Website Pricing - The Composed Journey (Internal)¶
Never client-facing. The group pricing view across the whole delivery process: the composed journeys, the expected staffing mix, the validation against sold history, and the standing risks. Each chapter's detail lives in its own productisation and effort-model documents; this is the roll-up.
The Composed Journeys¶
Every journey = Discovery (fixed tiers) + computed chapters (from Cornerstone counts) + fixed Launch + the size-tapered Project & Account Management line (15% S/M · 12.5% L · 10% XL). All + VAT. Representative shapes, all System-led, each at the typical Discovery depth for its size: the Baseline floor at S, Focused at M and L, Focused Clarify + Core Architect at XL (shallower or deeper Discovery moves the total per the composed grid). Surface counts are the single representative set - S 3 · M 10 · L 20 · XL 35 - shared with both effort models and both grids in engagement-bands.md. Every figure below is computed by the cost builder from those counts, not hand-maintained:
| Journey | Discovery | Design (+DS) | Build | Population | UAT (cycles) | Launch | PM&AM | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| S System-led (the smallest site we build) | £6,000 | £3,000 | £8,000 | £2,000 | £1,500 (1) | £2,000 | £2,500 | £25,000 |
| M System-led (the full marketing site) | £9,995 | £7,500 | £14,000 | £4,500 | £3,000 (2) | £2,500 | £4,500 | £45,995 |
| L System-led (the default marketing site) | £9,995 | £14,000 | £21,000 | £5,000 | £4,500 (3) | £2,500 | £7,000 | £63,995 |
| XL System-led (the large corporate site) | £16,795 | £27,000 + £4,500* | £34,000 | £10,500 | £7,500 (5) | £3,500 | £11,000 | from £114,795 |
*The design system line is mandatory at XL; opt-in below, and excluded from the three smaller shapes.
The Design and Build figures here sit above the corresponding cells in engagement-bands.md, because those grids price the surface ladder and the integration map respectively, while these journeys carry both: a named integration contributes design hours from outside the surface ladder as well as its own build hours. Design at L is £13,500 of surfaces + £500 of integration design; at XL, £25,500 + £1,500. How the journeys compose:
- M carries Focused Discovery, not the Baseline floor. A ten-surface marketing site is a real build with a real content model, and a £6,000 Baseline understates what it needs. Only S runs on the floor - the smallest tier alone.
- Each tier prices at its representative count, not its band floor. A tier priced at the bottom of its band understates the shape it claims to describe; L at 20 surfaces is the row, not L at 11.
- The integration register prices each integration on its own hours, not a flat per-integration allowance. Faceted search and filterable maps cost multiples of a consent banner, which a flat figure averages away in both directions.
- UAT and Launch are cycle-scaled lines. A UAT cycle is 12 hrs at £1,500, counts S 1 · M 2 · L 3 · XL 5 - XL's count deliberately above its size step so the smaller unit holds the provision. Launch 6.1 readiness scales the same way at 4 hrs per cycle; 6.3 is carried at every size, which is why M and L share a Launch price.
- A native contact form sits in every shape, including the two smallest. A lead-generation site without one is not a real product, so carrying it at 3 surfaces but not at 8 would be incoherent. It is the whole of the +£2,000 between those two shapes.
- XL is the top band, open-ended above 21 surfaces. Nothing is priced above it: MAJOR has not shipped a multi-site estate and does not currently expect to, so pricing a representative would model a shape that does not exist. Above the XL representative, quote bespoke from the actual inventory.
Commercial reference points (derived from the model): S ~£25k · M ~£46k · L ~£64k · XL ~£115k - the composed totals above (£25,000 · £45,995 · £63,995 · £114,795), rounded to £5k except M and L, used as the sales sanity check for what a typical shape costs. They are the evidenced side of the conversation: fitted on shipped actuals and tier-honest at benchmarked rates, rather than an aspiration with no documented basis. Selling below them is a recalibration decision (which grid lines shrink, and why), never quiet discounting. The largest reference actual (the Tracsis shape, ~50 surfaces) composes to £107.5k delivery under the current model - above the XL representative's £98k at 35 surfaces, which is what "XL is open-ended above 21, quoted bespoke beyond the representative" means in practice. Discovery minimums are unchanged and are floors, not the shapes' basis: the £6,000 Baselines at S alone, Focused Discovery (£9,995) at M and above; doctrine in the Discovery phase README.
The Formula¶
The whole project, one calculation. Every input is fixed at the sales moment or Cornerstone confirmation; every line rounds to a clean number (nearest £500) before summing, except the Discovery SKUs, which are set price points (Focused Clarify £4,295 + Focused Architect £5,700 = £9,995) - which is why journeys carrying a Focused tier total in £495 or £795 rather than £500. All + VAT.
