The verdict in three sentences
For a private or international school in Utrecht, the right question is the 3-year cost: patching the old CMS theme or moving to a school-platform template looks cheaper in year one, but not necessarily afterwards. A Kolonell redesign costs EUR 2,700 (Starter), EUR 4,500 (Growth) or EUR 8,200 (Premium), delivered in 3 to 4 weeks once content is ready, against EUR 12,000 to 45,000 at an Utrecht agency (2026 ballpark). The main risk remains losing the pages that bring families in from Google today: admissions, curriculum, open days, term dates.
Redesign, patch or template: which do you actually need?
In Utrecht, Zeist, Bilthoven or Leidsche Rijn, Dutch and international families linked to the universities, healthcare and corporate headquarters read the site on mobile, often in English. The choice depends on the real state of the site.
| What you see | Patch the old theme | School-platform template | Redesign |
|---|---|---|---|
| Theme no longer gets security updates | risky | possible | suitable |
| Dutch and English versions out of sync | fixes nothing | depends on the template | suitable |
| Admissions form asks too much about children | one-off fix | often rigid | suitable |
| Well-ranked pages to keep | suitable | limited migration | suitable with a 301 map |
| Recent, well-liked visual identity | suitable | identity lost | possible |
| Immediate budget under EUR 2,000 | only option | possible | no |
Dutch international departments (DIS) within the subsidised system and fully private international schools do not work under the same rules: describe your status as it is, and quote Inspectorate of Education reports only as published.
What does each option cost over 3 years?
Amounts in EUR, 2026 ballpark based on typical quotes and public rate pages of local agencies. Monthly figures are market assumptions; for Kolonell, maintenance after the 3 included months is on quote.
| Option | Year 1 | Years 2 and 3 | 3-year total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patch the old theme (3,000 + 150/month, fixes 1,000/year) | 4,800 | 5,600 | 10,400 |
| School-platform template (1,500 + 200/month) | 3,900 | 4,800 | 8,700 |
| Freelancer (6,000 + 120/month) | 7,440 | 2,880 | 10,320 |
| Utrecht agency (25,000 + 250/month) | 28,000 | 6,000 | 34,000 |
| Kolonell Growth 4,500 + 120/month from month 4 (assumed, market figure) | 5,580 | 2,880 (assumed) | 8,460 |
| Kolonell Premium 8,200 + 120/month from month 4 (assumed, market figure) | 9,280 | 2,880 (assumed) | 12,160 |
The template remains the cheapest, but it often limits old URL migration, layout and content export. Patching costs almost as much as a Growth redesign over 3 years without fixing accessibility or structure. Premium is the multilingual tier, languages set in the quote (Dutch and English here). Tier details are on the international offer page.
Every tier includes a project manager reachable in your time zone, native English or French copywriting and 3 months of support. The Dutch version can be reviewed by school staff or an independent translator (third-party cost). These stay on quote, each as a separate line: admissions portal, fee payment, school management system, parent app, calendar feeds. They are kept and linked, never rebuilt.
Which phases and risks should you plan for?
Allow 3 to 4 weeks of production after content preparation. The register below ties each risk to its week.
| Week | Work | Risk | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | URL inventory, site map | forgotten pages | full export, list of pages that receive visits |
| 2 | design, build | intrusive forms | 6 to 8 fields, no health, special needs, report or passport data |
| 3 | NL and EN migration, 301 map | conflicting dates | one person signs off the calendar |
| 3 | links to portal and payment | broken link | test every external link |
| 4 | compliance review | unverifiable claim | curricula, accreditations and inspections as actually held |
| 4 | go-live | downtime | evening DNS switch, rollback ready |
| +6 weeks | Search Console | traffic drop | weekly 404 fixes |
Need a professional website?
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On data, the GDPR (AVG in the Netherlands) applies, supervised by the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens: a privacy notice for parents, a retention period for enquiries, a cookie banner that works with analytics and admissions tags. This is not legal advice. Pupil photos only with documented parental consent and removal on request; safeguarding pages published as the school's own documents; WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility, captions and accessible PDFs. Go live during the summer holidays or a quiet week, away from open days and the enrolment peak.
When is an Utrecht agency the better choice?
If the board wants on-site workshops in Dutch, if the school belongs to a foundation that requires a European tender, or if the project includes a heavy integration with the school management system, a local agency will fit better. Questions to ask: who writes the 301 map? Who holds domain access? What does maintenance cost in year two? Who updates term dates after handover?
Mini case study
Illustrative example. Femke de Vries coordinates Wilgenhof International School, a fictional international primary school of about 180 pupils in Zeist offering the IB Primary Years Programme (in this scenario the school holds the authorisation). Patching its old theme would cost EUR 10,400 over 3 years.
- Kolonell Premium (the multilingual tier, languages set in the quote): EUR 8,200
- Hosting and maintenance, months 4 to 36: 33 x 120 = EUR 3,960 (market assumption; Kolonell maintenance after the 3 included months on quote)
- Dutch review by an independent translator (third-party cost): EUR 900
- 3-year total: EUR 13,060
The gap with patching is EUR 2,660 over 3 years, about EUR 74 a month, for an accessible bilingual site with properly migrated URLs. Femke presents this calculation to the board without promising extra enrolments.
FAQ
Is a school-platform template enough? For a small school without well-ranked pages, yes: about EUR 8,700 over 3 years in our assumption. Check content export and redirect handling before signing.
How long does the redesign take? 3 to 4 weeks of production after 2 to 6 weeks of content preparation by the school, then 6 weeks of Search Console monitoring.
Is the admissions portal included? No. It is kept and linked; any deeper integration is priced as a separate line, on top of the EUR 2,700 to 8,200 grid.
When should we go live? During the summer holidays or a quiet autumn week, at least 2 weeks before an open day.
Let's scope your project. Send us your current site, your languages and your go-live window, and we will price the redesign between EUR 2,700 and 8,200 with a 3 to 4 week schedule. 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.
