Freehold

Who qualifies for the community rate

We publish two prices for the identical site: $800 standard, and $400 at the community rate. The community rate exists for one situation: when $800 would genuinely be a stretch. This page explains how we make that call, so you know where you stand before you email.

Last updated July 2026

The one question

Could you comfortably pay $800?

That's the whole test. Not your legal structure, not whether you're a charity on paper, not the size of your mission. If your organisation or business could pay $800 without wincing, the standard rate is yours. If $800 would mean a committee meeting, a fundraiser, or a hard month, the community rate is why we have one.

The signs that usually point to the community rate: you're volunteer-run, with nobody paid, or one part-time coordinator holding everything together. You're a community group rather than a trading business. You're small, and every dollar is already spoken for. None of these is a gate you must pass. They're the shapes we most often say yes to.

And it works the other way too. A big incorporated society with funding and paid staff is a wonderful thing, and it can comfortably pay the standard rate. Two prices only stay fair if both of them are real.

The same deed, either way

One build, two rates, no small print

The community rate isn't a lesser tier and not a special favour you have to earn. It's the same site at a different published price. Everything below is included at both.

$400the community rate · the same site as $800, by rule
The whole site, built to you A bespoke multi-page site from your own story and photos. Never a template.
Included
The on-site assistant Answers your visitors’ questions any time, from your own words. Nothing metered.
Included
Hosting, forever Held for you, free, with nothing monthly behind it.
$0
Your domain, your name Registered to you, never to us. The deed is only real if you hold it.
Yours
To leave, any time The whole site, exported free, to any host. No notice period, no charge.
Free
Changes, when you want them $20 for a batch of edits, however many are in it. If something on the site is wrong, we fix it for nothing, because that is not a change, that is us not having got it right. $35 for same-day. No plan, ever.
$20
How to ask

One honest sentence is the whole application

Email us and tell us who you are: “We're a volunteer-run support group in Timaru” or “It's just me, I detail cars around Rolleston.” That's genuinely all we need. We don't ask for accounts, proof, or a case for why you deserve it. We make the call warmly, on your word, and we'll tell you plainly which rate applies and why.

Not sure which side of the line you're on? Ask anyway. “Which rate are we?” is a one-line email, and the worst possible answer is the standard rate for the same site.

Common questions

Asked and answered, plainly

The question The answer
“Is the $400 site smaller or simpler?” AnswerNo. It's the identical build: the full multi-page site, the on-site assistant, free hosting, free export, your domain in your name. The rate changes, the site doesn't. That's the rule.
“We're a charity with one part-time coordinator. Which price?” AnswerQuite possibly the community rate. Having a paid person doesn't rule you out, and being incorporated doesn't rule you out either. The question is whether $800 would genuinely be a stretch. Tell us your situation in a sentence and we'll give you a straight answer.
“Do we have to prove anything?” AnswerNo. There's no form and we don't ask for your accounts. Tell us who you are in a sentence or two and we take it from there, on your word. We'd rather trust people than audit them.
“Why publish two prices at all?” AnswerBecause unpublished discounts make everyone haggle, and the people least comfortable haggling pay the most. A published rule means the volunteer-run group and the funded organisation both know exactly where they stand before they ever email us.
“Is GST added to the $400?” AnswerNo. We aren't GST registered, so every price you see is the whole amount, at either rate.
Keep reading

The rest of the sums

The whole market in one honest read: what a website really costs in New Zealand. Why a one-off price beats a plan that never ends: owning vs renting your website, and the one-off $800 vs a monthly retainer, honestly totalled. The whole process from first email to handover: how it works. And if you run a toy library, we wrote a page just for you: websites for toy libraries.

Wondering which rate is yours?

Ask us, in one line

Tell us who you are in a sentence. We'll answer plainly, and saying no to us later is always fine.

Email us any time: studio@freehold.org.nz. Every message comes straight to us, and we reply to all of them.
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