Website design in Christchurch, shipped in weeks and owned by you.
A Merlin Wise website starts at $1,000 and takes two to ten weeks. We design and build in Addington, Christchurch, on Astro, WordPress or Shopify, for businesses across Canterbury and the rest of New Zealand. Every site launches with a 100 Lighthouse target, WCAG AA accessibility, and the repo, assets and credentials handed to you.
Sound familiar?
Three patterns we see in nearly every website design engagement — and what we actually do about them.
Our current site loads like a 2014 dial-up modem.
What we do. We rebuild on a modern static or hybrid stack — Lighthouse 95+, sub-second LCP on mobile, no compromise on craft.
We can't update the homepage without calling our agency.
What we do. You get a real CMS — WordPress, Astro Content Collections, or Sanity — that your team can actually use. Training included.
Our designer left and we're stuck with their files.
What we do. You own every asset, repo, credential and Figma file. Always. We work with what you have, hand back what we make.
Deliverables, not "scope of work".
Specific outputs you can point at when you ask "is this done?" — not vague verbs that leave both sides guessing.
Strategy & sitemap
- Audience + goals workshop
- Information architecture
- Page-by-page brief
- Content gap analysis
Design system
- Wordmark application
- Type & colour ramp
- Component library
- Motion guidelines
Build & launch
- Astro · WordPress · Shopify
- WCAG 2.2 AA accessible
- Sub-second LCP target
- 30 days post-launch support
What we build with.
What you'll never hear from us.
Industry stock phrases we cross out — and what we actually say instead.
- "We use AI to slash your timeline" — we use AI, we don't cosplay it as a moat.
- "Pixel-perfect" — we ship typographically-perfect, AA-accessible, fast.
- "Best-in-class" — we benchmark against your competitors, by name.
- "Award-winning design" — we have awards. They don't pay your bills. You will.
What a website design project costs.
Published because guessing games waste everyone's time. Every tier transfers completely to you at launch: repo, assets, credentials. All prices NZD excl. GST.
Starter
One to five pages on a proven design system. Fast, mobile-first, basic on-page SEO, an enquiry form that lands somewhere. For a trade, clinic or local service that needs to look credible.
Business
Custom design, more pages, case studies or portfolio sections, and a proper SEO foundation — keyword mapping, page structure and metadata done deliberately.
Flagship
Fully bespoke design and art direction, content strategy, custom features (booking, calculators, CRM integrations) and launch support.
Website design projects we can show you.
[ easylife · web design ] EasyLife
End-to-end build and growth engine for Auckland's laundry pickup-and-delivery service.
[ bánh mì king · web design ] Bánh Mì King
Website and local SEO for an Auckland CBD Vietnamese bánh mì shop — first in the Google map pack for "banh mi Auckland" within two months of launch.
[ ric lounge · web design ] Ric Lounge
Salon website and local SEO for a Riccarton hair, nail and spa lounge — number one on Google for "riccarton nails".
[ diamond nail · web design ] Diamond Nail
A refined online presence for a boutique nail studio.
The questions every client asks first.
How much does a website cost in Christchurch?
A Merlin Wise site starts at $1,000 for a one-to-five-page starter, $2,000–$4,000 for a business site with custom design and an SEO foundation, and $4,000–$8,000 for a fully bespoke flagship. The NZ market ranges from $800 freelancer builds to $50,000+ agency projects; our cost guide breaks down what moves the price.
How long does a full website take?
A 5-page starter build ships in 2–3 weeks. A scoped business or flagship build with custom design, copy, and on-page SEO is 6–10 weeks depending on rounds.
WordPress, Shopify or Astro — which should I use?
Astro for brochure and content sites where speed and SEO matter most. WordPress when your team needs a familiar editor or you already run it. Shopify when you sell products online. We recommend one in the brief and explain why; we do not push a platform we resell.
Can I see websites you have built locally?
Yes. Our case studies cover trades, salons, professional services and subscription businesses across Christchurch, Auckland and Wellington, each with a link to the live site.
Do you do migrations from old platforms?
Yes. Squarespace, Wix, old WordPress, Webflow — most migrations take 1–2 weeks on top of build time. We script the content transfer where we can.
What happens after launch?
30 days of post-launch support is included. After that you can keep us on for managed hosting from $39 a month, an SEO retainer, or nothing at all: every repo, asset and credential is transferred to you on day one.
How much does a website cost in NZ?
Market ranges for 2026, what moves the price, and exactly what we charge.
SEO Christchurch
What happens after launch: local SEO, content and a monthly written report.
WordPress development
Custom-designed WordPress on Elementor, so your team can edit every page after launch.
Ready to ship a site you actually like? Let's start the brief.
Send us three sentences about where you are and what you need. Within one working day we'll tell you whether this is a fit — and a rough cost and timeline.