The verdict in three sentences
For a commodity trading house in Houston, the website serves counterparties, trade finance banks, recruits and NGOs who check whether you are credible before a first call. A premium agency in the Galleria or Energy Corridor often quotes $25,000 to $90,000 for this scope, while the Kolonell fixed grid runs from $2,900 (Starter) to $8,900 (Premium) for an institutional site delivered in 3 to 6 weeks. The real gap sits in the side costs (compliance content, photography, translation, legal review), which you need to budget whoever builds the site.
What a trading house website has to prove
A crude, LNG, refined products, metals or grains trader sells nothing on its website. It gets judged there. A bank credit officer, a producer's KYC team or a trainee trader opens your pages with one question in mind: is this company real, governed and compliant?
The pages that matter, in order of priority:
- Governance: ownership as published, board, leadership, group structure.
- Compliance: sanctions policy, KYC and anti-money laundering approach, code of conduct, whistleblowing channel.
- Responsible sourcing and ESG: only the reports and policies you actually publish, as dated PDFs.
- Activities: product families and regions, with no volumes or counterparty names you have not already made public.
- Offices: Houston, then Geneva, Singapore, London or Dubai where relevant, with verifiable addresses.
- Careers: desks, graduate program, operations, risk.
- Contact: separate forms for counterparties, media and candidates.
Product marketing stays minimal. An empty compliance page or an ESG report nobody can find does more damage than a dated design.
Real cost: freelancer, local agency, premium agency, fixed grid
| Option (Houston, 2026 ballpark) | Upfront budget | Typical timeline | What is usually included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior freelancer | $8,000 to $20,000 | 6 to 10 weeks | Design and build, content supplied by you |
| General local agency | $25,000 to $50,000 | 10 to 16 weeks | Strategy, design, CMS, partial copywriting |
| Premium energy and industrial agency | $50,000 to $90,000 and up | 14 to 24 weeks | Workshops, branding, copywriting, dedicated project management |
| Kolonell Starter | $2,900 | 3 to 4 weeks | Institutional site, native copywriting, project manager, 3 months of support |
| Kolonell Growth | $4,900 | 3 to 4 weeks | Wider scope, structured compliance and careers pages |
| Kolonell Premium | $8,900 | 4 to 6 weeks | Multilingual tier, languages set in the quote |
Local ranges reflect typical Texas agency quotes and public agency rate pages; they swing widely with the studio's profile. Kolonell prices are fixed and in USD. All three tiers include a project manager reachable in your time zone (Central Time), native English or French copywriting, delivery in 3 to 4 weeks (4 to 6 for Premium) and 3 months of support. Gated areas, a counterparty portal, integrations with an HR tool or a data room: on quote. Details are on the international offer page.
The hidden costs nobody puts in the first quote
| Item | 2026 range (Houston) | Who pays |
|---|---|---|
| Legal and compliance review of pages | $2,000 to $8,000 | Counsel or in-house compliance, third-party cost |
| Office and team photography | $1,500 to $5,000 | Photographer, third-party cost |
| Translation (Spanish, French, Mandarin depending on markets) | $0.12 to $0.25 per word | Translator, third-party cost |
| Layout of published ESG reports | $1,000 to $4,000 | Editorial studio |
| WCAG 2.1/2.2 AA accessibility audit | $1,500 to $6,000 | Specialist auditor |
| Careers ATS or whistleblowing integration | On quote | Depends on the tool |
Accessibility deserves its own line: in the US, ADA Title III suits targeting websites are frequent, and designing for WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 AA from day one costs less than fixing things after a demand letter. There is no single federal privacy law; Texas has its own statute, and if you send newsletters to counterparties, the CAN-SPAM Act applies. This is not legal advice: have your counsel sign off on your notices.
Total cost over three years
| Item over 36 months | Local agency (assumption) | Kolonell Growth (assumption) |
|---|---|---|
| Build | $40,000 | $4,900 |
| Third-party costs (review, photo, translation) | $9,000 | $9,000 |
| Maintenance months 1 to 3 | Often billed | Included |
| Maintenance months 4 to 36 | 33 × $600 = $19,800 (market assumption) | On quote |
| Hosting and security | 3 × $1,200 = $3,600 (market assumption) | On quote |
| Indicative total excluding Kolonell maintenance | $72,400 | $13,900 + maintenance on quote |
Lines marked "market assumption" are prudent averages, to be replaced with your own quotes. Third-party costs stay the same: they depend on your content, not on the agency.
When a local agency is still the better choice
Let's be straight. If your leadership wants weekly in-person workshops in Houston, if the website is one piece of a full group rebrand with visual identity, corporate film and signage, or if a counterparty portal must connect to your internal systems at launch, a local agency with a team on site makes sense. The same goes for a group procurement process that requires a US-listed vendor.
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For a clear, fast, compliant institutional site run remotely with a project manager in your time zone, the price gap is better spent on legal review and photography.
Questions to ask any provider
- Who writes the compliance pages, and who approves them before publication?
- Does the quote include WCAG 2.1/2.2 AA accessibility and a test report?
- How many months of support are included, and what happens after?
- Who owns the code, the CMS and the domain name?
- How do we publish a new ESG report without going back to the agency?
Mini case study
Illustrative example: Gulfway Commodities, a refined products trader based in Houston with a Geneva office, receives two proposals. Premium local agency: $62,000, 18 weeks. Kolonell Premium, the multilingual tier covering English and French: $8,900, 5 weeks. Gulfway adds $6,000 of legal review, $3,000 of photography and $2,400 of translation, so $11,400 of third-party costs either way. Total: $73,400 versus $20,300. The $53,100 gap funds more than a year of maintenance and content, and the site goes live 13 weeks earlier, ahead of graduate recruiting season.
FAQ
How much does a trading house website cost in Houston in 2026?
Expect $25,000 to $90,000 from a local agency depending on its size, 2026 ballpark. The Kolonell grid runs from $2,900 to $8,900, excluding third-party costs such as legal review or photography.
Should we publish our volumes or counterparties?
No, only what you have already made public. Banks and KYC teams mostly look for governance, a sanctions policy and verifiable offices, rarely for volumes.
How long does an institutional trading site take?
Kolonell delivers in 3 to 4 weeks for Starter and Growth, 4 to 6 weeks for Premium, once content is approved. Local agencies often announce 10 to 24 weeks.
Does the site need to meet WCAG?
It is strongly advisable: ADA Title III suits targeting websites are frequent in the US. An audit costs $1,500 to $6,000 on the market, less than a fix after a complaint.
What happens after the 3 included months of support?
Maintenance beyond that is on quote, based on how often you publish and the security level you expect. You keep ownership of the code and the domain.
Let's scope your project. Governance, compliance, offices and careers pages, Growth or Premium tier depending on your languages, live in 3 to 6 weeks. See the international offer or request a free quote: detailed reply within 48 hours.
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.
