Calculator · 5 minutes
Designer-vs-Agency-vs-DIY 3-Year TCO Calculator.
Most people compare a $300 platform plan to a $5,000 designer quote. They are looking at year 1. The 3-year math flips the answer for most businesses, and this worksheet says which one is right for your shape.
Back to The VaultThere is no universal answer. DIY wins for some shapes, a designer wins for others, and an agency is right for a small slice. The thing every comparison gets wrong: it ignores the time you spend, the rework you pay for in year 2, and the platform tax you pay forever.
This worksheet costs your time across all 3 paths and reports which path is cheapest over 3 years for your specific shape. If DIY is the right answer, the worksheet says so and points you at what you actually need to learn.
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Drop your name and how to reach you. I will review your worksheet inputs and reach out within a business day with what I would actually do in your shape.
What gets hidden in the year-1 number
The price you compare is not the price you pay.
01 · Your time has a price
DIY does not cost $0. It costs the hours you spend learning the platform, fighting it, and re-doing the parts that did not work. Most DIY decisions ignore this. The worksheet does not.
02 · Year-2 rebuild tax
Cheap year-1 builds tend to need year-2 rebuilds. Designer quotes that come in 40% under everyone else usually skip the parts that matter, then those parts come up later as change orders.
03 · Platform lock-in
Picking a platform you cannot leave is not free even if the monthly fee is small. You pay it forever in lost ranking flexibility, lost integration freedom, and the eventual migration bill.
04 · Maintenance gravity
Sites without a maintenance contract drift. Plugins go unupdated, broken links accumulate, the design quietly dates itself. Six months from launch your site is worse than the day it shipped.
05 · The agency premium
Agencies bill at 3x to 5x designer rates because they carry overhead you do not need at low traffic. For a 5-page brochure with low updates, an agency retainer burns money on capacity you cannot use.
06 · The DIY ceiling
DIY tops out fast on integrations. The day you need real form routing or a custom CRM sync is the day DIY stops being cheap. Most businesses hit this ceiling within 18 months.
What this worksheet actually counts
The methodology, written out so you can argue with it.
Most TCO calculators are vendor-flavored. This one assumes you have a working brain and shows you the inputs.
DIY path
Your time + a Wix-class platform
6 build hours per page, 12 per integration, 45 min per content update. All multiplied by your hourly rate. Platform cost assumed at $300/yr (Wix/Squarespace tier) since that is what DIY actually means for most operators considering this calc.
Designer path
Solo build + lightweight retainer
Fixed-bid build that scales with pages and integrations. Optional monthly retainer at solo-designer rates if you picked "hire someone" for maintenance. Platform fee included.
Agency path
Big build + ongoing retainer
Higher fixed-bid build at agency rates with overhead baked in. Monthly retainer charged whether or not you use it. Sized for businesses that genuinely need the capacity.
Hidden costs included
Year-2 rebuild risk + platform lock-in
DIY carries a 30 percent year-2 rebuild risk on high-integration shapes. Designer carries 10 percent. Agency carries 0 percent. Platform lock-in adds friction to all three but hits DIY the hardest.
Time cost
Only DIY pays for your time
DIY's defining cost is your hours. Designer and agency paths fold briefing and review time into their bid, so the worksheet does not double-count it on those paths. If you set your hour to $0, time disappears from DIY too.
Not counted
Quality, taste, alignment
The worksheet does not weigh whether the designer is good or the agency understands you. Those are interview questions. The math says which path is structurally cheapest. You decide who you trust to walk it.
Want this emailed to yourself?
Your numbers, the methodology, and a quote-comparison sheet that lines up DIY tools, designer bids, and agency proposals against the same factors.
No newsletter. No auto-follow-up. We will not show this to a sales team.
What people on the wrong path say later
I spent 80 hours building it myself in Webflow. Then I paid a designer $4,000 to redo it because I never figured out the SEO part. I would have come out ahead just hiring on day one.
r/web_design · 2026-03
The agency was $14,000 for a 6-page site I update twice a year. It looks great. I am paying $400/month for a retainer I have used three times in twelve months.
r/smallbusiness · 2026-02
Designer ghosted on me at year 2. Hosting is in his Wix account. I cannot edit my own site without paying him to log in and do it. Should have asked who would own it.
r/freelance · 2026-04