WordPress Maintenance Retainer for a Manufacturer in London: 2026 SLA Pricing

The verdict in three sentences

After a hack, a manufacturing SME must buy a recovery commitment, not just updates: the SLA is what separates a site restored in 4 hours from a sales showcase down for three days. In Lyon, a WordPress maintenance retainer costs 80 to 450 EUR excl. VAT per month in 2026 depending on service level, with weekly updates, off-site backups and a guaranteed recovery time of 4 to 24 hours. With cleaning a hacked site costing 500 to 2,000 EUR, a single avoided incident often pays for a year of retainer.

What each retainer level covers in Lyon and London

Packages have different names from one agency to another, but they compare on five criteria: update frequency, backups, monitoring, recovery time and included development hours. The prices below are 2026 market estimates for a 30 to 80 page WordPress site with forms and a few business plugins.

For a 120-employee SME whose site generates quote requests, Standard is the sensible floor, and Enhanced is a must if the site has already been compromised: the attacker knows the target and often returns within 3 to 6 months.

At Kolonell, maintenance costs 35,000, 75,000 or 120,000 FCFA per month, or about 50, 110 or 180 EUR, for the Basic, Standard or Premium level. The level, frequencies and recovery time are set out in the signed contract.

The real cost of a hack for a manufacturing SME

The cleanup quote is only the visible part. The IT manager must cost the full incident to agree the budget with management.

Off-site backups are the line that changes everything. If the last clean copy is from yesterday and sits outside the compromised server, restoration takes a few hours. If backups were stored on the same hosting, they are often infected or encrypted, and manual cleanup climbs to the top of the range.

Clauses to check before signing

A maintenance contract is judged on its clauses more than on its price. Recovery time must be defined in hours, with a clear starting point, such as when the ticket is opened. The backup clause must state frequency, retention period and storage location, ideally at a second provider. The contract must say who pays for cleanup after a hack: some Enhanced packages include it, others bill 80 to 120 EUR excl. VAT per hour.

You should also require a monthly report: plugins updated, blocked login attempts, measured uptime (target 99.9%, roughly 43 minutes of downtime a month at most) and restore test results. In London, contracts often add a reference to Cyber Essentials certification, increasingly requested by British industrial buyers.

Mini case study

Julien, IT manager of a hypothetical 120-employee manufacturing SME in Vénissieux near Lyon, saw his site hacked for 3 days. The site receives 25 quote requests a month, converted at 20% with an average order of 8,000 EUR. Three days of downtime mean about 2.5 lost requests, or 4,000 EUR of expected revenue.

Add 1,500 EUR of cleanup and 20 internal hours valued at 50 EUR, or 1,000 EUR: the incident costs about 6,500 EUR. An Enhanced retainer at 300 EUR excl. VAT per month comes to 3,600 EUR a year. A single avoided incident therefore covers almost two years of retainer, not counting the company's image with industrial buyers.

FAQ

What update frequency should we aim for?

Weekly at minimum, with critical security patches applied within 48 hours. A large share of WordPress hacks exploit plugins whose fix has been available for several weeks.

Where should backups be stored?

Off the site's server, ideally at a second provider, with 30 to 90 days of history. A monthly restore test takes about 1 hour and proves the backup works.

Is a 4 hour recovery time realistic?

Yes, with daily off-site backups and a written procedure. It usually costs 250 to 450 EUR excl. VAT per month in Lyon, against 80 to 120 EUR for a 24 hour commitment.

Do we need to rebuild the site after a hack?

Rarely: in most cases, a 500 to 2,000 EUR cleanup and hardening are enough. A rebuild makes sense if the theme or plugins have not been maintained for more than 2 years.

Can the retainer include improvements?

Yes, many packages include 1 to 4 hours a month. Beyond that, hours are usually billed at 60 to 120 EUR excl. VAT in Lyon.

Let's scope your project. Send us your site address, plugin list and incident history: we will propose the right maintenance level, Basic, Standard or Premium, from 35,000 to 120,000 FCFA per month, with an initial audit. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.