Short introduction
There is no useful single price for every business website. A five-page service site and a customer portal may look similar in a proposal but involve very different work. Compare the deliverables behind the number before choosing a supplier.
Start with the job the website must do
Write a short brief: who the site serves, which services it must explain and what a visitor should do next. A local service business may need service pages, project photos and a quote form. A distributor may need a searchable catalogue, trade accounts and integrations. These are different scopes, even if both are described as a business website.
List existing assets: domain access, logos, approved copy, photography and analytics. If the supplier must produce these, ask for those items to appear separately in the quote.
Compare scope line by line
Ask each supplier to identify the page templates, content entry allowance, design revisions, mobile layouts and form behaviour included. Confirm whether copywriting, image licensing, migration and redirects are covered. A low initial quote may simply assume you will do more of this work yourself.
For ecommerce or bookings, specify the actual customer journey, payment or booking provider and how staff will manage exceptions. Avoid assuming that a feature name includes every integration you need.
Separate launch costs from running costs
Request separate figures for design and build, recurring hosting, domain renewal, paid services and optional maintenance. For South African proposals, ask whether quoted amounts include VAT where applicable and whether third-party services are billed in rand or another currency. Do not compare a once-off build price with an annual package as though they cover the same period.
Ask what happens when you need a small edit, a new page or urgent support. Confirm who controls the domain and hosting accounts, what access you receive and whether you can export or move the site.
Agree what counts as finished
A useful handover includes a working enquiry route, mobile checks, page titles and descriptions, redirect checks where needed, and access instructions. Ask who supplies legal text and who signs off the final content.
For example, compare two proposals against the same requirement: five service pages, ten project entries, one quote form, existing content migration and staff handover. Ask each supplier to mark included, excluded or separately priced. That reveals differences more clearly than asking only for a cheaper total.
Practical checklist
- Write one shared brief for all suppliers.
- Compare content, revisions, migration and handover.
- Separate once-off, recurring and optional costs.
- Confirm account ownership and support terms.
How J & K Web Collective thinks about this
J & K Web Collective starts with the business goal, current setup and constraints, then scopes a practical next step. Share your existing website or workflow and the outcome you need so we can discuss the right approach.
Sources
Further reading is linked in each article. Examples illustrate decisions; they are not promises of results.