A custom company website from Novamedia starts at 80 hours, which is ISK 1,430,400 excluding VAT at our hourly rate of ISK 17,880. That is a realistic starting point for a site with its own design, a content management system and a solid technical foundation. Whether the final price lands close to that figure or well above it depends on what the site has to do, not on how many pages appear in the sitemap.
This article covers what such a site includes, which factors raise the price most, how to keep the first release lean, and what running costs follow once the site is live. The aim is to help you size your own project before you ask anyone for a quote.
What the starting price covers
At around 80 hours a project can include discovery, content architecture, custom design of key pages, a custom frontend in Next.js or Vue, a headless CMS, forms, technical SEO and analytics. That is often enough for a single-language company site with a clear structure, a small number of page types and content that is largely ready.
A headless CMS stores content in a separate system and the frontend fetches it through an API. Staff edit text, images and news in a simple interface, while the look and speed come from the custom frontend. The benefit is a fast site and full design freedom. The trade-off is that every new content type has to be defined and built, and that takes time.
What moves the price most
- The number of content types matters more than the number of pages. Twenty pages built on one template cost less than six pages that are all different.
- Each language adds CMS setup, testing and content work. A properly localized version, rather than a word-for-word translation, also needs writing time.
- Integrations with accounting, CRM, booking or inventory systems are often the largest single cost item, especially when the other system has a limited or poorly documented API.
- Login, customer portals, checkout or other functionality beyond a brochure site turns the website into a web application, with matching demands on security and testing.
- Importing data from an old site, such as a news archive or product catalogue, can be quick or slow depending on how well the data is structured.
- Copy and imagery. If content is not ready when the build starts, the work stalls and the cost rises.
How scope grows in practice
It helps to think in three tiers. The figures below are calculated purely from the hourly rate to show the order of magnitude. They are illustrations, not quotes.
- A single-language company site with a CMS, forms and analytics can often be scoped close to the starting point, around 80 to 100 hours, or roughly ISK 1.4 to 1.8 million excluding VAT.
- A two-language site with more content types, for example people, projects and news, plus one simple integration might fall between 120 and 200 hours, or roughly ISK 2.1 to 3.6 million excluding VAT.
- A site with login, bookings or a connection to a bespoke system has become a web application. Its scope is set by discovery rather than general benchmarks.
Keeping the first release lean
The most common reason a web project runs over budget is not technology but the wish list. Everything that would be nice to have goes into the first release, and content decisions drag on. A better approach is to define what the site must do on launch day and keep the rest on a prioritized backlog.
- Decide which three to five tasks the site must handle for visitors, such as finding a service, booking a time or sending an enquiry.
- Let a few templates carry many pages instead of designing each page individually.
- Have content ready, or at least planned, before design begins.
- Where it is unclear whether an integration pays off, start with a manual step and connect the systems in a later phase.
- Appoint one person who makes decisions about content and priorities.
When a custom site is the wrong choice
Not every business needs a custom-built website. If what you need is a straightforward company site that has to go live quickly, a subscription can be the better deal. Vefsíða, a Novamedia brand, offers custom-designed websites and online stores on a monthly subscription for small and mid-sized businesses, and Model AI generates a complete Icelandic website from a description of your business in minutes. For e-commerce, a ready-made platform such as Cartico may be enough.
Custom work pays off when the website is part of how the business runs: when it takes bookings, connects to internal systems, needs an experience templates cannot deliver, or when speed and accessibility have a direct effect on sales.
Running costs start at launch
A website needs hosting, security updates, backups and monitoring. At Novamedia, Essential operations costs ISK 24,900 per month excluding VAT and suits websites and simpler web systems. It includes hosting and an SSL certificate, domain and DNS management, daily backups, round-the-clock uptime monitoring and monthly security updates. A web system with a database is a better fit for System operations at ISK 59,900 per month.
Changes and new features after launch go either on the hourly rate or on a monthly hours plan of 10, 20 or 40 hours. You can also buy the site as a 24-month partnership, where the first release and ongoing development are planned together. For a website that means up to 80 hours for the first release and 12 hours per quarter for improvements.
Common questions
Can we get a fixed price? Yes, once the scope is defined. Scope and price are confirmed in writing before work starts, and if new requirements change the scope, the impact is discussed before any additional work begins.
Can we update the content ourselves? Yes, that is usually part of the project. The CMS is set up so staff can change text, images and news without help from a developer.
Who owns the website? Data and content always belong to the client. Code handover and ownership are defined in the contract before the project begins.
Can you take over a site someone else built? Yes. It starts with a fixed-price technical review, 4 hours or ISK 71,520 excluding VAT, so both sides know what is being taken on.
How to get started
If the scope is fairly clear, it is enough to describe the project: goals, main pages, languages and the systems the site has to connect to. That is enough for a realistic estimate. If there is more uncertainty, for example around integrations or whether the site is really a web application, Discovery and planning is a sensible first phase. It costs a fixed ISK 214,560 for 12 hours and delivers prioritized recommendations, an indicative scope, phases and a cost estimate before you invest in a build.