Go look at ten web design sites right now. Nine of them will have a page called Pricing that contains no prices. It will say every project is unique. It will invite you to schedule a discovery call.
The stated reason is that scope varies. Which is true. Scope does vary.
The actual reason is that they want to hear your budget before they say a number.
How that plays out
You get on a call. Somewhere in the first ten minutes they ask what you had in mind for budget. You say a number. The proposal comes back at roughly that number, give or take.
The same project, from the same shop, costs a different amount depending on what you admitted to on the phone. That is not custom pricing. That is negotiation with the cards face down on one side.
What a starting price actually costs the shop
Nothing. That is the funny part.
From 1,000 dollars does not commit me to building anything for a thousand dollars. It tells you what the floor looks like so you can figure out in about four seconds whether we are in the same neighborhood.
That saves you a call. It saves me a call. The only people it costs anything are the shops whose whole model depends on you not knowing.
What varies and what does not
Page count varies. Custom functionality varies. Whether you have your copy and photos ready varies, a lot, and that one surprises people.
What does not vary is the rough shape. A five page site for a local service business lands in a range. Any shop that has done it fifty times knows that range down to a few hundred dollars. Pretending otherwise is theater.
What to do about it
Ask for a range on the first call, before you say anything about your own budget. Just: what does a project like this usually run.
If you get a straight answer, good sign. If you get three more questions about your goals and your vision and no number at all, you have learned something useful about how the rest of the relationship is going to go.
My prices are on my site. They have been the whole time. It has never once cost me a job worth having.