rebuild when one or more of these is true:

• The site isn’t mobile-friendly. Most local browsing happens on phones now. If your site fights the thumb, you’re losing people silently.
• It’s slow and the cause is the platform or theme itself, not a fixable setting.
• It was DIY and you’ve hit the ceiling. The Wix or GoDaddy site got you started, then became the handbrake. Our post on website builder regrets covers the complaints we hear most.
• Your business has changed. New services, new area, new positioning. Renovating an old structure around a new business usually costs more than starting clean.
• You can’t edit it. If updating a price means begging the bloke who built it in 2019, the site is effectively frozen.

Two or more of those, and refreshing is decorating a house you’re about to leave.

What a redesign actually costs

Here’s the honest breakdown. MarketingDone4U publishes prices, so we’ll use ours as the worked example; for the wider market picture, our guide to UK website costs compares the routes.

The monthly route means a rebuild has no big upfront cost, which changes the maths for a lot of small businesses. Being straight about how it works: it’s a managed monthly service with a minimum 12-month term, hosting and professional email are included, MarketingDone4U owns the website unless you buy it out (buyout available), support is by email or ticket, and anything outside the plan’s scope is £50 an hour. A rebuild goes live in 7 working days once we have your completed form, content and access details. Full details are on our pricing page.

The migration bit that protects your Google rankings

This is where redesigns quietly go wrong, so read this even if you skim the rest.

If your current site gets any traffic from Google, a rebuild has to handle the old pages deliberately:

1. Redirects. Every old page address should point to its new equivalent. Delete pages without redirects and Google (and anyone with an old link) hits a dead end.
2. Keep what works. If one page brings in enquiries, carry its content over rather than replacing it out of boredom.
3. Expect a wobble. Rankings can dip for a few weeks after any rebuild, then recover and improve if the new site is genuinely faster and better structured.

Ask whoever quotes your redesign how they handle redirects. A blank look means keep shopping. (For what good looks like at each price point, start with our small business website design guide.)

A quick decision checklist

Answer honestly:

1. Is the site under 4 years old and mobile-friendly? Yes to both: refresh.
2. Is it slow, DIY, or impossible to edit? Yes to any: rebuild.
3. Has the business itself changed shape since launch? Yes: rebuild.
4. Is the only real problem the words and pictures? Yes: refresh.
5. Still unsure? Get both options quoted and explained. A company that only ever recommends the expensive one is telling you something too.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a website redesign cost in the UK?

It depends on whether you need a refresh or a rebuild. A content refresh on a sound site might be a few hours at £50 an hour. A full rebuild with MarketingDone4U costs from £99 a month on a managed plan with a 12-month minimum term, hosting and email included.

How often should a business redesign its website?

There’s no fixed schedule. A well-built site with fresh content can run five years or more, while a poorly built one needs replacing sooner. Judge it on function, not age: if it’s slow, awkward on phones or misrepresenting your business, it’s due regardless of the calendar.

Will redesigning my website affect my Google rankings?

It can, temporarily, which is why redirects matter. Every old page address should point to its new equivalent so Google and existing links don’t hit dead ends. Expect a possible wobble for a few weeks, then improvement if the new site is faster and better structured than the old one.

Can I keep my domain name if I rebuild my website?

Yes, always. Your domain is separate from your website and moves with you. A rebuild changes what visitors see when they arrive, not the address they type. If anyone tells you a rebuild means losing your domain, ask more questions, because that’s a red flag, not a rule.

Is it cheaper to fix my old website or start again?

For content problems on a sound site, fixing is cheaper. For structural problems (slow platform, no mobile support, unedited since 2020), starting again usually costs less than dragging an old site up to standard, especially on a monthly plan where the rebuild is spread rather than paid upfront.