Let me tell you about the worst year of my agency career. We hit $850K in revenue—our best year yet. I was excited, proud, ready to celebrate.
Then our accountant showed me the profit and loss statement. After paying everyone, covering overhead, and accounting for all costs, we’d made $47,000 in profit. That’s a 5.5% margin.
I could have put that money in a high-yield savings account and made better returns with zero stress.
The problem wasn’t that we weren’t busy—we were drowning in work. The problem was that we were terrible at pricing. We were making revenue, not money. And there’s a massive difference.
If you’re billing WordPress projects by the hour or using vague “value-based pricing” formulas you found in a blog post, you’re probably making the same mistakes we did. Here’s how to actually price WordPress projects for profit.
Why Most Agency Pricing Models Are Broken
Before we talk about what works, let’s talk about what doesn’t.
The Hourly Rate Death Trap
Pricing by the hour sounds logical. You pay developers $50/hour, charge clients $125/hour, keep the difference. Simple math, right?
Except it’s not. Here’s what actually happens:
Scenario: Client wants a 10-page marketing website. You estimate 40 hours, quote $5,000.
Reality:
- Initial scope call: 2 hours (not billed)
- Design revisions: 8 hours (you estimated 4)
- Client indecision on homepage layout: 6 hours of back-and-forth
- Content is late, then needs reformatting: 4 hours
- “While you’re at it” additions: 6 hours
- Technical issues with their hosting: 3 hours
- Launch week chaos: 5 hours overtime
- Post-launch tweaks: 4 hours
Actual Hours: 78 hours
Revenue: $5,000
Effective Rate: $64/hour
Developer Cost: $50/hour × 78 = $3,900
Margin: $1,100 (22%)
And this assumes:
- Your developer worked efficiently
- You didn’t have any project management overhead
- The client pays on time
- You don’t account for tools, software, or your time
In reality, that 22% margin probably drops to 10-15% after all costs. You’re working for peanuts and didn’t even realize it.
The Value-Based Pricing Fantasy
Then someone tells you about “value-based pricing.” Price based on the value you create for the client, not the hours it takes! Charge what you’re worth!
This sounds amazing until you try to actually do it.
Client: “We need an e-commerce site for our new product line.”
You: “Great! What’s the revenue potential of this product line?”
Client: “Well, we’re projecting $500K in first-year sales.”
You (thinking): “If I help them achieve that, I should charge 10-20% of the value created, so $50K-$100K seems fair!”
Client: “Our budget is $8,000.”
Here’s the truth about value-based pricing: it only works when:
- You can clearly quantify the value you create
- The client agrees with your quantification
- The client has budget aligned with that value
- You have leverage in the negotiation
For most WordPress projects, 3 out of 4 of these conditions don’t exist. You end up either:
- Drastically overpricing and losing the work
- Under-pricing because you lack confidence
- Spending hours trying to quantify nebulous “brand value”
The “Competitive Rate” Race to the Bottom
The third broken model is “competitive pricing”—charge whatever everyone else is charging.
The problem with this approach is that you have no idea what other agencies’ costs are. An agency with offshore developers at $25/hour can profitably charge $6,000 for a project that costs you $12,000 to deliver with US-based developers.
If you match their price, you’re either:
- Losing money on every project
- Cutting corners on quality
- Burning out your team with unrealistic workloads
What Actually Works: The Predictable Profit Framework
After years of testing different models and working with dozens of agencies, here’s what actually creates consistent, predictable profits:
Step 1: Know Your True Costs (Most Agencies Get This Wrong)
You cannot price profitably if you don’t know what delivery actually costs you. And I don’t mean “developer hourly rate”—I mean fully-loaded, real-world cost.
Here’s the formula:
True Cost Per Project =
- Developer hours × fully-loaded hourly cost
- Project management time × PM hourly cost
- Design time (if applicable) × designer hourly cost
- Software/tools cost (portion allocated to this project)
- Sales time × founder hourly rate
- Admin overhead (invoicing, communication, etc.)
