How much does a web site cost? You might have no idea. In fact you can go to any search engine and look for "web design prices". You will find most web designers charge around the same. Generally the cost per hour is $50 to $60. In this area I have seen as low as $45 and as high as $80. If you see anything a lot lower, check where they are located. They may reside in an area with a lower cost of living.
I charge $50 per hour. If I am quoting a new site I simply try to approximate how many hours the site will take. A very basic 5 page site should take a full day and cost about $500.
I also try to quote based on the number of pages, images, and other files. The going rate seems to be $125 per page plus $40 per scan or pdf.
Many design firms do not list their prices. It seems that if you have to ask you probably can not afford them. If you are looking for a comprehensive, integrated, cutting edge web site, then they might be your best option. If you are looking to spend a reasonable amout of money, then a single person designer might be more practical.
If you have an existing site that is not all that you want it to be, would could perform an sitendectomy for you.
How much would that cost? I would simply calculate how many hours it would take to redesign the site. I would take your existing text and pictures. I would then put those into a up to date and functional web design. I timed the process on two recent requests. One was a very basic five page template site. The other was and older looking site with six pages. Both sites took less than two hours to complete. So we would charge $100 to redesign the site. If you wanted us to upload the sites for you, add additional pages, add additional pictures, etc., we would add the appropriate charge.
If you want us to handle your domain registration and hosting as well, our charge will be lower. We appreciate that a $500 down payment can be a lot for a small business. If you have us do the hosting for you, we spread the difference into your monthly bill.