The verdict in three sentences
For a wealth management firm or family office in Abu Dhabi, a redesign is mostly a risk-management project: the visible design is the easy part, while bilingual URLs, client portal links and compliance review are where things break. A realistic 2026 budget runs from USD 2,900 to 8,900 with Kolonell's fixed grid against roughly AED 40,000 to 120,000 for a bilingual redesign with a local agency, with portals and integrations quoted separately in both cases. The decisive factor is not the agency's address but a written plan for redirects, compliance sign-off and go-live, agreed before any design work starts.
Is it time to redesign?
Firms on Al Maryah Island or along the Corniche usually redesign for one of a few reasons: the Arabic version lags behind the English one, the site still describes services or team members that changed, mobile pages are slow, the old CMS can no longer be updated safely, or a move into ADGM or a new licence means the regulatory wording must be reviewed. If two or more apply, a redesign is usually cheaper than patching.
What budget should you plan?
Ranges below are a 2026 ballpark based on typical agency quotes in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, converted at about AED 3.67 per US dollar. They cover the public website only.
| Provider | Typical redesign scope | 2026 ballpark | Not included in most quotes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freelancer in Abu Dhabi | Template redesign, one language | AED 8,000 to 25,000 (about USD 2,200 to 6,800) | Arabic RTL, compliance workflow |
| Abu Dhabi agency, bilingual | Custom design, Arabic and English, CMS | AED 40,000 to 120,000 (about USD 10,900 to 32,700) | Client portal changes, integrations |
| UAE agency specialised in financial services | Bilingual, brand work, content strategy | AED 150,000 to 350,000 (about USD 40,900 to 95,400) | Portal and CRM work, often quoted apart |
| Kolonell Starter | Focused English site, native copywriting | USD 2,900 | Arabic version |
| Kolonell Growth | Larger English site, insights section, forms | USD 4,900 | Arabic version |
| Kolonell Premium | Multilingual tier, Arabic and RTL scope set in the quote | USD 8,900 | Portals and integrations, on quote |
Kolonell includes a project manager reachable in your time zone, native English copywriting, delivery in 3 to 4 weeks once content is ready and 3 months of support; maintenance afterwards is on quote. Compare tiers on the international websites page. For professional services, Kolonell built the site of TR Signing Group, a signing services company in New Jersey, a useful reference for a discreet, service-led structure.
How long does a redesign take, phase by phase?
The build itself is short. What stretches timelines in wealth management is content approval and compliance review, which sit on the client side.
| Phase | Kolonell | Typical local agency | Owner on your side |
|---|---|---|---|
| URL inventory and redirect plan | Week 1 | 1 to 2 weeks | Marketing or operations |
| Content and compliance review | Before kickoff, usually 2 to 4 weeks | 2 to 6 weeks, often in parallel | Compliance officer |
| Design, Arabic and English | Weeks 1 to 2 | 3 to 5 weeks | Managing partner |
| Build and content migration | Weeks 2 to 3 | 4 to 6 weeks | Marketing |
| QA: redirects, RTL, accessibility, forms | Week 4 | 1 to 2 weeks | Operations |
| Go-live and monitoring | Week 4, then 3 months of support | Varies with retainer | Operations |
What are the main risks, and how do you reduce them?
| Risk | What goes wrong | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|
| Search traffic loss | Old URLs return 404s, rankings drop | Full URL inventory, one-to-one 301 redirect map, Search Console check after launch |
| Bilingual URLs | Arabic pages lose their English pair or vice versa | Language folders such as /ar/ and /en/, hreflang tags, tested pairs |
| Client portal links | Login links break, clients cannot reach statements | Keep the portal URL unchanged, test every link, portal changes on quote |
| Compliance wording | Old performance claims or outdated licence text go live | Compliance officer signs off every page before go-live, no promise of returns |
| Content migration | Outdated factsheets and PDFs migrate unnoticed | Archive review, remove or date every legacy document |
| Downtime | DNS switch during client hours | Cutover at a low-traffic time, such as a weekend morning, with rollback plan |
Regulation stays the firm's responsibility. Firms in ADGM are supervised by the FSRA, and marketing content should go through your usual compliance process. ADGM has its own data protection regulations, while onshore firms fall under the UAE's Federal Decree-Law 45 of 2021 on personal data protection: confirm with counsel which applies. Ask the provider for a privacy notice in both languages, consent handling, minimal form fields and WCAG 2.2 AA as the accessibility target. This is not legal advice.
When is a local agency the better choice?
If the redesign is tied to a full rebrand with several partner workshops in person, if your Arabic must be written from scratch by Emirati or Gulf Arabic copywriters, or if the redesign includes deep work on the client portal or CRM with local vendors, a local agency's proximity is worth the premium. A remote studio fits when the content is mostly approved, compliance review is organised internally and you want a fixed scope and date.
Questions to ask any provider: who builds the redirect map, how many compliance review rounds are planned, who handles Arabic proofreading, in whose name the domain sits, and what support costs after launch.
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Mini case study
Illustrative example (fictional): Omar is COO of a single-family office in ADGM. The current site has 140 indexed URLs. Analytics show that 35 of them receive search visits; these get one-to-one 301 redirects, and the remaining 105 are consolidated into 12 new pages.
Budget comparison:
- Local agency quote: AED 90,000, about USD 24,500, 14 weeks.
- Kolonell Premium: USD 8,900, plus an external compliance consultant for 12 hours at USD 250 (third-party cost, USD 3,000) and an independent Arabic proofreader (third-party cost, USD 700). Total: USD 12,600, about 4 weeks of build after a 3-week internal content review, so 7 weeks.
The difference is about USD 11,900 and 7 weeks. Omar keeps the portal untouched, which avoids an integration quote altogether.
FAQ
Will a redesign hurt our search visibility?
It can, if URLs change without redirects. A map covering every URL that receives traffic, such as the 35 in our example, plus a Search Console check in the first 2 weeks, keeps the risk low.
Can the client portal be redesigned at the same time?
Usually it should stay separate. Portal changes depend on the custodian or software vendor and are quoted apart; keeping its URL unchanged avoids 1 major source of risk.
How many languages can the new site have?
Premium at USD 8,900 is the multilingual tier, with Arabic and RTL scope set in the quote. Plan 1 native Arabic review round before go-live.
Who signs off the content?
Your compliance officer, page by page, before launch. Allow 2 to 4 weeks for this on a site of 15 to 30 pages.
What happens after launch?
Kolonell includes 3 months of support, then maintenance is on quote. Agree the support scope in writing before signing.
Let's scope your project. Share your current URL count, languages and compliance process, and we will propose a redesign plan from USD 2,900 to 8,900 with a 3 to 4 week build. 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.
