Start with the goal
Pick one primary goal. Everything else supports it.
- More enquiries.
- More sales.
- More donations.
- Less support and fewer complaints.
- Legal compliance and lower risk.
- Easier editing and faster publishing.
Quick triage. Ten minutes
If you hit three or more, lean rebuild. If you hit zero to two, lean fix.
- Updates break the site, or you avoid updates because they feel risky.
- The CMS, theme, or builder feels held together with workarounds.
- Nobody knows how the site works, or the original supplier has disappeared.
- Your structure no longer matches what you sell, or how people browse.
- Editing content feels slow, fragile, or frustrating.
- Mobile speed feels poor, especially on landing pages.
- Forms fail, spam overwhelms you, or leads quality is poor.
- Accessibility issues block keyboard users or people using assistive technology.
- Tracking and SEO basics are missing or unreliable.
- Hosting and deployment feel risky, with no clear rollback plan.
The scoring rubric
Score each section from 0 to 5.
- 0 means fine.
- 5 means a major blocker.
A. Business fit
- The site structure matches what you sell.
- Visitors find key information within two clicks.
- The mobile experience supports real journeys, not only browsing.
B. Content fit
- Pages answer buyer questions.
- You show proof, case studies, outcomes, testimonials.
- Calls to action are clear and consistent.
C. Editing and workflow
- Editing feels safe and fast.
- Content authors do not break layouts by accident.
- Roles and approvals work for your team.
D. Performance and stability
- Pages feel fast on mobile.
- The site stays stable when third-party scripts load.
- Builds and releases feel repeatable.
E. Accessibility and compliance
- Keyboard navigation works everywhere.
- Forms have labels and clear errors.
- Headings and landmarks make sense.
F. Technical debt
- The codebase is understandable to someone new.
- Dependencies and plugins feel controlled, not sprawling.
- You trust updates and you have a recovery plan.
How to interpret the total
- 0 to 10. Fix.
- 11 to 18. Fix first, then plan a phased rebuild.
- 19 to 30. Rebuild.
What a fix looks like
Fix works when your foundations are stable and the problems are localised.
- Performance improvements, image optimisation, script control, page weight budgets.
- Accessibility fixes on key journeys, navigation, modals, forms, headings, focus.
- SEO hygiene, metadata, internal links, redirects, sitemap.
- Content improvements, clearer pages, better calls to action, stronger proof.
- Conversion work, improved journeys and fewer steps to enquire or donate.
What a rebuild looks like
Rebuild works when the foundations block progress or create ongoing risk.
- New structure, new templates, and a clean content model.
- A component system built for accessibility and maintainability.
- Controlled script loading and strict performance budgets.
- Content migration with a redirect plan so search traffic does not fall off a cliff.
- A release process with QA checks and a rollback approach.
The hidden cost test
Fix looks cheaper on paper. Rebuild often wins when the current site drains time each month.
- Firefighting after updates.
- Debugging plugin conflicts.
- Avoiding content changes because something might break.
- Losing leads from broken forms or unreliable journeys.
- Spending money on patches that never reduce the underlying complexity.
A simple decision tree
Choose rebuild if any statement fits.
- You need a new structure for your services, not a new coat of paint.
- You cannot ship changes without fear.
- You cannot measure impact with confidence.
- You need reliable accessibility compliance across templates and journeys.
- You plan a major repositioning or a new offer.
Choose fix if all statements fit.
- Your structure works and your pages convert.
- Your CMS workflow works for your team.
- You trust deployment and you have a recovery plan.
- You want measurable improvement without changing the whole platform.
Next step
Score your homepage, one service page, and your main enquiry form. If your totals point to fix, start with a focused performance and accessibility sprint. If your totals point to rebuild, plan it in phases and protect your search traffic with a redirect map.