You've decided the business needs a new website, spoken to three suppliers and asked each for a proposal.
The first quote comes back at £6,000. The second is £14,000. The third is closer to £30,000.
All three suppliers appear credible. They've understood the broad requirement, shown you relevant work and proposed what seems like a sensible solution. Yet their prices bear little resemblance to one another. How can that be?
Perhaps one is expensive. Perhaps the cheapest has missed something. More often, they've interpreted the requirement differently and quoted for three different projects. The problem probably lies in the brief, but honestly, it can still happen with a strong brief; it depends on the supplier.
"New website" can describe anything from fitting supplied content into an established template to researching, planning, writing, designing and developing a substantial new business platform.
Until you understand what's behind each price, there's very little to compare.
Consider the internal manpower debt
One supplier may expect you to provide finished copy, organised images, an agreed structure and clear instructions. Another may include research, content planning and help defining what the website needs to achieve. Both can describe their service as website design and development. The difference is partly visible in the price and partly hidden in the amount of work your business must take on.
That internal workload can be considerable. Directors and staff may need to:
- gather information
- prepare or approve content
- organise images and data
- settle disagreements over structure
- review designs
- provide feedback
- test the finished site
- make decisions when gaps emerge
A cheaper quote may still be the right choice, particularly if the business has the skills and capacity to manage those tasks. But the time isn't free simply because it doesn't appear on the supplier's invoice. When comparing proposals, consider both the supplier's fee and the work being transferred back to your team.
Suppliers may begin from different interpretations of the brief
Many website briefs contain a list of pages, a few required features and examples of sites the business likes. That gives suppliers a starting point, but it's rarely the whole story.
One supplier may quote to produce the pages exactly as requested. Another may include time to question the structure and investigate what customers need. A third may postpone those decisions until the project is underway. The first is mainly pricing production, and the second includes planning and production. The third may be pricing work that hasn't yet been fully identified.
A short or incomplete brief doesn't necessarily lead to a poor website, but it does force suppliers to fill the gaps themselves. Their assumptions then become part of the quote, whether or not they've been stated clearly. It's the same problem that shows up when choosing between an SEO agency, a freelancer or a consultant — different suppliers aren't offering the same thing just because they share a job title. If you provide a short brief, be prepared to answer questions, and if questions aren't asked, question why a supplier hasn't asked.
"Discovery" doesn't have a standard meaning
Discovery might be a single meeting to discuss the business, confirm the page list and agree on visual preferences. Or it might involve interviews, customer evidence, analytics, search data, competitor research, content analysis and technical investigation. Both may appear in a proposal under the same heading.
Ask what the supplier intends to investigate, which decisions the process will inform and what will be produced as a result. A detailed discovery phase isn't automatically valuable, just as a short one isn't automatically inadequate. Its scope should reflect the uncertainty and risk within the project.
Content can account for a large price difference
"Copywriting included" can mean several things. It might mean a light edit of existing content, or it might mean a complete content package, or anything in between. A supplier may exclude writing altogether and expect approved copy before design begins. Each approach carries very different costs.
The proposal should make clear who is responsible for gathering information, writing the copy, sourcing supporting material and securing approval. If provision isn't included, the business remains responsible for the content.
This is one of the easiest areas to underestimate because the proposal may contain the same number of pages either way; pages should not be confused with content. They are the scaffolding, not the message.
Similar feature lists can conceal different solutions
Two proposals may both include online booking, customer accounts, product listings or integration with another system. One supplier may be configuring an existing plugin. Another may be developing something tailored to the business. One may include data migration and testing, while another expects clean data to be supplied in a specific format.
Even a contact form can range from a simple email notification to a system connected with a CRM, enquiry routing, consent records and conversion tracking.
You need to know what the supplier intends to deliver, what limitations apply and whether ongoing software or licence costs are involved.
Replacing an existing site creates extra work
A redesign doesn't begin with a blank screen when an existing website already has traffic, content, data and working connections to other systems. Existing URLs may require redirects, and analytics and tracking need to be retained or replaced. Content, images and data may need to be migrated, while forms, downloads and integrations need to be checked.
Some suppliers will include this in their proposal; others may make little allowance for it.
A proposal that treats the project as a clean start will often look cheaper, but you need to understand the cost, either in additional paid work or loss of visibility.
Not everything from the old site needs to survive, but somebody still has to review it and decide what happens.
Testing and launch support also vary
Most proposals say that the website will be tested, but few mean exactly the same thing by it. Testing may cover basic browser, device and form checks, but a more complex project may require testing of payments, permissions, customer accounts, imported data and third-party integrations. Training can range from a short handover call to structured sessions, documentation and support after launch.
The necessary level depends on the website, but the proposal should explain what is included and who is responsible for final approval.
Compare responsibilities before comparing totals
Given the above, a useful comparison should answer seven questions.
What planning is included?
What will the supplier investigate before recommending a structure or solution?
Who is handling the content?
Is the business supplying finished material, receiving editing support or commissioning complete content development?
What is actually being designed and developed?
Is the proposal based on an existing theme, original layouts or more extensive bespoke work?
What happens to the existing website?
Are migration, redirects, analytics, data and search preservation included?
What happens around launch?
What will be tested, what training is provided, and how will problems after launch be handled?
What responsibilities remain with your business?
Which information, decisions, approvals and practical tasks must your team provide?
What assumptions are being made?
A good proposal should explain the assumptions used to calculate the fee. These might cover:
- the number and type of pages
- the condition of existing content and data
- the amount of writing required
- the number of design revisions
- the complexity of integrations
- the responsibilities that remain with the client
- the support included after launch
It should also identify exclusions and anything that remains provisional. Clear exclusions are useful, but vague promises create more risk because neither side knows the boundary.
Ask what could change the price or timetable, and which parts of the proposal depend on information that hasn't yet been supplied.
This comparison won't make the proposals identical, but it will reveal why the prices differ. The answers will often be more revealing than the total at the bottom of the page.
You may be comparing different projects
The highest quote may include work the business doesn't need. The lowest may leave out work you assumed was covered.
Until you understand what's behind each price, you aren't comparing different prices for the same website; you're comparing different projects.
If comparing proposals is challenging, a second opinion can help. I can clarify what each one commits to, what it omits, and which suits your business — before you sign.