A small business website budget worksheet

Key takeaways

A website budget worksheet turns vague plans into five figures: build, content, platform, care and growth, plus VAT and a contingency. Fill it in before asking for quotes so you can share a realistic range and compare answers. Most small businesses complete it in under an hour using their goals, page list and known running costs.

• Five lines: build, content, platform, care, growth.
• Add VAT if you cannot reclaim it.
• Add a 10% contingency.
• Complete it before requesting quotes.

What is a website budget worksheet?

A website budget worksheet is a simple sheet that lists every website cost line, one-off and recurring, with a figure, an owner and a note on whether it is quoted, estimated or supplied by you. It follows the GBL five-line website budget so no cost type is forgotten.

• The five-line website budget for small businesses
• How much does a business website cost in the UK?

How do you fill in the worksheet?

Fill the worksheet in steps, starting with what the site must do and ending with totals. Use market ranges for estimates until quotes arrive.

• Step 1: write the site's goal and pages.
• Step 2: estimate build from market ranges.
• Step 3: price content you will not supply.
• Step 4: list platform costs yearly.
• Step 5: set monthly care and growth.
• Step 6: add VAT and a 10% contingency.

• Estimate your website cost in 10 minutes

What does a completed example look like?

A completed example for a ten-page service business: build £4,500, content £1,200, platform £400 a year, care £100 a month and growth £200 a month. Year one totals about £9,700 before VAT and contingency, with later years about £4,000.

• One-off: £5,700.
• Yearly running: about £4,000.
• Year one: about £9,700.

• What a small business website costs in year one

How should VAT and contingency be handled?

Add VAT at 20% to suppliers who charge it if your business cannot reclaim it. Add a contingency of about 10% of one-off costs for changes after launch. Both are often forgotten and both are real.

• Website costs and VAT: what small businesses budget

When is a worksheet overkill?

A worksheet is overkill for a self-built one-page site with known monthly fees. For anything involving a supplier, it saves time and reduces surprise costs.

What does this look like in practice?

At Global Bridge Labs (GBL), a UK veterinary practice completed the worksheet before seeking quotes and found its planned £5,000 budget covered the build but not content or care. They raised the budget to £7,500 and phased growth work, so suppliers quoted the right project first time.

• See client work
• Website Design & Development for UK businesses

Worksheet checklist

• Write the goal and page list.
• Fill each of the five lines.
• Mark quoted, estimated or supplied.
• Add VAT if not reclaimable.
• Add a 10% contingency.
• Update with real quotes.

• Website cost checklist: 20 checks before you sign
• Website cost examples from UK small businesses

Next step

Fill in the worksheet with estimates today. Share the total as a range with suppliers when you ask for quotes.