Like other companies that are considering a website redesign, you are probably faced with the decision to manage it in-house or outsource website design. If you have the skills, time and project ownership internally, managing the work in-house may be a good fit. An outside firm can give you a broader set of skills and an extra set of eyes from a different perspective. A hybrid approach can also work well when each team owns a clearly defined part of the project.
You're probably grappling with that question now. For that reason, I've attempted to provide an unbiased viewpoint given my experience on both sides of the table:
As you can see, I've been on both the client side and the agency side, understand both, and write here from those experiences. Here are some considerations to help make your own decision about whether to do it all in-house, split clearly defined responsibilities between two teams or outsource website design.
Start by looking at the skills and availability of your internal team. A successful redesign needs strategy, design, development, content and project management. The right approach is the one that gives each part of the work a clear owner and enough time to do it well.
| Approach | When it can work well | Cautions/What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| In-house | Your team already has the necessary skills, capacity, and a person who can manage the project. | Existing responsibilities can compete with the redesign and cause delays. |
| Hybrid | Each team owns a distinct part of the work. For example, one team handles design and the other handles development. | Do not have both teams doing design or both teams doing development. Overlapping responsibilities get confusing quickly. |
| Fully outsourced | You need specialized skills, dedicated project capacity, or a fresh outside perspective. | Your company still needs one point of contact who can gather input and make sure decisions happen on time. |
The cost of outsourcing website design depends on the scope, research, content, integrations and custom functionality involved. A basic project starts around $20,000.
Most of our website redesign projects fall between $32,000 and $48,000, and very few exceed $75,000. These are planning ranges for Whittington Consulting projects, and other firms' pricing will vary.
Outsourcing website design can give your company access to a full team and a fresh perspective, but the relationship still needs clear responsibilities and good communication.
Take an honest look at the people and skill sets at your business. Are the necessary people in place to create a successful website for your business? Can they do it on the desired timeline? Here are some of the types of people that you'll need on your team to create the most effective website possible.
Some small- and medium-sized businesses we work with have a dedicated web person that manages their website. While one-person web teams are skilled enough to make updates to the website, designing and building a website from scratch requires several creative, strategic, and technical competencies. Finding one person who does strategy, design, development, and project management equally well is exceptionally difficult.
A good graphic designer might create a beautiful web design with high artistic value but lack development experience. A web developer might write wonderful code but need help creating a clear, usable design.
It's also important to note here that a graphic designer might not know the ins and outs of designing for the web. A web designer will know how to adapt designs to different modern screen sizes and design for common website usage patterns.
A website redesign can take your in-house resources away from other priorities for a substantial period, so plan their capacity honestly.
If your business has a one-person web team, you might consider making that person the project manager and outsourcing the parts of the project that require other skills.
Once you determine if you have the necessary talent in place to successfully redesign your website in-house, the next hurdle is how to take a person or team off other projects and devote significant staff time to the project.
A website redesign is not something that can be done "on the side." It's a project that takes focus and a significant amount of staff time. Even if you decide to outsource website design, the project needs to be a priority, and people need to be allocated to the project at different review points.
Analyze past projects to understand if your staff has a track record of delivering projects on time and within budget.
After you evaluate the abilities of your staff, you may find that in-house resources are well-suited for part of the project but not others. You may have a great project manager but lack web design or development talent. You may have a generalist who can design a website but no one to assist with the initial strategy and planning.
A hybrid approach works best when each team owns a distinct part of the project. It's good to have one team handle design and one team handle development, or vice versa. It is not good to have both teams doing design or both teams doing development, because overlapping responsibilities make direction, approvals, and accountability confusing.
Note that some web design firms will not accept just part of the work. Many are structured to handle the project from start to finish and make recommendations at every step of the way. Check with a design firm first and be upfront about the part of the project you want to outsource.
In both the client and the agency role, I've seen a lot of value in the fresh perspective that outsourcing your web design can bring. Working with a marketing firm to design your company website can change how you normally design and communicate.
Your marketing firm isn't trapped in a "that's the way we've always done it" mindset. They can think like your customer in ways that you simply can't. They can see your business and your products or services like a real customer would and ask the same questions that your prospect might.
There is such a thing as being "too close" to your products and services. When you work at a company, you tend to forget the questions that people new to your product or service might have. An outside opinion helps stimulate new ideas that your website and content could benefit from.
If you fully outsource your website design, you can get away with having a single point of contact who can round up the troops on your company's side. A good design firm or agency will have a project manager to keep its work moving and keep you in the loop. Having that same point of contact on your end is vital.
We recommend assigning an internal project manager who can bring in the right people as they are needed, gather feedback, and keep approvals moving. When ownership is unclear, the timeline is the first thing to fail.
Most web design agencies don't want to work alongside other web design agencies on a project. They typically have different processes and ideas for the project, which can cause conflict. To avoid this problem, we recommend selecting one agency to be in charge of your project.
You do, however, need to involve other agency partners in your website redesign project. If you're using a PR firm, for example, the web design firm needs to understand the PR strategy as input to the website design project.
If you bring in more than one agency or multiple freelancers to complete your project, make sure their individual roles are clearly defined. You should always have an in-house employee act as project manager and point of contact.
Whether it's done in-house or by an agency partner, many factors affect the timing, effectiveness and cost of your website redesign.
An experienced agency can make costs and milestones easier to plan when the scope, responsibilities and process for changes are clear. An in-house team can also succeed when it has the right skills and enough capacity to make the redesign a priority.
Which is right for you?
Your company's website should be among your company's greatest sales assets. Our website redesign service empowers companies to attract and convert more new business opportunities, helping companies achieve a return on their investment.
Whittington Consulting can redesign your company website to achieve lead, customer and revenue goals. Start here by requesting a free consultation here.
Last updated: July 2026