Verdict: Repair unless the mobile layout can’t be corrected, you’ve lost editing access, the platform is unsupported, or repairs cost more than about half a new build — and do the free content clean-up before you decide, because roughly half of people who thought they needed a rebuild don’t afterwards.
The side-by-side
| Repair | Rebuild | |
|---|---|---|
| Content refresh only | A few hours | — |
| Mobile and speed fixes | ₹5,000–15,000 | Included |
| Full cost | ₹5,000–15,000 | ₹15,000–50,000 |
| Timeline | Days | 2–4 weeks |
| Keeps your page addresses | Yes — no redirect risk | Only if redirects are handled |
| Keeps accumulated search visibility | Yes | At risk without redirects |
| Fixes a structurally broken mobile layout | Sometimes | Yes |
| Works if you’ve lost all access | No | Yes |
| Works on an unsupported platform | No | Yes |
| Best for | Stale content, minor faults, sound foundation | Broken foundation, lost access, changed business |
Step 1: Check it isn’t a traffic problem
Before spending on either.
If your monthly visitors are in single digits, the site isn’t the problem — nothing is being sent to it, and a rebuild changes nothing. Install analytics and Search Console if missing, wait a week, and look at the number.
This one check saves more money than anything else on this page. The four-check diagnostic.
Step 2: Separate the three complaints
They cost wildly different amounts and get conflated constantly:
Stale content — last year’s offer, old prices, services you dropped, a photo of premises you’ve left. Most common, cheapest, and usually what’s actually producing the embarrassment. Hours, not a project.
Poor mobile usability — text too small, buttons hard to tap, slow on mobile data. Worth money, since most visitors are on a phone. Sometimes fixable inside the existing site, sometimes structural.
Dated design — conventions from a decade ago. Genuinely the least urgent, though it’s what prompts the search.
Step 3: The free clean-up, then reassess
An afternoon, no cost:
- Delete everything out of date. Faster than rewriting and improves the site immediately.
- Rewrite the top of the home page — what you do, where, one reason to choose you, visible number.
- Replace the photographs with recent phone pictures of real work in daylight. Does more for perceived quality than a redesign.
- Fix the contact points — tappable number, WhatsApp link with country code, form reaching an inbox you check.
- Add current prices or ranges.
If the site now reads as current and works on your phone, you’ve saved a rebuild.
Step 4: Score the six factors
| Factor | Repair if… | Rebuild if… |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile usability | Readable and tappable, or fixable | Text needs zooming, layout breaks structurally |
| Access | You or a developer can edit content | Nobody can log in and recovery has failed |
| Platform | Current WordPress or a maintained platform | Abandoned builder, obsolete version, nobody will touch it |
| Structure | The pages you need exist | You need a fundamentally different site |
| Business fit | It still describes your business | It describes a company you no longer are |
| Repair cost | Under roughly half a new build | Approaching or exceeding a new build |
Two or fewer rebuild indicators → repair. Four or more → rebuild. Three is a judgement call, and access usually decides it: if you can’t edit it, repairs leave you permanently dependent on someone else.
Choose repair if…
- The foundation is sound and you can edit the content
- Your complaint is mostly stale information rather than structure
- You want to keep your existing page addresses and whatever search visibility you’ve built
- Money is tight — a content refresh plus contact-point fixes is often under ₹10,000 and removes most of the problem
Choose rebuild if…
- The mobile layout fails structurally and can’t be corrected
- Nobody can log in, and registrar and hosting recovery has failed
- The platform is an abandoned builder or an obsolete version no competent developer will work on
- The business has changed enough that the site describes a different company
- Your work has moved upmarket and the site is now the weakest thing a prospect sees — a legitimate commercial reason, not vanity
Protect these four either way
1. The domain. Same name, your own account. Never let a rebuild move it into a vendor’s account.
2. Redirects for existing page addresses. A rebuild that changes every URL without redirects loses accumulated search visibility. Get the handling confirmed in writing — the most commonly skipped step in a rebuild and the costliest to fix later.
3. A downloaded backup of the old site, before anything begins.
4. Your content — text and photographs — in your own folder, reusable regardless of who builds next.
The competitive fact worth knowing
When you audit local business websites in NCR, the largest category isn’t dead sites — it’s live-but-abandoned ones, loading perfectly while describing a business as it was three years ago.
Which means the bar is lower than you think. A clean, current, fast site with today’s prices beats a more elaborate one describing 2022 — and being current costs almost nothing. Sometimes the honest answer to “should I rebuild?” is “no, just be current, and set a quarterly reminder.”
Don’t repeat the decay
Whichever you choose, fix the cause: the build was a project with an end date while updating was a habit with no owner.
- Name an owner for updates, out loud
- Quarterly reminder to read your own site on your phone — ten minutes, four times a year
- Both renewal dates in your calendar, auto-renew on, card current
- Decide maintenance deliberately — a plan with a written list, or monthly CMS updates yourself after a backup
What to do this week
- Check your monthly visitor count before spending anything.
- Do the free clean-up and reassess.
- Score the six factors and count rebuild indicators.
- Download a backup of the current site.
- If rebuilding, get redirect handling confirmed in writing.
If you want it done the certain way
Send us your website address and we’ll score it against the six factors and tell you which path is cheaper — including when the answer is a day of updates rather than a project, which it often is. Where we rebuild: domain stays yours, redirects handled, backup of the old site taken first. WhatsApp us; we reply in about five minutes between 9am and 7pm.
Related reading
- Outgrown your cheap website? When and how to rebuild
- Repair or rebuild? The decision test
- Website redesign in Delhi NCR: cost and decision
- Whose fault is zero enquiries?
- Launch-and-rot: why a cheap website becomes an embarrassment
FAQ
Should I repair my old website or build a new one?
Repair unless the mobile layout can’t be corrected, nobody can log in, the platform is unsupported, or repairs approach half a new build. Do the free content clean-up first — about half of people who thought they needed a rebuild don’t afterwards.
How much does it cost to fix an old website?
A content refresh is a few hours of work. Mobile and speed fixes typically run ₹5,000–15,000. A full rebuild is ₹15,000–50,000, so repair usually wins unless the foundation is genuinely broken.
Will rebuilding hurt my Google ranking?
It can if page addresses change without redirects. Get written confirmation of how old URLs will redirect to new ones before work starts.
My website looks old — do I need a redesign?
Often not. Stale content, not dated design, is usually what produces the feeling. Delete out-of-date items, rewrite the top of the home page and replace the photographs, then reassess.
