Website redesign for a wealth management firm or family office in Basel: budget, timeline and risks (2026)

The verdict in three sentences

A Basel wealth manager or family office should expect CHF 18,000 to 70,000 for a redesign with a local agency in 2026, while Kolonell's fixed grid delivers the site at CHF 4,500 (Growth) or CHF 8,200 (Premium) in 3 to 4 weeks once content is ready. For a client base that includes many people over 60, the redesign is the moment to meet WCAG 2.2 AA: readable contrast, text that scales, and navigation that works with a keyboard. Accessibility, disclosure pages and redirects belong in the brief from day one, not in a post-launch fix list.

Which signals tell a Basel firm it is time?

Basel's private clients range from old Basel families around St. Alban and Riehen to pharma executives holding share plans, plus cross-border clients living in France and Germany. Many of them read on a tablet with enlarged text, and some rely on a screen magnifier. Signs your site is falling behind:

• Light grey text on white, or gold on cream, that older readers struggle to read.
• Pages that break or overlap when the browser zoom reaches 200%.
• Menus that open only on hover and cannot be reached with the Tab key.
• A German site with English and French pages that stop after the home page.
• Fee information buried in a PDF, when a fee-only firm's model is its main argument.
• A contact form that asks for portfolio value, which a public form should never collect.

What does a redesign cost in Basel in 2026?

A 2026 ballpark from typical agency quotes and public agency rate pages in north-western Switzerland. The column that matters most for this audience is whether accessibility testing is in scope.

All Kolonell tiers include a project manager reachable in your time zone, native English or French copywriting, delivery in 3 to 4 weeks and 3 months of support. A native German copy review and an independent accessibility audit with assistive technology users, if you want them, are third-party costs.

What does WCAG 2.2 AA change for older clients?

Designing these in from the first template costs far less than retrofitting them after launch.

How long does it take, and what can go wrong?

Timeline once content is ready: week 1 for the URL inventory, redirect map and accessible templates; weeks 2 and 3 for the build in German first, then English and French; week 3 or 4 for compliance sign-off, accessibility testing and launch outside business hours. Content preparation on your side usually takes 2 to 5 weeks before that.

Main risks and their mitigation:

• Search traffic loss: every old URL in the inventory gets a 301, and Search Console is watched for 8 weeks.
• Disclosure pages: legal notices, complaints and ombudsman information, regulatory status and fee disclosures are inventoried first and stay one click away from every page.
• Insights archive: market commentaries migrate with original dates and authors; dated views are labelled as such.
• Team bios: reviewed by each adviser, with no awards, rankings or press mentions that compliance has not verified.
• Portal and custodian links: the portal stays on quote and is never rebuilt inside a fixed-grid site; existing login links are tested on launch day.
• Marketing claims: no promise of returns and no performance figures; every page receives compliance sign-off before go-live.
• Downtime: DNS switched in the evening, with a rollback plan.

Depending on its activities, a firm may need FINMA authorisation under the Financial Institutions Act (FinIA) or fall under other client-protection duties; your compliance lead decides what the site may say. The revised Federal Act on Data Protection (nLPD, in force since 1 September 2023) applies, supervised by the FDPIC, and the GDPR can matter for clients in France and Germany. This is not legal advice.

What stays on quote, and what should you ask?

Client portal, custodian integrations, document exchange, CRM sync and reporting tools stay on quote. Ask any provider: which WCAG 2.2 AA criteria will you test and how; who builds the redirect map; how will French and English pages be kept in step with German; where is form data hosted; and who can update fee disclosures without a developer?

When is a Basel agency the better choice?

Choose a local agency if you want in-person usability sessions with older clients, a full brand redevelopment, or a portal integration with a Swiss custodian managed by a partner nearby. A local team also suits firms whose governance requires every workshop in German. For a fee-only firm with a settled brand, our international offer covers an accessible, multilingual site at a fixed price.

Mini case study

Illustrative example: Markus runs a hypothetical fee-only advisory firm in St. Alban whose clients are mostly retired. A Basel agency quoted CHF 34,000 for a German, English and French redesign. He chooses Kolonell Premium at CHF 8,200, adds CHF 1,400 for an independent German copywriter and CHF 1,500 for an independent accessibility audit, both third-party costs. Total: CHF 11,100, or CHF 22,900 below the local quote. The audit flags 14 colour pairs below 4.5:1 on the old site; all are fixed in the new palette, and the fee page moves from a PDF to plain HTML.

FAQ

How much does a wealth management website redesign cost in Basel in 2026?

Roughly CHF 18,000 to 70,000 with a local agency. On Kolonell's grid, Growth costs CHF 4,500 and Premium CHF 8,200.

Why WCAG 2.2 AA rather than 2.1?

WCAG 2.2 adds criteria such as focus not obscured and target size, useful for tablet readers and older clients. Meeting AA means passing about 55 success criteria across levels A and AA.

Can we keep German, English and French?

Yes, with Premium at CHF 8,200, the multilingual tier, languages set in the quote. Native German review, if needed, is a third-party cost.

Will our client portal be redesigned?

No, the portal stays on quote and is never rebuilt inside a fixed-grid site. The new site links to it, tested on launch day.

How long until launch?

3 to 4 weeks of build once content is ready. Most firms need 2 to 5 weeks before that to prepare and approve texts.

Let's scope your project. Send your current URL, languages and the pages your compliance team must approve, and we will return a fixed price and a 3 to 4 week plan. See the international offer or request a free quote: detailed reply within 48 hours.