- Revision buffer (15-25% of total dev time)
- Risk buffer (10-15% for things going wrong)
Let’s work through a real example:
10-Page Marketing Website:
Developer Time: 40 hours × $75 (fully-loaded rate) = $3,000
Project Management: 10 hours × $100 = $1,000
Design Time: 16 hours × $85 = $1,360
Tools/Software: $150 (portion of monthly SaaS costs)
Sales Time: 4 hours × $150 = $600
Admin Overhead: 3 hours × $75 = $225
Revision Buffer (20%): $1,100
Risk Buffer (10%): $744
True Cost: $8,179
Now, if you’re quoting this project at $10,000, you’re making a 22% margin. If you quoted $8,000, you’re losing money.
Most agencies don’t realize they’re underwater on projects until months later when they wonder why cash flow is tight despite being “busy.”
Action Item: Run this calculation for your last 5 projects. I guarantee you’ll find at least one where you barely broke even or lost money.
Step 2: Decide on Target Margin (Then Stick to It)
Once you know true costs, you need to decide on target margin. Here’s what’s realistic for different agency types:
Full-Service Agencies (strategy + creative + dev): 40-50% margins
Dev-Focused Agencies: 35-45% margins
Implementation/Execution Shops: 25-35% margins
Why the differences? It’s about perceived value and replaceability.
If you’re just “hands on keyboard” executing someone else’s designs and strategy, clients see you as replaceable. Your margins will be lower because competition is fierce.
If you’re providing strategy, creative direction, and execution as a package, clients see more unique value. You can command higher margins.
For our 10-page website example:
If you’re targeting 40% margin:
Price = True Cost ÷ (1 – Margin%)
Price = $8,179 ÷ 0.60 = $13,632
If you’re targeting 30% margin:
Price = $8,179 ÷ 0.70 = $11,684
This is your floor. Below this, you’re working for less than your target margin. Whether you actually charge this depends on the next steps.
Step 3: Package Everything (Hourly Is Dead)
Here’s where most agencies go wrong: they calculate costs, add margin, then present it as an hourly breakdown.
Bad Proposal:
- Design: 16 hours @ $150/hr = $2,400
- Development: 40 hours @ $125/hr = $5,000
- Project Management: 10 hours @ $100/hr = $1,000
- Total: $8,400
This invites the client to negotiate your time. “Do you really need 16 hours for design? Can we get by with 12?”
Now you’re either:
- Cutting scope (and quality)
- Eating the cost difference
- Fighting with the client
Good Proposal:
- 10-Page Marketing Website: $13,500
- Custom WordPress site with mobile-responsive design
- 10 pages with professional copywriting support
- Contact form integration with CRM
- SEO optimization and sitemap
- 30 days post-launch support
- Training session for your team
See the difference? You’re selling an outcome, not hours. The client doesn’t care that design takes 16 hours—they care that they’re getting a professional website.
Step 4: Create Pricing Tiers (Let Clients Self-Select)
One price = one decision: yes or no. Three prices = choosing which level fits best.
Here’s a simple tiering structure for WordPress projects:
ESSENTIAL – $8,000
- 5-page website
- Template-based design (customized to your brand)
- Mobile responsive
- Basic SEO setup
- 2 rounds of revisions
- 15 days post-launch support
PROFESSIONAL – $15,000 ✓ Most Popular
- 10-page website
- Custom design and UI/UX
- Mobile responsive
- Full SEO optimization
- Contact form + 2 integrations
- Unlimited revisions
- 30 days post-launch support
- Team training session
PREMIUM – $28,000
- 15+ page website
- Custom design with advanced interactions
- Full CMS with training
- Advanced integrations (CRM, analytics, automation)
- Performance optimization
- Comprehensive SEO
- Unlimited revisions
- 60 days post-launch support + priority support
What Happens:
- 15% choose Essential (but you still make 30% margin)
- 60% choose Professional (your target margin)
- 25% choose Premium (bonus margin that funds growth)
You just increased your average project value from $13,500 to $16,450 without changing anything except the presentation.
