In Sydney in 2026, a custom website you own outright starts at $6,000 + GST, with larger scopes fixed-quoted in writing. That gets you a commercial site with mobile call, quote form, and analytics. Heavy suburb pages, integrations and custom quoting push the quote up, and the number is agreed in writing before any work starts.
Templates are fast for the seller, not for you. You often do not own the codebase, you cannot add suburb pages without fighting the platform, and performance is averaged across thousands of sites.
When Google rewards speed and clarity, a slow template with a buried phone number costs you calls every month — that is the hidden line item no quote mentions.
Click-to-call on every page, a quote form with validation, basic measurement (so you know what works), hosting on fast infrastructure, and handover you control — domain, DNS, and repo access.
I write fixed scope before deposit. If it is not in writing, it is not in the price.
Suburb SEO pages, CRM hooks, booking systems, and multi-office NAP are worth paying for when you have the ops to answer the leads.
If you are not ready to respond within a business day, fix that before buying fifty landing pages — traffic without response is wasted money.