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

The verdict in three sentences

For a Wellington wealth management arm that has outgrown a page on its parent accounting firm's website, the cheapest redesign on day one is rarely the cheapest over three years. On our market assumptions, a DIY template ends up around USD 5,600 over 36 months once fixes are counted, a Wellington agency around USD 29,300, and a Kolonell Growth site around USD 8,200 including a market maintenance assumption. The real differences sit in what each option does about redirects, regulatory pages and compliance review, which a template leaves entirely to you.

When does a spin-out wealth arm need its own redesigned site?

Many Wellington advice businesses began inside an accounting practice on Lambton Quay or in Thorndon: the partners' clients, public servants, professionals and retirees around Kelburn, asked for investment and retirement advice, and a wealth page appeared on the accounting site. Once the advice arm becomes a separate business, that setup creates problems. Clients cannot tell which entity they are dealing with, the regulatory status of the advice business is mixed with the accounting firm's information, and a single enquiry form sends personal information to both teams.

Typical triggers for a redesign:

• The advice business now has its own name, entity and licensing position, and the website still says otherwise.
• Disclosure information (regulatory status, complaints process, fees, conflicts) is scattered across PDFs on the accounting site.
• Market commentary is published as accounting blog posts and mixed with tax deadline reminders.
• Team bios show advisers under the accounting firm's partner list.
• A template site was launched in a weekend two years ago and nobody has updated it since.

What does a redesign cost over three years?

The table compares total cost of ownership over 36 months. Build figures are a 2026 ballpark from typical quotes and public agency rate pages in Wellington, converted approximately from NZD to USD. Maintenance figures are market assumptions for hosting, updates and small fixes from any provider; they are not Kolonell prices. Kolonell includes 3 months of support, and support after that is on quote.

The template looks cheapest, but its 36-month figure excludes the owner's own hours and any loss of search traffic during the move. Every Kolonell tier 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. Client portals, custodian connections, CRM and practice management integrations are on quote. Details are on the international website offer page.

What is the realistic timeline, and what are the spin-out risks?

Risks specific to this kind of project:

• Cross-domain redirects. Moving pages from accountingfirm.co.nz/wealth to a new domain needs a 301 for every URL, set on the accounting site's server. Without the partners' cooperation, rankings built over years can vanish.
• Shared personal information. Under the Privacy Act 2020, information collected for one purpose should not quietly flow to another business. Separate forms for each entity, collecting only name, contact details and the topic of the enquiry, keep things clean. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner publishes practical guidance.
• Mixed regulatory messages. Financial advice is supervised by the Financial Markets Authority under the financial advice provider licensing regime, while the accounting firm has its own professional framework. Each entity's status and complaints process must be clear and reachable from every page.
• Claims that overreach. The Fair Trading Act prohibits misleading claims. No promise of returns, no performance figures, no testimonials until your compliance adviser has approved them.
• Downtime. Lower DNS time to live 48 hours before the switch and go live outside business hours.

This is not legal advice.

When is a Wellington agency the better choice?

If the spin-out comes with a full brand identity, a naming process and photography of the team, or if you need a secure client portal built at the same time, a Wellington agency that works face to face with the partners is a sound choice. Before signing with anyone, ask who holds the new domain and hosting, who configures redirects on the accounting site, how many compliance revision rounds are included, and what support costs after the first 3 months.

Mini case study

*Illustrative example.* Aroha leads the wealth arm spun out of a Thorndon accounting practice. The accounting site holds 26 wealth URLs and 40 commentary posts. Her first idea is a template: about USD 1,200 to set up plus roughly 60 hours of her own time, valued at USD 120 an hour, so about USD 8,400 in the first year.

She compares this with Growth at USD 4,900 and about 15 hours of her time for content approval (USD 1,800), so USD 6,700. Over three years, adding the same USD 100 monthly market maintenance assumption from month 4 (USD 3,300), the Growth route lands at about USD 10,000 against roughly USD 12,840 for the template route once its USD 4,440 of hosting and fixes is added. The 66 old URLs all receive 301 redirects, configured with the accounting firm's IT provider.

FAQ

Is a template enough for a small advice business?

It can work for a single-adviser practice with 5 to 8 pages. Beyond that, the hidden costs of redirects, accessibility and compliance structure usually push the 3-year total above USD 5,600.

Who pays for redirects on the accounting firm's domain?

Usually the accounting firm's IT provider spends 1 to 3 hours configuring them. Agree this cost with the partners before the project starts.

Is Kolonell maintenance included after launch?

The first 3 months of support are included in every tier. After that, support is on quote; the USD 100 monthly figure in our table is a market assumption only.

Can we keep the accounting firm's logo on the new site?

Only if it is clear which entity provides advice. Keep a short paragraph on the relationship between the two firms on the about page, written in under 150 words.

How long before the new domain ranks?

With a complete 301 map, expect 4 to 8 weeks of movement. Monitor both domains in Search Console weekly.

Let's scope your project. Tell us how many wealth pages sit on the accounting site and when the spin-out goes live, and we will propose a tier from USD 2,900 to USD 8,900 with a 3 to 4 week plan. See the international offer or request a free quote: detailed reply within 48 hours.