Dear Designer: How Much Should I Charge for a Squarespace Website?
When I started building Squarespace websites, I charged anywhere from free to $5,000. At one point, ilovecreatives Studio charged almost $50,000 for a Squarespace website.
Whoa, Puno. Big flex! Once you charge one client $50,000, you can charge every client $50,000, right? Pfffhhh. I wish! The other week, I did a project for $2,000 because the work was simple and the client didn’t have a larger budget.
Your prices don’t always move in one direction. Sometimes you want the project or need the income. The price reflects what the project requires, a.k.a. the scope of work and why you’re saying yes to it.
Pricing a Squarespace website can be a little more straightforward than pricing a fully custom website. Most clients aren’t asking you to build every feature from scratch. Fluid Engine and the newer Squarespace block features give us more room for custom layouts, animations, and code, but most of your hours will still go toward designing pages, adding content, and responding to feedback.
If you feel like websites take a really long time to build, that doesn’t mean you’re bad at it. When I first started, a simple one-page website could take me 20 hours. Now, I could probably finish one in about 10 hours depending on the client’s feedback and how quickly I can get to a design I like.
As you design and build more, you’ll probably get faster. And if you don’t, maybe that’s how you roll! Track your time either way.
Track your time before you trust your estimate
Time is the cost of a service business.
Break the project into tasks and estimate each one in a spreadsheet. I prefer building tasks that take about an hour. If four-hour chunks are more realistic for you, that’s fine. But if you keep burning out, create smaller subtasks. Write down your estimate before you start, then record the actual time when you finish.
After a few projects, you’ll start to know approximately how long it takes you to design a homepage, build an interior page, add content, or work through a feedback round. Those averages become the baseline for your next estimate.
You can also put the spreadsheet into your preferred AI tool and ask it to compare your estimates with your actuals. Use the results to determine where you’re consistently going over time and which tasks you’re completing faster. This information is more useful than another designer’s rate because it’s based on the way you work.
If you’re still figuring out your hourly rate, I have a spreadsheet called “Do the Math.” It calculates the rate you need based on the income you want, your business expenses, and your time off.
The math is for you. The client doesn’t need to see this calculation. You present them with one project fee.
Tell the client exactly what they’re purchasing
Your scope should specify the exact number of pages, design directions, and revision rounds included. This protects your time and gives your client a clear understanding of what they’re buying.
If your client asks for another revision round, additional pages, SEO support, a formal accessibility audit, or a feature that wasn’t originally included, you can say, “Yes, we can add that. It will cost this much.” Ask them to approve the overage before you begin the new work.
I used to do extra work because I wanted to be nice. Or, let’s be real, I wanted to avoid an awkward conversation. As I kept working, I would start building resentment toward a client who didn’t know I had crossed my own boundary. Check out my tips for avoiding client resentment.
A lower price isn’t always the wrong price
Some of our students get really bummed when they think they charged too little.
I still charge “too little” sometimes. It depends on what season I’m in. In the beginning, I didn’t have the confidence to ask for more. That’s okay. At some point, you’ll try a higher price.
Sometimes I need the money. Other times, I want to help a client. Know why you’re accepting the price and be real about whether or not you’ll resent it.
Any proposal can turn into a negotiation. Try asking for the higher rate. If the client can’t meet it, you can reduce the scope, change the timeline, or decide whether the project still makes sense for you.
The next time you have to price a project
Let’s say you have a project proposal due and you haven’t been tracking your time. What are you gonna do?
First, open a timer and start tracking now. That's literally the first step.
And I’m gonna tell you, I’m horrible at tracking my time. I forget all the time. Sometimes I have to go back and piece it together from my calendar, emails, and whatever else I can find. It might not be the best data, but it’s still data.
The goal is to stop pulling numbers out of thin air. Don’t choose $5,000 or $10,000 because it sounds like a nice big number. Back it up. Be confident about what it will actually cost you to complete the work. Then you can start adding a profit margin and adjusting the price based on the client, the scope, and why you want the project.
I could go on and on about pricing, and I do in my Squarespace Design Course. But when students come to me because they don’t know what to charge, this is usually the piece they’re missing. I can help you think through your rate, your scope, and pricing for profit, but I need something to work with.
Open the timer and get that data, baby!
Related resources:
