The verdict in three sentences
For an Oxford physiotherapy or rehabilitation clinic, the riskiest hour of a website redesign is the switch itself: the DNS cutover can interrupt the site, the clinic mailbox and the appointment reminders patients rely on. Oxford agencies typically quote £6,500 to £17,000 for a clinic redesign in 2026 (ballpark), while Kolonell's fixed grid is £2,300 (Starter), £3,900 (Growth) and £6,900 (Premium), with delivery in 3 to 4 weeks once content is ready. Plan the cutover like a clinical handover, with a written runbook, a rollback option and someone watching email and reminders for 72 hours.
What tells an Oxford clinic that a redesign is due?
Clinics in Headington and Summertown serve a mix of university staff, international families and older local patients. The usual triggers are practical: a site that is slow on mobile, a booking link that sends patients to the wrong location, therapist pages without HCPC registration numbers, a cookie banner that loads analytics before consent, or a content system nobody dares to update. When the clinic also changes hosting or email provider at the same time, the redesign becomes a migration project and needs a cutover plan.
How much should you budget in Oxford?
Ranges below are a 2026 ballpark based on typical agency quotes and public rate pages, not a survey.
| Oxford agency | Freelancer | Kolonell Growth | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront fee | £6,500 to £17,000 | £2,000 to £5,500 | £3,900 |
| Typical duration | 8 to 14 weeks | 4 to 12 weeks | 3 to 4 weeks once content is ready |
| Cutover runbook and DNS planning | often included | rarely written down | included |
| URL inventory and 301 map | usually included | often missing | included |
| Copywriting | often extra, £1,000 to £3,000 | rarely | native English copy included |
| Booking, portal or reminder integrations | quoted separately | quoted separately | on quote |
| Support after launch | contract-dependent | ad hoc | 3 months included, then on quote |
A small single-site practice can start with Starter at £2,300. Premium at £6,900 is the multilingual tier, with languages set in the quote, for clinics that publish patient information in more than one language. The tiers are compared on the international websites page.
How do you switch without downtime, lost email or missed reminders?
Most clinic websites share a domain with the clinic mailbox, and many reminder systems send SMS or email from a domain-based address. A careless DNS change can break all three. This runbook is what we follow, and what you should ask any provider to commit to in writing:
| When | Action | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| T minus 10 days | export every DNS record (A, CNAME, MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC) and store a copy | provider, with the clinic's IT contact |
| T minus 7 days | confirm with the booking and reminder vendors which records they depend on | practice manager |
| T minus 48 hours | lower the TTL on records that will change, for example from 3,600 to 300 seconds | provider |
| Cutover window | switch only web records, in a quiet slot such as early Sunday; mail records stay untouched | provider |
| T plus 1 hour | test the site, contact form, booking link, clinic inbox and one reminder message | provider and practice manager |
| T plus 72 hours | daily checks of the inbox, reminder delivery and the Search Console 404 report | provider |
| Rollback | keep the old site reachable for 14 days so DNS can be reverted within minutes | provider |
The lowered TTL is the detail that matters: with 300 seconds instead of 3,600, a rollback takes effect in about 5 minutes rather than an hour.
Which other risks deserve a line in the plan?
- Search traffic. Condition pages such as back pain or post-surgery rehab may already rank. Build a URL inventory from Search Console, map each old URL to a 301 redirect, and submit the new sitemap on day one.
- Forms and health data. Health data is special category data under UK GDPR. Public forms collect name, contact and preferred slot, never symptoms, injuries or medical history.
- Tracking pixels. Analytics and advertising tags on appointment and condition pages need review with the clinic's privacy adviser, with PECR-compliant consent.
- Treatment claims. ASA and CAP Code rules on health claims apply. Pages are written factually, reviewed by a clinician, with no promise of recovery times or results.
- Regulatory details. Therapist profiles show HCPC registration; where services fall within CQC registration, show those details too.
- Accessibility. Many rehab patients have reduced mobility or vision. Aim for WCAG 2.2 AA, in line with the Equality Act 2010.
This is not legal advice.
What stays on quote, and what should you ask?
Online booking, patient portals, telehealth and practice management integrations stay on quote; within the grid we link out to or embed your existing vendor. Ask any provider: who holds the DNS export, who tests reminders after the switch, how long the old site stays available for rollback, and what maintenance costs after the included period.
Need a professional website?
Kolonell builds websites that attract clients, optimized for the Sénégalese market. Free quote in 2 minutes.
When is an Oxford agency the better choice?
Choose a local agency if your clinic also needs on-site IT work (network, phones, email migration), a group rebrand across several sites, or a supplier who can attend team meetings in person every month. If the scope is a clean redesign with a safe cutover, a fixed grid with a written runbook is usually enough.
Mini case study
Illustrative example, fictional clinic: "Headwell Physio and Rehab" (an invented name) in Headington has 6 physiotherapists, 19 indexed pages and SMS reminders sent by its booking vendor. The clinic manager, Tom Ashby (fictional), has an Oxford agency quote of £12,000. He picks Kolonell Growth at £3,900 and hires a local photographer for half a day at £650 (third-party cost). Known upfront spend: £4,550, which is £7,450 below the agency quote. The cutover is set for a Sunday at 7:00, with the TTL lowered on the Friday. Mail records are untouched, and the clinic sends itself a test reminder within the first hour.
FAQ
How long will the clinic website be offline during the switch?
With a lowered TTL and a prepared runbook, visible downtime is usually close to zero. If something fails, a rollback with a 300-second TTL takes about 5 minutes to propagate.
Will our clinic email stop working?
It should not, as long as MX, SPF, DKIM and DMARC records are left untouched. We export all records 10 days before and compare them after the switch.
Do appointment reminders keep working?
They depend on your booking vendor, not on the website. We confirm with the vendor 7 days before which DNS records it uses, then send one test reminder within an hour of cutover.
What does the redesign cost with Kolonell?
£2,300 for Starter, £3,900 for Growth and £6,900 for Premium, with 3 months of support included. Integrations and maintenance after month 3 are on quote.
How long does the whole project take?
3 to 4 weeks once content is ready. Allow 1 to 2 extra weeks for therapist bios, clinician review and photos.
Let's scope your project. Send us your current URLs, DNS host and booking vendor, and we will return a fixed price with a written cutover plan, from £2,300. 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.
