What a website should actually cost a small business in Victoria
Quotes for the same five-page site range from $500 to $15,000. Here's what's actually inside those numbers, and how to tell which one you're being handed.
S Read article →Local to Sunbury 3429
Melbourne agencies quote eight grand. I'm up the road, and I start at $890.
A custom-designed website for your trade, shop or clinic — with a news section you update yourself and a contact form that actually reaches you. Built by someone you can meet for a coffee on Evans Street.
- Microsoft Certified Professional
- Live in two to three weeks
- You own everything, day one
Every site, every price
What you get, whichever package you pick
None of this is an optional extra or an upsell halfway through. It's the floor.
A design drawn for you
Nobody else gets your layout. I don't buy a theme, swap the logo and send you an invoice.
Built for a phone first
Most people will find you on a phone in a carpark. That's the screen your site is designed on before any other.
News you can post yourself
A finished job, a price change, closing over Christmas. Write it, press publish, done. No developer, no fee.
A form that reaches you
Enquiries go straight to your inbox, with a copy kept on the site in case your email plays up.
Found on Google
Titles, descriptions, sitemap and your Google Business Profile all set up properly on day one, not sold as an extra.
Fast on bad reception
No bloated page builders. Your site loads in about a second on 4G out past Bulla, where half your customers are.
Pricing
Three packages. Real numbers.
Most web shops make you fill in a form to find out what they charge. Here's what I charge.
Starter
For a business that just needs to be findable and contactable.
from $890 + GST
- Up to 5 pages
- A design drawn for you, not a bought theme
- Built for a phone screen first
- Contact form that lands in your inbox
- Set up so Google can find you
Most people pick this
Business
For a business that wants to post news, jobs and photos as it goes.
from $1,690 + GST
- Everything in Starter
- Up to 12 pages
- News section you update yourself
- Google Business Profile set up properly
- Photo gallery or service list
- Three months of small changes included
Business + AI
For a business drowning in enquiries, half of which are junk.
from $2,490 + GST
- Everything in Business
- One AI extra, wired up and tested
- Half a day of training so you can run it
- Twelve months of small changes included
Care plan — optional, and cancel any time
Hosting, your domain renewal, the security certificate, nightly backups, software updates, and small text or photo changes whenever you need them. Without it you're welcome to host the site yourself — it's yours either way.
$39/month
Prices exclude GST and are a starting point for a site that size. You'll get a fixed quote in writing before I start any work, and it doesn't move once we've agreed it.
Optional extras
The AI bits, in plain English
I consult on AI for a living, which mostly means telling people which parts of it are worth paying for. These four are. Each is about $290 to add, and none of them will ever send anything to a customer without you seeing it first.
Lead filtering
Every enquiry gets read and sorted before it reaches you. Real jobs come through marked urgent, tyre-kickers go in a list you read on Sunday, spam never arrives at all.
Email collection
A signup people actually use, plus a monthly email drafted from your own news posts. It lands in your drafts for you to check and send — never sent behind your back.
After-hours replies
Someone enquires at nine at night. They get a useful reply in under a minute, in your words and with your prices, and you pick it up in the morning.
Review requests
A polite follow-up a few days after the job, asking happy customers for a Google review. It's the cheapest marketing a local business has and almost nobody does it.
How it works
Three steps, two to three weeks
A chat, no charge
Twenty minutes over a coffee on Evans Street, or on the phone if that's easier. I'll tell you what I'd build and what it would cost. If a website isn't what you need, I'll tell you that instead.
A design to look at
Within a week you'll see a real design of your actual site, with your photos and your words in it. Changes are expected at this stage — that's what it's for.
Live, and yours
I build it, we check it together on your own phone, and it goes live. You get every login the same day. The site is yours whether or not you stay with me.
SD
Stuart Dobson
Web developer & AI consultant, Sunbury
- Microsoft Certified Professional
- AI consultant to Australian businesses
- Every site built and supported by me
Who builds it
Hello — I'm Stuart.
I'm a Microsoft Certified Professional and I consult on AI for businesses around Melbourne. I also live in Sunbury, and I kept noticing the same thing: good local operators with either no website at all, or one a relative built in 2014 that nobody can update.
The city agencies will happily quote them $8,000 for it. That number isn't the developer's time — it's an office in Collins Street, an account manager and a sales team. Strip all that out and the same site is a fraction of the price.
So that's the whole business. I build the site, I answer the phone, and I'm ten minutes away if something breaks.
Guides
Straight answers for local business owners
No jargon and no sales pitch — things worth knowing whether or not you ever hire me.
Your Google Business Profile matters more than your website — at first
For a local trade or shop, the free Google listing usually brings in more work than the website does. It takes an afternoon to fix, and most businesses have never touched theirs.
S Read article →Where AI actually helps a local business — and where it doesn't
I consult on AI for a living, which mostly means telling people not to buy things. Here's the short list of what genuinely earns its keep for a small local business, and the longer list of what doesn't.
S Read article →Before you ask
The questions everyone asks
Do I actually own the site?
Yes. The domain is registered in your name, and you get every login on the day it goes live. If you ever leave, you take the whole site with you and I'll help you move it.
Am I locked into a contract?
No. The care plan is month to month and you can stop it whenever you like. There's no exit fee and nothing is held hostage.
Why is this so much cheaper than a Melbourne agency?
No office in the CBD, no account managers, no sales team taking a cut. You deal with me from the first chat to the day it goes live. The work is the same; the overheads aren't.
What if I need changes later?
Small text and photo changes are covered by the care plan — email me and they're usually done that day. Anything bigger gets quoted before I start, so you'll never get a surprise invoice.
How long does it take?
Two to three weeks for most sites, from our first chat to going live. The slow part is almost always gathering photos and words, so I'll help you with that rather than waiting.
Do you only work in Sunbury?
Sunbury first, but I look after businesses across Diggers Rest, Bulla, Gisborne, Riddells Creek, Romsey and the Macedon Ranges. If you can meet me for a coffee, you're local enough.
Let's have a coffee about it.
Tell me what your business does and what's frustrating you about being online. I'll tell you what I'd build and what it would cost. No charge, and no follow-up unless you ask for one.
Serving Sunbury, Diggers Rest, Bulla, Gisborne, Riddells Creek, Romsey and the Macedon Ranges.