WordPress development in Christchurch, edited by you.
A Merlin Wise WordPress site starts at $2,000 and takes three to eight weeks. We never start from a pre-built theme: every site is designed from a blank page for your business, then built on Elementor so you can change any page yourself after launch. We also fix, rebuild, support and host WordPress sites for businesses across Canterbury and New Zealand.
Web developer in Christchurch.
We are a web development studio in Addington, Christchurch. We design and build WordPress sites, take over and fix sites other developers built, and build custom web apps when WordPress is the wrong tool.
Most Christchurch businesses we meet need one of three things: a new WordPress site their team can edit, a rescue of a slow or broken site, or a feature WordPress cannot do well, such as per-branch bookings or gift cards. For that last group we build on Laravel instead, as we did for ProfessioNAIL’s three Christchurch salons. We tell you which route fits in the first conversation.
A WordPress development company for NZ businesses.
We build and look after WordPress sites for businesses across New Zealand, with fixed-price builds from $2,000 and hosting and maintenance from $39 a month.
Every site is designed from a blank page, never from a pre-built theme, then built in Elementor so your team can change any page after launch. We host on Cloudways in Sydney for fast NZ load times, run updates and daily backups, and answer in NZ business hours. Clients so far range from Wellington painters and plasterers to Auckland tiling specialists.
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Brief
Your goals, the pages you need, and what your team will want to edit.
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Design
Designed from a blank page in Figma. You approve it before we build.
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Build in Elementor
Reusable blocks and global styles, so changes stay on brand.
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Handover
A recorded training session, a how-to guide and every login, yours.
WordPress problems we fix.
Three patterns we see in nearly every WordPress engagement — and what we actually do about them.
Our site was built on a theme and we can’t change anything without breaking it.
What we do. We design your site from scratch and build it on Elementor, so every page, section and block is editable in a visual editor your team can actually use. Training is part of handover.
WordPress is slow and the plugins keep breaking each other.
What we do. We audit what is installed, strip it back to a lean set, and rebuild with image optimisation, caching and hosting that suits WordPress. A 90+ Lighthouse score on WordPress is normal for us.
Our developer disappeared and we’re locked out of our own website.
What we do. We take over sites other people built: recover admin access, update everything safely, fix what is broken, and hand you every login. You own the site, the domain and the hosting.
Free WordPress health check.
Already have a WordPress site that is slow, broken or out of date? Send us the address and we will check it for free, then tell you in writing what to fix first. Any fixes are quoted separately, and there is no obligation.
Get a free health check- How fast it loads on a phone, with Lighthouse scores
- Whether WordPress, the theme and plugins are out of date
- Security gaps and whether backups are running
- Forms, links or features that are broken
- Whether your hosting suits the site and the price
- SEO basics: page titles, indexing and Google Search Console
What we build WordPress with.
WordPress promises you’ll never hear from us.
Stock phrases from the industry, crossed out, with what we say instead.
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“Premium theme, customised for you”A theme is someone else’s design with your logo on it. We start from a blank canvas.
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“Unlimited pages”Every page needs design intent and content. We scope the pages you actually need.
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“You’ll never need a developer again”You can edit every page yourself; we stay on call for the rest.
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“Free hosting included”Hosting is never free. Ours is $39 a month and a human answers.
What your WordPress project costs.
Published because guessing games waste everyone’s time. Every tier is yours at launch: the site, its files and the logins. All prices NZD excl. GST.
Business
- Bespoke design & art direction, on your stack of choice
- Mobile-first responsive design
- Optional hosting & care from $39/mo
- On-page SEO setup & analytics
- Built in Elementor, with a recorded handover
Flagship
- Everything in Business, plus
- More pages and sections
- E-commerce: online shop & payments
- Deep SEO keyword research
- Bookings & CRM integrations
- Copywriting & content strategy
- WooCommerce shop, with launch support
Fix & rebuild
An audit first, then a fixed quote to fix in place or rebuild with your URLs and rankings kept.
WordPress projects we can show you.
WordPress questions every client asks first.
How much does a WordPress website cost in NZ?
A Merlin Wise WordPress site is $2,000–$4,000 for a typical business site with custom design and on-page SEO, and $4,000–$8,000 for a flagship with more pages, WooCommerce and deep keyword research. Fixes and rescues are quoted after a short audit. The NZ market runs from $800 theme installs to $20,000+ agency builds; the difference is mostly how custom the design is, who supplies the content, and what the site has to do.
Do you use a pre-built theme?
No. Every site is designed from scratch for your business, then built in Elementor on a lightweight base. A pre-built theme is another company’s design with your logo dropped in, and it usually ships features you will never use and code that slows the site down.
Why Elementor rather than a hand-coded theme?
Because you can edit it. Elementor gives your team a visual editor for every page, section and block we build, so a new service, a price change or a landing page does not need a developer. We set global styles so your edits stay on-brand, and write custom code only where Elementor genuinely cannot do the job.
Can you fix or rebuild our existing WordPress site?
Yes. We take over sites other developers built: recover access, update core, theme and plugins safely, remove what is broken or unused, speed it up, and either fix it in place or rebuild it on a clean base while keeping your URLs and rankings.
Do you offer WordPress support and maintenance?
Yes. Managed hosting from $39 a month includes updates, daily backups, malware scanning, uptime monitoring and a person in NZ hours. Content changes and new pages are quoted per job or covered by a monthly retainer.
Where do you host WordPress sites?
On Cloudways, usually in Sydney for New Zealand audiences: NVMe storage, Cloudflare Enterprise CDN, server-level caching and a staging site. Your first migration is included.
Do you work outside Christchurch?
Yes. We are in Addington, Christchurch, and build for businesses across Canterbury and New Zealand. Our case studies include WordPress sites for Auckland and Wellington clients.
Website design Christchurch
Not sure WordPress is the right platform? Start with the wider website design service.
Managed hosting & maintenance
WordPress hosting on Cloudways from $39 a month, with updates, backups and a human in NZ hours.
How much does a website cost in NZ?
Market ranges for 2026, what moves the price, and exactly what we charge.
Shopify, WooCommerce or BigCommerce?
What each does well, what you can change at checkout, NZ running costs, and which to choose.
Need a WordPress site you can run? Send us the brief.
Tell us what you need in three sentences. New build, rebuild or rescue, we’ll come back within one working day with a rough cost and timeline.