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Comparison

Website refresh vs. hiring a web agency

Agencies are great at building bespoke products from scratch. If your site is outdated but your content works, you are paying for a lot of process you do not need.

Web Agency
Zombie Rebuild
Price
$15k–$60k
$5k–$12k fixed
Timeline
2–5 months
3–5 business days
Content work
Weeks of meetings
Zero. We use yours.
Revision rounds
2–3 included
Not needed (it's your content)
Scope creep risk
High
None. Fixed price.
What you get
A website
Your site, modernized
Codebase
Locked in CMS
Production Next.js you own
ADA / WCAG 2.1
Optional add-on, billed separately
AA compliant. Built in.
Deposit
30–50% upfront
50% to start, rest on delivery

ADA compliance is not optional

Courts have consistently held that business websites fall under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The DOJ finalized WCAG 2.1 AA rules in 2024. Thousands of ADA website lawsuits are filed every year, and professional services firms are a primary target because of the high-value nature of their clients.

Most agencies treat accessibility as billable scope: an audit phase, a remediation phase, and a sign-off phase, each with its own line item. Our output meets WCAG 2.1 AA by default. Proper heading structure, keyboard navigation, focus management, color contrast, screen reader compatibility. It is part of what we deliver, not an add-on you negotiate into the contract.

Why the gap is so big

Agencies start from zero. We start from what you have.

A web agency needs to understand your brand, conduct strategy workshops, write or edit your copy, design from a blank canvas, and iterate through approval rounds. All of that is expensive, and rightfully so. We skip all of it. Your content exists. Your brand exists. We modernize the execution.

You are not their only client.

Agency projects stretch across months because your project competes for attention with their other work. Our pipeline is automated. When you approve, we start. The site ships in days because it is built to ship in days.

Fixed price means zero negotiation.

Agency contracts include change-order clauses for a reason. When you decide you want to add a page, or swap a section, the scope expands and the price follows. Our scope is simple: your existing site, refreshed. The price you see is the price you pay.

When an agency is the right call

  • You are building something with no existing website to draw from
  • You need a full rebrand with new positioning and messaging strategy
  • Your site requires complex custom functionality (booking systems, portals, e-commerce)
  • You have six months and $30k+ budgeted

If none of that sounds like you, a refresh is probably the right move.

Free scan

See your site refreshed before you pay anything

Scan your URL for free. If it qualifies, we show you a refreshed homepage before you commit to a penny.

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