Website redesign for a private or international school in Montreux: budget, timeline and risks (2026)

The verdict in three sentences

For a private school, boarding school or nursery group in Montreux, Clarens, Glion or Vevey, the redesign depends less on design than on when and how you switch over. Riviera and Lausanne agencies typically quote CHF 20,000 to 60,000 (2026 ballpark), while Kolonell applies its fixed grid of CHF 2,700, CHF 4,500 or CHF 8,200, delivered in 3 to 4 weeks once content is ready. A badly timed cutover, in the middle of admissions or with staff email cut off, costs more than the whole budget gap.

When should you start the redesign?

The usual signals: a site that renders poorly on mobile while international families browse from abroad, incomplete English pages, an admissions form that asks for documents by email, policies published as scanned PDFs, several old websites for a single brand. Boarding schools, hospitality schools and international families share the region: the audience is demanding, and every inconsistency (hours, published fees, open-day dates) gets noticed.

The right time to decide is 4 to 6 months before the target go-live window, to leave time to gather content. The right time to go live is covered below.

What budget should you plan on the Vaud Riviera?

Indicative ranges based on typical quotes and public rate pages of local agencies, 2026 ballpark.

Always on quote, as separate lines: the admissions portal, fee payment, the school management system, the parent app and calendar feeds. Kolonell keeps and links them, without rebuilding them. Scope details are on our international offer page.

How do you choose the cutover date?

This is the core of the redesign. The calendar below is an example to adapt to the school's actual calendar.

In practice, a decision in February lets you gather content in spring, build in June and switch over in early August, with six weeks of Search Console monitoring covering the start of term.

Which technical risks come with the cutover?

DNS and email. This is the most underestimated risk in schools. If the domain also carries staff email and parent contact addresses, the MX, SPF and DKIM records must be documented before any change, the TTL lowered 48 hours ahead, and sending and receiving checked on the day.

Search. Inventory of every URL (crawl, Search Console, analytics), a page-by-page 301 map for admissions, curriculum, fees if published, open days, boarding, transport and term dates, then a weekly 404 check for six weeks.

Links to tools. Every link to the admissions portal, the payment platform or the parent app is tested on staging, then in production.

Content compliance. A pre-launch review of every marketing claim: curricula, accreditations and Vaud cantonal approval mentioned only as the school actually holds them, no invented results or rankings. Safeguarding pages and policies remain the school's own documents. On data, the nLPD/revFADP (in force since 1 September 2023, supervised by the FDPIC) applies, and the GDPR may apply for families resident in the EU. The admissions form collects the minimum, with no health, SEN, passport or custody data; pupil photos require documented parental consent. This is not legal advice. The site targets WCAG 2.2 AA and the cookie banner actually controls the tags.

Questions to ask, and when a local agency is better

Ask the provider: who documents the current DNS zone? Who tests email on the day? How many weeks of monitoring after the switch? Who updates term dates and policies afterwards?

A Riviera agency makes sense if you want weekly on-site meetings, if the project includes rebuilding the admissions portal, or if your foundation requires a Swiss provider. With a budget of CHF 35,000 and above, that choice is rational. To compare both models, see our article on local agency or remote studio in Montreux.

Mini case study

Illustrative example: Les Petits Narcisses (fictional), a pre-school group, runs three sites in Clarens, Vevey and Glion under one brand, but with three old websites. The inventory finds 180 URLs in total, 41 of which receive traffic. The project merges the three domains into one site with a page per location; the 41 active pages get one-to-one 301 redirects. Budget: Premium at CHF 8,200 for French and English (the multilingual tier, languages set in the quote), plus a local photographer (assumed CHF 1,200, third-party cost), total CHF 9,400. Against a Lausanne agency quote of CHF 38,000, the gap is CHF 28,600. Cutover planned for 10 August, staff email checked the same day. Kolonell maintenance after the 3 included months: on quote.

FAQ

Why avoid July in Montreux? The jazz festival takes over the town and part of the team is away. An early August cutover, about 3 weeks before term, leaves a better margin.

Can email go down during the redesign? Not if the MX records are documented and kept. A TTL lowered 48 hours ahead limits propagation time.

What does a bilingual redesign cost? With Kolonell, Premium at CHF 8,200, the multilingual tier, languages set in the quote. With a local agency, expect CHF 20,000 to 60,000.

Should we merge several websites? If one brand covers several locations, usually yes. Each old active page gets its 301 redirect and monitoring lasts 6 weeks.

Is the admissions portal included? No. It stays a separate line on quote, kept and linked, like fee payment and the parent app.

Let's scope your project. A FR/EN redesign between CHF 4,500 and CHF 8,200, delivered in 3 to 4 weeks and switched over in the right window of your school calendar. See the international offer or request a free quote: detailed reply within 48 hours.