Website quotes vary because each company is guessing at a different project. A one-page brief covering goals, pages, content, integrations, budget range and deadline lets every company price the same job, and the project starts faster.

Three quotes for three different websites

A business sends three web companies the same short email: we need a new website, modern, mobile friendly, can you quote.

The replies arrive a week later, and the highest is several times the lowest. It looks as though one company is greedy, one is cheap, and the third sits in the middle for no clear reason.

Usually none of that is true. Each company read the same two lines, imagined a different project, and priced the one it imagined.

A one-page brief makes them price the same one.

What each company had to guess

The second is where quotes diverge most. Writing and photography can cost as much as the build itself, and a company that assumes you will supply them is quoting a smaller job than one that plans to provide them.

What goes on the page

The brief fits on one page because it describes the project, not the technology. Leave the choice of tools to the people you are asking.

Start with a paragraph about the business: what you do, where, for whom, and roughly how big you are.

Then cover, in short plain sections, what the site must achieve, the pages you expect, who provides content, the systems it connects to, what already exists, the budget range, the deadline and who decides.

Add two or three sites you like, with a sentence on why for each. The why is more useful than the link.

Goals before pages

A page list without goals produces a site that has every page and does nothing in particular.

Write the goals in terms of the business: more requests for consultations, fewer calls asking for directions and hours, a place to send trade customers for the current catalogue.

The page list follows from those. A good company will question it, suggesting pages you had not thought of and merging others, and those questions are worth listening to.

Content, the line that moves the price

Say plainly who will write the text, who will edit it, and who will supply the photographs. If you want help with any of it, say so; that is a normal part of many projects.

Say how much text exists already and whether it is any good. Fifteen service pages to rewrite is a different job from fifteen pages to tidy.

Content is also where projects most often stall. Settling it before work begins removes one of the commonest reasons a site launches months late.

Integrations and what exists already

Every system the site must talk to adds work, and a company can only price it if it knows the name of the product.

List them by name: the booking software, the payment provider, the newsletter service, the accounting package if invoices come from the site, any stock or inventory system.

Then list what exists: the domain and who registered it, where the site is hosted, the current site and what should happen to its pages, the logo files, and the accounts the site depends on.

A worked example

An independent veterinary clinic in a growing suburb asked three companies to quote for a new site with online booking.

One quoted a modest site with a request form. Another included design, copywriting and a photography session. The third quoted live booking connected to the clinic's practice software, by far the most expensive.

The clinic thought it was comparing prices. It was comparing three different projects.

The practice manager wrote a one-page brief. The goals were appointment requests from new clients and fewer calls about hours and directions; the clinic would write the service pages with editing help, and wanted a photography session.

Booking would be a request form for now, and the brief gave a budget range and a launch date ahead of new exam rooms opening.

The second round of quotes could be compared line by line, which was the point of the exercise.

Sharing a budget range

Many owners keep the budget to themselves, worried that a company will simply quote up to it.

Without it, each company guesses at a scale, and you receive three answers to three different questions. With a range, a company can propose what fits, or say honestly that the goals and the budget do not match.

Give a range rather than a single figure. A quote well outside it, in either direction, is information too, about the company or about the brief.

The deadline and the reason for it

Give a date and say why it matters: the spring season, a second location opening, a trade show, the old hosting contract running out.

A reason lets a company plan backwards and tell you what is realistic. A date with no reason tends to be treated as a hope.

Add your own availability, since a site cannot launch faster than the business can review designs and approve pages.

Comparing what comes back

Ask every company to list what is included and excluded, the ongoing costs for hosting and maintenance, the timeline, and who will own the domain and accounts afterwards.

Then compare line by line rather than by total. A low total that excludes content and hosting is not cheaper than a higher one that includes them; it is a different job.

The counter-case

Not every job needs a brief.

A few page updates or a new section on an existing site can be described in an email, and a business with a web company it already trusts may get further with a conversation.

Some businesses genuinely do not know what they need. For them, a paid planning session with one company is the honest first step, and the brief becomes its result rather than its starting point.

For a new site or a rebuild, though, one page written before asking anyone saves weeks of guessing on both sides.

Before you ask for quotes

  1. Describe the business in one paragraph.
  2. State what the site must achieve.
  3. List the pages you expect.
  4. Say who provides text and photographs.
  5. Name every system it must connect to.
  6. Give a budget range and a dated deadline.
  7. Send the same brief to every company.

Step four is the line that moves the price most and causes the most delay, and it is the easiest one to leave vague.

The accounts and logins worth listing in the brief are covered in every login your website depends on.

Frequently asked questions

Why do website quotes vary so much?

Because each company is guessing at a different project: how many pages, who writes the content, what the site connects to, and how much you expect to spend.

What goes in a website brief?

A paragraph about the business, what the site must achieve, the pages expected, who supplies text and photographs, the systems it connects to, a budget range and a deadline.

Should I tell companies my budget?

Yes, as a range. It lets a company propose what fits, or say honestly that the goals and the budget do not match, instead of guessing at a scale.

Which part of the brief moves the price most?

Usually content. Writing and photography can cost as much as the build itself, so a quote that assumes you supply them is pricing a smaller job.

How long should the brief be?

One page. It describes goals, scope and constraints rather than technical solutions. A good company will question parts of it, and those questions are worth listening to.

How should I compare the quotes?

Ask each company to list what is included and excluded, ongoing costs, the timeline and who will own the accounts. Then compare line by line rather than by total.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Website quotes too far apart to compare?

Send us what you have. We will help you turn it into a one-page brief, then quote against it.

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