Ask three questions about your current site. Is the content still right? Does it work well on a phone? Is the thing it is built on still healthy?
Your three answers point at one of four outcomes.
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Website redesign vs rebuild: how to tell which you need
The working test
Three yeses: you do not need us. Keep it, update it, spend the money on something else. We mean it.
Content wrong, rest fine: that is a refresh, not a project. Our care plans include small content updates.
Content fine, looks or mobile failing: redesign territory. Keep the words and structure, rebuild the presentation.
Platform sick (slow, hacked, plugin roulette, scared to press update): rebuild. Patching a sick platform is renovating a house with wet foundations.
Why rebuilds are less scary than they sound
The expensive part of your current site (the words, the photos, the structure, the Google history) survives the move. A rebuild done properly keeps every old address redirected to its new home so you do not lose the search rankings you have earned.
That redirect work is boring and invisible, and skipping it is how businesses lose years of Google trust in a week. It is a standard part of every rebuild we do.
Village Pilates is what this looks like in practice: a rebrand-driven full rebuild, 50+ pages, and the site now runs bookings, enquiries, blog and events daily.
Five signs the platform is sick
1/
You are scared to press the update button
Because something broke last time.
2/
Pages take more than three seconds on your own phone
Your customers' phones are not faster than yours.
3/
Your designer left and nobody else wants to touch it
That reluctance is professional judgement. Listen to it.
4/
Adding a simple page needs a quote
Routine changes should be routine.
5/
You pay for plugins whose names you do not recognise
Two or more of these signs and you are not maintaining a website, you are subsidising one.
What each one costs.
- Refresh: often nothing beyond a care plan (from $97/month)
- Redesign or rebuild: same range as a new build with us, most projects between $1,900 and $3,800, refreshes and one-pagers from $700
- Not sure? An audit from $450 gives you the honest answer in writing, credited if we do the rebuild
Market-wide, redesigns quote at 60 to 100 percent of a new build, because the expensive work is thinking and structure, not reusing old pixels.
How long each takes
A refresh happens inside a care plan in days. A redesign or rebuild with us runs the same 1 to 3 weeks as a new build, because most of the thinking (your services, your proof, your Google history) already exists and just needs restructuring.
The step owners expect to be slow, moving the content, is the quick part. The step they expect to be quick, deciding what the new site should say differently, is where the value is.
The full cost breakdown lives in its own post: website redesign cost: what you'll actually pay. If you are in Sydney, our website redesign service is the front door; Adelaide businesses have their own page.
Redesign vs rebuild FAQs
How do I know if I need a redesign or a rebuild?
Content, mobile, platform. If only the looks are dated, redesign. If the platform itself is slow or fragile, rebuild.
Will I lose my Google rankings if I rebuild?
Not if every old page address is properly redirected to its new home. Ask any web designer how they handle redirects before you hire them. Hesitation is your answer.
Is it cheaper to fix my current website?
Sometimes, and when it is, that is what we will tell you. The audit fee is credited if a rebuild does turn out to be the answer.
More insights
Rather just talk it through?
Twenty minutes, straight answers, no obligation to proceed.
No pressure, no perfect brief needed.
Book a free 20-minute chat/ Written by Manon Vernay, founder of Creative Baguette · her story