What decides the cost
Four things move a figure inside those bands, and a page count is not one of them.
- How much of the position is still to be found. A business that knows who it is for and why they choose it is buying a brand and a site. One that does not is buying the thinking first, and that is where the value is.
- The ground the brand has to cover: a van, a site and a quote template, or a sector that has to take the business seriously.
- Whether the work is measured after launch. A site that is launched and left costs less than one with a baseline taken before and the numbers read after. The second is the one that pays for itself.
- Who does the thinking. A consultant who decides the position and then hands you to a builder costs one fee; one who builds what they recommend costs one fee too, and the position survives the build.
What the published prices leave out
Above the floor, most New Zealand firms publish no price at all. The guides that do publish bands are mostly written by web and brand sellers, so read them as the market's view of itself. What none of them publish is a client's result against a baseline, which is the only figure that tells you whether the price was worth paying.
The cost that is never on a price list is the cost of the gap: the lost quotes, the missed calls, the work that came down to price, every month the position stays as it is. For most owner-led businesses it is larger than the build.