How we chose
We started from the forty-one web designers Google Maps shows across Telford. Company records were checked against the official register, and scheme claims were sourced from the registers, each firm's own website and the platforms checked; for this trade no mandatory registration applies, and the one partnership claim found stands as the firm's own word [3]. Each business must first meet our basic checks: it is who it says it is, it is trading today and can be reached, and anything it must hold by law is in place. Twelve firms met all three. We looked first at what customers say, then proven skill, then trading history and stated cover, then pricing clarity and website detail. All evidence is dated September 2026.
How to hire
Match the studio to the job before you compare prices. A brochure site of a few pages, an online shop with payments and stock, and bespoke software with logins and integrations are three different jobs at three different prices. Ask yourself whether you need WordPress, Shopify, Magento or something custom, and say so in your enquiry. A Telford shop selling across the counter needs different help from a firm selling UK-wide, so describe what you sell, who buys it, and how often the site must change.
Telford specifics change this job less than a building trade, since a website needs no council permit and no register to check. What matters locally is the shape of your business: the Gorge holds World Heritage status [9], and conservation streets in the Gorge, Wellington and six other areas affect shopfronts and signs rather than sites [8] — yet a guesthouse, attraction or gift shop there lives on bookings and photographs, so say so in your brief. Studios in this table sit mostly on business parks — Halesfield, Stafford Park, Hortonwood and Hadley — rather than the high street, so agree where to meet before you set off. If yours is a new firm, the council's Invest Telford team offers free business advice that covers going digital [7].
There is no licence register for web designers, so your checks run elsewhere. Look the limited company up on the Companies House register and confirm the name, number and address match the site you are buying from [3]. If the studio will hold customer details for you, check its entry on the Information Commissioner's data protection fee register, since organisations using personal information must pay the fee unless exempt [5]. For a .uk address, Nominet's lookup shows who holds the domain today [4]. A studio named on all three leaves you little to chase later.
Judge the work on live sites, not screenshots. Open two or three sites the studio names as its own on your phone as well as your laptop, and try the contact form and checkout yourself. Ask who did the design and the build, and whether either was subcontracted. A named past client you can call beats a testimonial page every time, so ask for one Telford business you may ring. Slow replies or dead links on the studio's own site tell you plenty.
A typical job runs from first contact to sign-off in clear stages. You send the same written brief to two studios, take a discovery call, and compare itemised proposals on scope rather than headline price. Design comes first, usually across several weeks while you approve layouts, then the build, then your content goes in, then testing and launch. UK guides put a brochure site at two to four weeks, a business site at six to ten, and a shop at eight to fourteen [10]. Your own content sets the pace more than the coding does: late words and photographs stall more jobs than any technical snag [10]. Name one decision-maker on your side for approvals, and agree what counts as a revision before design starts.
Get the quote itemised on the same written brief you send every studio. It should name the page count, whether the design is bespoke or a bought theme, which content system the site runs on, and who writes the words and supplies the photographs. It should separate design, build, content, search setup, hosting, domain, security certificate and email, then state timescales, how many revision rounds are included, what training you get, and what the monthly care plan covers after launch. Ask whether VAT is added on top, since two Telford studios in this table state VAT numbers and others may be registered.
Settle ownership and money before work starts. The quote should say in writing that the domain, the site files, the content and any logins transfer to you, with handover dates. A deposit for design time is normal; full payment before anything is live is not, so tie stages to things you can see, such as approved designs and a working test site. Keep every quote, invoice and email together. If a dispute turns serious, the consumer pages at Citizens Advice set out your options [6].
At handover, collect the paperwork that keeps the site yours. That means administrator logins, the domain transfer or control, backup arrangements, analytics access, and the support route with response times. Agree what changes the price mid-build, such as extra pages, new integrations or supplied text arriving late. Then read the care plan small print: hosting renewals, plugin updates and hourly charges for small changes decide what year two costs, not the launch invoice.
Pricing
As of autumn 2026, rough UK ranges run like this: freelancers typically charge several hundred pounds to around three thousand for a small business site, while small agencies sit between three and eight thousand, with most professionally built projects landing between fifteen hundred and six thousand [1]. A standard five-page brochure site falls between five hundred and five thousand depending on how much is bespoke [1]. In this table, Scorpio states websites from £399 and Kensa states £100 per hour — the only published figures in the round.
Shops cost more than brochures. A starter store on a ready-made theme runs two to six thousand, a custom store with bespoke design and integrations six to twenty thousand, and enterprise builds twenty thousand and beyond [2]. Platform shapes the bill: WooCommerce carries no licence fee but needs paid hosting and upkeep, Shopify folds hosting into a monthly subscription, and Magento suits large catalogues at a higher setup cost [2]. Two Telford studios in this table specialise in these builds.
Bespoke design, page count, photography, copywriting and integrations move the price most, with payment, accounting and delivery connections each adding hundreds [2]. Year two matters as much as launch: domains renew yearly, hosting and security certificates recur, and maintenance alone is commonly budgeted at a tenth to a fifth of the build cost each year [2]. Ask whether each figure includes VAT before you compare, since published guides vary and only two studios here state a VAT number.
Get the scope in writing before work starts: exact pages, platform, who supplies words and photographs, timescales, revision rounds, training, and what the care plan covers with renewal figures. Agree payment stages tied to visible milestones and keep every quote, invoice and login together. Treat a single fixed price for a large shop with no breakdown as a question, not an answer.
Custom software sits above every range on this page. A bespoke build with logins, payment or booking connections and hosting is quoted per project, with UK guides placing that work at twenty thousand pounds and beyond [10]. Integrations, data migration and testing depth move the figure most, and hosting plus support renew yearly. Only one studio in this table works at this level, so send it the full brief first.
Ongoing care is the last line of the bill to agree. Several studios in this table sell hosting, updates and small changes as a plan, so ask for its limits, its renewal figures and its response times inside the quote. Updates, certificates and renewals recur whether or not you take a plan. Judge the launch figure and the yearly care figure together, since year two decides the true cost.
Red flags
Quotes an online shop without asking how many products, which payments, or which delivery and accounting connections you need.
Will not say whether the design is bespoke or a bought theme, or show you a live site built on it.
Trades as a limited company whose name, number and address you cannot match on the Companies House register [3].
Registers your domain in its own name with no written transfer agreed for handover [4].
Asks for full payment before anything is live, with no staged payments tied to visible milestones.
Promises a fixed position on Google as part of the build price.
Will not put who owns the site, the content and the domain, plus the support terms, in writing.
Shows screenshots but no live site you can open on your own phone.
Cannot name a past client you may call.
Corrections and business responses
Tell us what needs checking, or ask to claim a listing and reply to an assessment.