Step 5: Use Scope Creep to Your Advantage
Scope creep kills profits. But handled correctly, it actually increases them.
The Old Way:
- Client asks for additional pages mid-project
- You say yes to keep them happy
- You eat the cost
- Margin drops from 40% to 18%
The New Way:
- Build a “change order” process into your proposals
- Make it clear what’s included and what’s additional
- Price additional requests at premium rates (50% higher than bundled rate)
- Frame it positively: “Absolutely! I’ll send you a quick quote for adding that.”
Example Change Order: “Adding the three additional service pages you mentioned will be $2,400 ($800/page). We can have them completed within one week of approval. Would you like to proceed?”
Why This Works:
- Sets clear boundaries
- Compensates you for unexpected work
- Trains clients to make decisions upfront
- Often, the client decides they don’t actually need the addition
When 30% of your projects include change orders averaging $2,000, that’s $600/project in additional margin you wouldn’t have captured otherwise.
Advanced Pricing Strategies for Mature Agencies
Once you’ve mastered the basics, here are advanced strategies to increase profitability:
Strategy 1: The Retainer Upsell
WordPress projects are one-time revenue. Retainers are recurring revenue. Your goal should be converting 40-50% of project clients to retainers.
At Project Completion: “Now that your site is live, we recommend our Website Care Plan to keep everything running smoothly:”
BASIC CARE – $500/month
- Monthly updates (core, plugins, themes)
- Security monitoring
- Weekly backups
- Monthly performance check
- 2 hours of minor updates/tweaks
GROWTH CARE – $1,200/month
- Everything in Basic
- Monthly content updates
- A/B testing and optimization
- Analytics review and recommendations
- 6 hours of updates/new content
If you close 50% of clients on even the basic plan, and average project lifespan is 2 years, that’s an additional $12,000 in lifetime value per client.
Your $15,000 project just became a $27,000 client relationship.
Strategy 2: The Maintenance Multiplier
Most agencies undervalue maintenance and support. They see it as an obligation, not an opportunity.
Shift Your Thinking:
Instead of “30 days post-launch support included” (a cost center), offer:
30-Day Launch Success Program – $2,000 (separate line item)
- Priority support for any issues
- Training session for your team
- Performance optimization
- SEO audit and recommendations
- Analytics setup and configuration
Why This Works:
- Separates project cost from support cost
- Lets you profit on support instead of eating the cost
- Gives client choice (some don’t need it)
- Sets expectation that ongoing support has value
For clients who decline, you can still offer a basic warranty but without the premium service level.
Strategy 3: Productized Add-Ons
Create a menu of add-on services with fixed prices. This makes upselling effortless.
Example Add-On Menu:
- E-commerce functionality: $4,000
- Membership system: $3,500
- Advanced forms and workflows: $1,800
- Custom illustration package: $2,500
- Video production (2 min explainer): $3,000
- Copywriting (full site): $2,800
In Your Proposal: Show the core website price, then:
“Additional options to enhance your website:” ☐ E-commerce functionality: $4,000 ☐ Custom illustration package: $2,500 ☐ Professional copywriting: $2,800
What Happens:
- 30-40% of clients add at least one item
- Average addition: $3,000-$5,000
- No additional sales effort required
- Client feels they’re choosing extras, not being sold to
Strategy 4: The Sliding Scale Based on Delivery Model
Here’s something we discovered that changed everything: you can charge different prices based on how you’re delivering.
Same Website, Three Different Prices:
Option A: Rush Delivery (10 business days) – $18,000
Option B: Standard Delivery (30 business days) – $15,000
Option C: Flexible Delivery (60 business days) – $13,000
“Choose the timeline that fits your launch date. All options include the same quality and features.”
