The verdict in three sentences
For an architecture firm of 8 to 15 people in Amsterdam, the website is first and foremost a project portfolio that has to win over a client or developer in under a minute. A customised WordPress theme (EUR 4,500 to 8,000 excl. VAT) is enough if you publish fewer than 20 projects and do not chase public competitions. As soon as you want to filter by typology, show before/after views and feed your tender submissions, a bespoke rebuild (EUR 13,000 to 24,000) pays for itself with one or two extra commissions.
Customised theme or bespoke: what you are really buying
The difference is not the number of pages. It is how your projects are structured, filtered and loaded on mobile. A theme imposes its grid; a bespoke site starts from the way you present a project (programme, floor area, construction budget, scope of services, photographer).
| Item | Customised WordPress theme | Bespoke (Next.js + headless CMS) |
|---|---|---|
| Budget excl. VAT (2026 order of magnitude) | EUR 4,500 to 8,000 | EUR 13,000 to 24,000 |
| Structured project pages (programme, area, scope) | Limited fields, mostly free text | Dedicated data model, multiple filters |
| Typology filters (housing, office, public buildings) | 1 level, third-party plugin | Multi-criteria, shareable URLs |
| Weight of a project page with 20 photos | 6 to 12 MB | 1.5 to 3 MB (AVIF, progressive loading) |
| Typical Lighthouse mobile score | 45 to 70 | 90 to 98 |
| Delivery time | 4 to 6 weeks | 8 to 12 weeks |
| Monthly maintenance excl. VAT | EUR 175 to 275 | EUR 275 to 450 |
Image weight is the most common pain point. When a partner sends a project link to a busy developer who opens it on a phone, the impact is lost if the gallery takes 8 seconds to load.
The full budget, line by line
The redesign quote does not cover everything. Firms almost always underestimate content production: professional photography, project descriptions, team portraits. Dutch agency day rates (EUR 850 to 1,100) sit roughly 10 % above French ones.
| Item | 2026 range excl. VAT | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| UX design and mock-ups | EUR 2,800 to 5,500 | 2 to 3 review rounds on the project page |
| Front-end and CMS development | EUR 6,500 to 14,000 | Depends on number of templates (6 to 12) |
| Migration of existing projects | EUR 900 to 2,800 | 30 to 80 entries, captions carried over |
| Photography (recent projects + team) | EUR 1,800 to 3,500 | Architectural photographer, 1 to 2 days |
| Project copywriting (EN + NL) | EUR 900 to 2,400 | EUR 90 to 160 per project, bilingual |
| Local SEO (Amsterdam, Randstad) | EUR 900 to 1,700 | Markup, Google Business Profile |
| Maintenance and hosting | EUR 175 to 450 / month | Updates, backups, small changes |
For a full bespoke project, budget EUR 16,500 to 30,000 excl. VAT in year one including maintenance. For a well executed customised theme, EUR 7,500 to 12,500.
A realistic timeline
An architecture firm is its own demanding client: partners have a sharp eye and approvals take time. Allow 8 to 12 weeks for bespoke work: 2 weeks of scoping and project inventory, 3 weeks of mock-ups, 4 to 5 weeks of development, 1 to 2 weeks of testing and launch. Note that the Dutch summer holiday (bouwvak and school breaks in July and August) easily adds 3 weeks if approvals fall in that window, so book the photographer by week 2.
Mini case study
Sanne, managing partner of a 12-person firm in Amsterdam-Noord, is weighing her options. The current site (a 2018 theme) shows 45 projects with no filters. She picks a bespoke rebuild at EUR 18,000 excl. VAT, plus EUR 2,500 for photography and EUR 320 per month for maintenance, i.e. EUR 24,340 in year one.
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Her firm charges average fees of 9 % on projects with EUR 1.4 M in construction costs, about EUR 126,000 per commission. If the new site helps win just one extra commission over two years (private invitation or a better illustrated tender file), the investment is covered about five times. Even attributing only 25 % of that win to the site, the return stays positive.
FAQ
How much does an architecture firm website redesign cost in Amsterdam in 2026?
Budget EUR 4,500 to 8,000 excl. VAT for a customised theme and EUR 13,000 to 24,000 for bespoke. Add EUR 1,800 to 3,500 for photography and EUR 175 to 450 per month for maintenance.
Do we need to reshoot every project?
No. In practice you reshoot the 8 to 12 flagship projects (1 to 2 days) and reprocess the rest in AVIF to cut their weight by 3 to 5 times.
Is a bespoke site hard for the team to update?
With a headless CMS, adding a project takes 15 to 20 minutes: fill in the fields (programme, area, scope) and drop in the photos. A one-hour training session is enough.
Can the site support public tender submissions?
Yes: one reference page per project, exportable to PDF, speeds up tender files. Firms typically save 2 to 4 hours per submission with these standardised sheets.
How long should we plan for?
Allow 4 to 6 weeks for a customised theme and 8 to 12 weeks for bespoke. The bottleneck is usually partner sign-off on the mock-ups.
Let's scope your project. Send us the number of projects to publish, your typologies and an indicative budget, and we will propose a theme or bespoke scope with an 8 to 12 week plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
