How website revisions work, and how to stop them looping

en 2026-09-22 6 min read

The two revision rounds bundled into every build are part of the fixed price for your step, whether that is EUR 900-1.500 for a mini-site or EUR 1.500-3.500 for a business website, as long as each round adjusts work the scope already describes. New pages, new features or a new direction are new work, priced before anyone starts on them.

Endless revision does not need bad intentions on either side. It only needs nobody to have written down what a round is, so every new thought arrives as one more small change and the project never reaches a finish line both sides agreed on.

What one revision round is

• One stage. A round reviews something specific: the page structure, the design, or the built site.
• One list. Every change for that round arrives together, instead of spread across a week of emails.
• One voice. The list comes from the person who can say yes. If three people have opinions, they settle them first.
• One pass. The studio works through the list and returns the updated version, which closes the round.

The scope fixes the order of the stages, and the order matters more than the count, because a change is cheap at the stage it belongs to and dearer at every stage after it.

Why a late change costs more

A website is built in layers. The structure decides which pages exist and what sits on each. The design decides how they look. The build turns that into working code wired to a CMS, forms and whatever else the scope lists.

Moving a section during the structure stage means editing a plan. Moving it after the build means changing the design, the code and the CMS fields behind it, then testing again. The request sounds identical both times. The work is not. So each stage is approved before the next begins, and an approval deserves a careful look. Because design and build sit in one studio, a design is checked against the build before you are asked to approve it, as the design and engineering page explains.

Revision, change or new work

When a revision turns into a disagreement, the disagreement is about which of these three a request belongs to. The scope settles that in advance.

Where the rounds sit in each step's timeline

Each round sits between a stage being delivered and the next one starting, so how quickly you return one consolidated list decides where in the week range your project lands. The full contents of each step are on the packages page.

• Step 01, single-page landing, EUR 600-900, 1-2 weeks. There is one page, so structure and design can be reviewed together, and a slow round is felt straight away.
• Step 02, mini-site, EUR 900-1.500, 2-3 weeks. Two or three pages share one design, so a design round covers them all.
• Step 03, business website, EUR 1.500-3.500, 3-6 weeks. With four to seven pages, the structure round is the one to take slowly, because everything after it is built on it.
• Step 04, advanced site or web app, EUR 3.500-7.500, 6-12 weeks. Rounds review behaviour as well as looks: what a logged-in user sees, what happens after a payment.
• Step 05, custom SaaS platform, from EUR 7.500. Stages, and where the two rounds sit, are set during discovery.

How to stay out of the endless-revision trap

1. Name one decision maker before the project starts, and write that name into the scope.
2. Send each round's comments as one list. Separate messages about the same stage turn one round into several half rounds.
3. Review with real content. A layout judged with placeholder text needs another round when the real text does not fit. Getting your text ready is the part that waits on you.
4. Describe the problem, not the fix. "Visitors cannot find the prices" leads somewhere. "Make it pop" leads to guessing.
5. Keep a later list for good ideas that turn up mid-project. They become the next piece of work once the site is live.
6. Approve each stage in writing. A one-line "structure approved" keeps the design round about design.

After launch, rounds end

Once the site is live, launch defects get 14 days of support, and beyond that the question is whether a request is maintenance or new work. A Care plan at EUR 100-300 a month covers updates, monitoring, backups and small fixes. It does not cover a redesign or new features, which get a scope and a quote of their own. You own the code, the repository and the database, so later work starts from something already yours.

When to spend less

If you expect to change your mind a lot, do not start with a EUR 1.500-3.500 business website. A step 01 landing page at EUR 600-900, built in 1-2 weeks, puts your offer on a real screen so you can learn what you want before paying for four to seven pages of it.

If nobody on your side can make the final call, do not hire a studio yet, including this one. Rounds stall while opinions are gathered, and the waiting comes out of your timeline. Decide who signs off, then start.

And if your current site works and only needs small corrections, that is Care work, not a new project.

Questions about revisions

How many revision rounds are included?

Two, bundled into every build, as the packages page lists. A single landing page has fewer stages to review than a web app with logins and a dashboard, so the scope sets out what each round covers. If any quote leaves the number out, ask for it.

What if I need more than two rounds?

An extra round is priced before it starts, like any other change, so you can decide whether it is worth it. The better call can be to put the request on the later list and launch. A live site with real visitors tells you more than another round of opinions.

Can I change the design after approving it?

Yes, but it counts as a change rather than a revision, because the build has started from the approved version. Small adjustments that do not ripple through the code can go into the build-stage round. A different overall direction is a new design stage, quoted on its own.

Who on my team should give feedback?

Anyone can comment, but one person sends the list and decides when comments disagree. That person needs the authority to approve a stage without checking with someone else first. Otherwise every round waits for a meeting.

If you want to see how rounds would be set out for your own project, send a short description of the site and who will sign it off.