What This Does:
- Lets you charge premium for rush work (which actually costs you more)
- Gives clients control and choice
- Fills your pipeline strategically (you can slot Flexible projects around Rush projects)
- Increases average project value
About 40% of clients choose Rush, 45% choose Standard, 15% choose Flexible. Your effective average project value goes from $15,000 to $15,950.
The Pricing Conversation: What to Actually Say
Pricing discussions make most agency owners uncomfortable. Here’s the exact framework I use:
Client: “What does something like this usually cost?”
You: “Great question. It depends on a few factors. Let me ask you some questions so I can give you an accurate range.”
(Ask discovery questions about scope, timeline, integrations, etc.)
You: “Based on what you’ve described, projects like this typically range from $12,000 to $20,000, depending on specific features and complexity. Does that align with what you had in mind?”
If They Say Yes: “Perfect. I’ll put together a detailed proposal with a couple of options at different levels, and you can choose what makes the most sense.”
If They Say No (Too High): “I understand. What budget did you have in mind?”
(Let them tell you)
“Okay, for that budget, here’s what we could do: [describe reduced scope]. Would that work for your needs, or should we look at a phased approach where we start with core features and add more later?”
If They Say No (Too Low): “Interesting! Based on my experience, most projects with these features run higher. Are there agencies you’ve talked to who quoted lower? I’d love to understand what might be different in their approach.”
(This usually reveals they got quotes from offshore developers or much less experienced agencies)
Key Principles:
- Never be the first to name a specific number
- Always give a range, not a single price
- Tie price to value and scope, not hours
- Be confident—if you don’t believe your prices are fair, clients won’t either
- Be willing to walk away from bad-fit clients
Real Numbers: What Actually Happens When You Price Right
Let me show you what happened when we implemented this framework with three different agencies:
Case Study 1: Chicago Creative Agency
Before:
- Average project value: $8,500
- Average margin: 23%
- Projects per month: 6
- Monthly revenue: $51,000
- Monthly profit: $11,730
After (6 months):
- Average project value: $14,200 (67% increase)
- Average margin: 41%
- Projects per month: 5 (took on fewer projects)
- Monthly revenue: $71,000
- Monthly profit: $29,110 (148% increase)
What Changed: They stopped competing on price, started packaging services, implemented tiered pricing, and added productized add-ons.
Case Study 2: Austin Development Shop
Before:
- Hourly rate model: $125/hour
- Average project: 60 hours = $7,500
- Constant scope creep
- Margins: 18-25%
After (4 months):
- Fixed-price packages: $12K/$18K/$26K
- 60% chose middle tier
- Strict change order process for scope additions
- Margins: 38-44%
What Changed: Moved from hourly to packaged pricing, created clear boundaries, charged appropriately for changes.
Case Study 3: Denver Marketing Agency
Before:
- Projects: $10K-$15K
- Margin: 28%
- No ongoing revenue
After (8 months):
- Projects: $12K-$22K (added tiers and add-ons)
- Margin: 39%
- 45% of clients on $800-$1,500/mo retainers
- Lifetime value per client increased from $13K to $28K
What Changed: Added premium tiers, created retainer upsell process, focused on long-term client value.
The Bottom Line: Charge What You Need to Thrive
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: if you’re not making at least 35-40% margin on WordPress projects, something is broken.
You’re either:
- Pricing too low
- Delivering too much for the price
- Operating inefficiently
- Working with the wrong clients
Most often, it’s #1 and #2. You’re undervaluing your expertise and over-delivering to compensate.
The solution isn’t to work harder or cut corners. It’s to:
- Know your true costs (not just developer hourly rates)
- Set target margins and stick to them
- Package your services instead of selling hours
- Create pricing tiers that let clients self-select
- Build in buffers for revisions and scope changes
- Charge for changes instead of absorbing them
- Add recurring revenue through retainers
When you do this, three things happen:
- You make more money (obviously)
- You attract better clients (cheap clients don’t buy premium packages)
- You do better work (profit gives you breathing room for quality)
You started your agency to build great websites and make good money doing it. You don’t need to choose one or the other.
Price right, and you get both.
