Engineering and construction firm website cost in Basel: local agencies vs Kolonell (2026)

The verdict in three sentences

In Basel, a local agency charges between 15 000 and 70 000 CHF as a 2026 ballpark for a website for an engineering and construction firm, often with the German version and a photo shoot included in the price. Kolonell delivers the services, references, tender and careers pages for a fixed price of 2 700 CHF, 4 500 CHF or 8 200 CHF, in native English and French, with a project manager reachable at your hours. German, the language of most Basel project owners, is supplied by you or quoted separately, and Kolonell does not come to your sites or your meetings.

What does a site cost in Basel, with a freelancer or with Kolonell?

The ranges below are prudent. They draw on public rate cards of agencies in Basel and Northwestern Switzerland that work for engineering and real estate, minimum project sizes on Clutch.co profiles, hourly rates published by local studios (often 130 to 200 CHF per hour) and developer profiles visible on Malt and Upwork.

To be clear: if nearly all your clients are public bodies and German-speaking owners, a Basel agency that writes in German and photographs your crews on site is a solid choice. Kolonell makes sense when your site must also persuade in English (international industrial groups, engineers recruited abroad) or in French (clients in Alsace and French-speaking Switzerland), and you want a written fixed price. The team is in Senegal (GMT), one hour behind Switzerland in winter and two in summer: Google Meet calls at your hours and a weekly written update. Payment by bank transfer or Wise, 50 % at kickoff and 50 % at delivery. See our international website offer.

The three-year budget, German included

Same maintenance assumption on both sides after the support period, same hosting. Kolonell maintenance after support is quoted on request: the figure is an identical assumption. The German translation is added on the Kolonell side.

The gap narrows if you add professional photography on the Kolonell side (budget one or two days with a photographer); it remains large.

The Basel context: what project owners check

Basel has a distinctive project mix: large pharmaceutical and chemical industry campuses, former industrial areas being redeveloped in Kleinbasel, the Rhine ports and logistics, cross-border infrastructure with Germany and France, remediation of contaminated sites, and healthcare and research buildings. Public contracts for the city and the cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft are published on simap.ch, under the applicable cantonal (IVöB) or federal (BöB) procurement rules. A buyer or an industrial project manager opens your site to check specific points.

• Approved references only: on a Basel industrial site, confidentiality is often contractual. Describe a project under NDA without a name ("remediation of a 3-hectare former chemical site").
• Accurate qualifications: state your engineers' REG registration and SIA membership only if real, and cite the SIA standards you work with without overstating them.
• Certifications and sustainability: ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, Minergie or SNBS projects, only if you hold them.
• Cross-border recruitment: FHNW and ETH Zurich graduates, engineers living in Germany or France; the careers page must state clearly the role, the working language and the location.

Compliance, facts only. The revised Federal Act on Data Protection (revFADP, nLPD) has been in force since 1 September 2023; applications and project requests contain personal data, and candidates or clients based in the European Union can bring the GDPR into play. WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 AA remains the technical reference for accessibility. This is not legal advice.

Questions to ask every supplier

• How many project pages are loaded at launch, and who writes them?
• Who translates into German and who checks the civil engineering terms?
• Are site photos licensed for the web and for tender documents?
• Are galleries compressed (WebP or AVIF) and loaded on demand?
• Are the domain and hosting in your name?
• Is the extranet or project tracking priced separately? At Kolonell, client portals and ERP or BIM integrations are custom applications, quoted on request.

Mini case study

Illustrative example. Andrea K. runs an 18-person geotechnical and environmental engineering office in Basel, taken over after the founder retired. She wants a new identity online and more assignments from international industrial groups. A Basel agency quotes 44 000 CHF. She picks Kolonell Premium at 8 200 CHF, has the pages translated into German for 3 200 CHF and books two days of site and drone photography for 2 600 CHF. Total: 14 000 CHF, which is 30 000 CHF less, with a written 6-week schedule set at kickoff.

FAQ

Is a 2 700 CHF site enough for a Basel engineering office?

For a small office that wants to present 6 to 10 references and its qualifications, yes. To answer tenders on simap.ch across several disciplines, Growth at 4 500 CHF fits better.

Can you write the site in German?

No, Kolonell writes in English and French; German is supplied by you or quoted separately. Budget a 2026 ballpark of 2 000 to 4 000 CHF of technical translation for 15 to 25 pages.

Can the site be in French and English for our clients in Alsace?

Yes, bilingual French and English is available from Premium at 8 200 CHF. A third language, such as German, is added separately.

Can you build a portal to share geotechnical reports?

Yes, as a custom application, quoted on request. The marketing and recruitment site stays at 2 700 CHF, 4 500 CHF or 8 200 CHF.

How long does it take?

Usually 3 to 4 weeks on Starter and Growth. On Premium, a written schedule is set at kickoff, usually 4 to 6 weeks, followed by 6 months of support.

Let's scope your project. Send us your disciplines, your languages and 5 approved references: we reply with a fixed-price plan and a site delivered in 3 to 4 weeks. Request your free quote or see the international offer.