Inputs
| Symbol | Input | Fixed at |
|---|---|---|
| Clarify · Architect | Discovery tiers (fixed SKUs; the Baselines - Clarify £2,000 · Architect £4,000 - are the non-removable minimums) | Sales |
| T · V · K | Templates · named Section-level variants · tools/set pieces | 2.1, confirmed at Cornerstone |
| S | Surfaces = T + V + K | - |
| B | Ambition band (SL / EX / PR) | Sales, confirmed at 2.3 |
| k | Size step: ≤5 → 1 (S) · 6–12 → 2 (M) · 13–25 → 3 (L) · 26+ → 4 (XL) | - |
| C | Content types | 2.1 |
| Iₛ · Iᵥ · R | Standard integrations · volatile integrations · risk allowance (hrs) | 2.2 |
| F | Bespoke feature allowances (hrs) | 2.4 scope table |
| G · N | Scripts (source × content type) · manually populated items | 2.1 / 2.2 |
Band constants
| System-led | Expressive | Premium | |
|---|---|---|---|
| d - design hrs per surface | 5.5 | 7 | 10.5 |
| m - build UI multiplier | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.5 |
| Design blend (20/25/35% P) | £121.00 | £123.75 | £129.25 |
| Build blend (12/15/20% P) | £116.60 | £118.25 | £121.00 |
Blends are the expected mixes at P £165 / M £110. Validate's population lines blend at £118.25 (15:85); UAT cycles and Launch are fixed prices (per cycle and per size respectively).
The calculation
- Discovery = Clarify + Architect (the composed grid in Architect's productisation; clean sum, higher tier names the engagement; never below the size minimum: the £6,000 Baseline floor at S, Focused Discovery £9,995 at M and above - only S runs on the floor)
- Design = (S × d + 18 × testing rounds) × design blend, where rounds = 0 (S/M/L) · 1 (XL), + recruitment at cost
- Design system = max(20% × S × d, 16) × design blend - mandatory at XL, opt-in below, halved when a usable client system is inherited
- Build = (25 + m × (8T + 2V + tool hrs) + 4C + 8Iₛ + 15Iᵥ + R + F) × build blend
- Population = (5G + 0.25 × manual items + 0.05 × all items + 8) × £118.25 - scripts ~4–6 hrs each, one 8-hr beta pass; manual-only sites drop the script and re-run terms (Validate's population lines)
- UAT cycles = £1,500 × cycles, where cycles = S 1 · M 2 · L 3 · XL 5 - Validate's cycle line, 12 hrs each. Cycle counts are not the size step k; XL carries 5 so the smaller cycle unit holds the provision the old 20-hr cycles gave
- Launch = the size SKU: S £2,000 · M £2,500 · L £2,500 · XL £3,500 (+£1,000 conditional codebase handover when the client does not move to Momentum). 6.1 readiness scales with its own cycle count (S 1 · M 2 · L 2 · XL 3); 6.3 handover and the day-30 report are carried at every size, which is why M and L price the same
- Delivery subtotal Δ = lines 2–7
- PM&AM = p × Δ, where p = 15% (S, M, L) · 12.5% (XL) - the taper because kickoff, pulse, and close are near-fixed costs
- Project total = Δ + PM&AM + Discovery
The Expected Staffing Mix¶
| Chapter | Expected P:M | Band ladder (P share) |
|---|---|---|
| Clarify | 40:60 | per-step, explicit in its effort model |
| Architect | 35:65 | per-step, remixed (the target and the pricing basis) |
| Design | 25:75 | SL 20 · EX 25 · PR 35 |
| Build | 15:85 | SL 12 · EX 15 · PR 20 |
| Validate · population | 15:85 | - |
| Validate · cycles | 25:75 | - |
| Launch | 60:40 | - |
| PM&AM | 30:70 | the go-forward position |
Effort-Model Conventions¶
Shared by every chapter effort model: hours are internal productive hours (the six-hour tracked day, per touchstone §11), never elapsed time or client-facing days; models exclude cross-cutting Management (PM&AM), sales effort, and client-side time; a top tier's figures are "from" floors, not estimates.
Two cost bases, and they are not interchangeable. Neither appears anywhere client-facing.
| Basis | Rates | What it is | What it is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rate-card cost | P £165/h · M £110/h | The hours valued at the standard rate card (rates.md) | Setting and validating external prices; the uplift over it is the productisation margin |
| Staff cost | P £119/h · M £82/h | What the hours cost us to deliver | Gross margin, and the profit view in the cost builder |
The chapter effort models call rate-card cost "internal cost". That is a sell-side figure, not what the work costs to deliver, so the two are never summed or compared. Wherever a margin percentage is quoted, state the basis and whether it is markup over cost or margin on price: the two differ widely, and mixing them is how a 124% markup gets written down as 56%.
The Project & Account Management Line¶
One visible line on every estimate, tapered by project size: 15% of the delivery subtotal at S and M · 12.5% at L · 10% at XL, scoped in a sentence - kickoff, planning, the pulse, coordination, risk and change management, your account lead.
The taper follows the cost curve: kickoff, the pulse, and close are near-fixed costs, so PM scales sub-linearly with delivery value - a flat percentage would overfund large projects and squeeze small ones.
Expected mix: 30:70 P:M - the go-forward position: mids run day-to-day project management; principals hold the Decider-facing moments (kickoff, gates, escalations) and account direction.