Do web developers charge VAT on website fixes?

VAT-registered businesses must add 20% VAT to their prices, and most agencies are registered. Many freelancers are below the registration threshold and do not charge VAT. Always ask whether a quoted price includes VAT.

Is it cheaper to rebuild a website than to fix it?

Rarely for a single fault. A rebuild becomes worth considering when the site has many problems at once, runs on a theme or plugins that are no longer maintained, or needs a fix that would cost a large share of the price of a new site.

Should I pay for a website fix up front?

Practices vary. Freelancers often ask for a deposit from new clients, agencies usually invoice after the work or bill against a retainer, and fixed-price services normally take payment when you accept the quote. Check what happens to your money if the problem cannot be fixed.

Guides / Any website

How much does it cost to fix a website in the UK?

By the WebFixed team. Last updated 21 September 2026.

The short answer

Most small website fixes in the UK cost somewhere between £40 and £300, depending on who does the work and how they charge. Freelancers commonly charge £25 to £75 an hour, agencies commonly charge £75 to £150 an hour plus VAT with a minimum booking, and fixed-price fix services quote a set amount for the job before starting. The final bill is driven mostly by how long the problem takes to diagnose, so the safest way to control cost is to ask for a fixed quote or an agreed cap in writing before any work begins.

The three ways website fixes are priced

Hourly freelancer. UK freelance web developers commonly charge between £25 and £75 an hour, and experienced specialists in Shopify or WooCommerce can charge £100 an hour or more. Many freelancers are below the VAT registration threshold, so there may be no VAT to add. You pay for the time taken, whatever that turns out to be.
Agency hourly rate or retainer. Agencies commonly charge £75 to £150 an hour plus VAT. Many have a minimum booking of one hour or half a day, and some only take on support work for clients who pay a monthly retainer, which often starts at a few hundred pounds a month.
Fixed-price fix service. You describe the problem, the service looks at it and quotes one price for the job. If the work takes longer than expected, that is the provider’s problem and not yours.

WebFixed, which publishes this guide, works on the third model. One-off fixes start from £39 including VAT, monthly plans start from £29, sending a request is free and nothing is charged until you accept the quote. For some jobs a freelancer or your existing agency will be the better fit.

What drives the cost of a fix

Diagnosis time. A broken button might take ten minutes to fix once the cause is known and two hours to find. Most of the uncertainty in any quote is here.
The platform. Problems on hosted builders such as Shopify, Wix and Squarespace are usually quicker to diagnose than problems on a self-hosted WordPress site, where hosting, plugins and the theme can all be involved.
Custom code. A site built with a standard theme is cheaper to repair than one with heavily customised code that the new developer has to read and understand first.
Access. If nobody can find the login for the domain, hosting or admin area, time is spent on recovery before any fixing starts.
Risk. Work on checkout, payments or a live database needs backups and testing, which adds time.

Typical costs for common jobs

These are broad guide ranges for a small business site, not quotes. A specific site can fall outside them.

A small layout, styling or content fix that takes under an hour: roughly £40 to £120.
A broken contact form, a plugin or app conflict, or an SSL warning: roughly £60 to £250, depending on how long the cause takes to find.
A hacked WordPress site that needs cleaning and securing: roughly £150 to £500.
Speed improvements on an existing site: from around £100 for basic image and caching work to several hundred pounds for a theme that needs code changes.

How to avoid an open-ended hourly bill

Write down the problem in one or two sentences, with the page address, what you expected to happen and what happens instead. Add screenshots.
Ask for a fixed price. If the developer will only work hourly, ask for an estimate in hours and a cap they will not exceed without your written agreement.
Ask what happens if they cannot fix it. Some providers charge for the time regardless, some charge a reduced diagnosis fee and some charge nothing.
Ask whether the price includes VAT.
Confirm how they will access the site. A professional will ask for their own login or a collaborator invitation, not your password.
Get the agreed scope and price in an email before work starts.

Be cautious of any quote given without the developer having looked at the site. A price given blind is either padded to cover the unknowns or likely to change later.

When a monthly plan makes more sense than one-off fixes

If your site needs attention several times a year, a monthly plan or retainer can work out cheaper than paying for each job separately. This is most often true for WordPress and WooCommerce sites, which need regular plugin, theme and core updates, and for shops where small changes are requested every few weeks. Compare what is included before signing up: the number of requests or hours, whether unused time rolls over, the notice period, and whether updates and backups are part of the plan or charged on top.

When to get help

If you have spent more than an hour or two on a problem without progress, or the problem affects checkout, payments or enquiries, paying for a fix is usually cheaper than the sales lost while the site is broken. It is also sensible to stop before editing theme code or database settings you do not understand, because a second fault on top of the first makes the repair more expensive. WebFixed fixes this kind of problem for a fixed price agreed up front, with one-off fixes from £39 including VAT and nothing charged until you accept the quote.

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