Two quotes for the "same" website can differ by ten times, and from the outside they look identical. Here is how to tell them apart before you pay anyone, including us.
Start with what you need, not what they sell
Write down, in plain words, what the website must do for your business. "Take bookings for three tours with online payment." "Show our menu and let people reserve a table." "Sell forty products and handle shipping." A good company will ask about this first. A weak one will talk about colours and animations.
Look at the work, then look closer
A portfolio shows taste. It does not show whether things work. For two or three projects that look like yours:
- Open the live site on your phone. Is it fast? Is it easy to read?
- Try the main action. Start a booking, open the checkout, send the form.
- Check whether the project is still online and still looked after.
- If you can, ask that client how it went. One honest conversation beats any testimonial.
Our own work is on the projects page, with the live screens for each one.
Ten questions to ask before you sign
- Who will actually build it? The person you talk to, or someone you never meet?
- Will I own the domain, the hosting account and the code? The answer must be yes, in your name.
- Is it custom or a template? Both can be fine. You just need to know which one you are paying for.
- Can I edit the content myself? Prices, photos, pages, without calling a developer.
- What exactly is included? Pages, languages, integrations, emails, payment setup.
- What is not included? This is where surprise invoices come from.
- How is the price fixed? A fixed price for a clear scope is safer than an hourly estimate.
- How fast will it load on a phone? They should know the answer, and measure it.
- Is SEO built in, or an extra? The basics should be part of the build. Here is what that means.
- What happens after launch? Who fixes bugs, updates the site, and how much it costs.
Red flags
- They register the domain in their own name.
- No written scope, just a price.
- They cannot explain how the site will be fast, other than "we optimise it".
- Every example in the portfolio is a mockup, never a live site.
- They promise first place on Google. Nobody can promise that.
- You have to pay for everything up front.
How pricing usually works
You will see three models. Hourly: flexible, but the final bill is hard to predict. Fixed price for a fixed scope: predictable, and the risk sits with the builder, which is where it belongs. Monthly subscription: low start, but check what happens to your site if you stop paying. For most small businesses, a fixed price with a clear scope and a small monthly fee for hosting and care is the fairest deal.
Agency, freelancer or studio?
A large agency brings process and many people, and usually a large bill. A freelancer is cheaper and closer, but you depend on one person. A small, founder-led studio sits in between: you talk directly to the person who builds, with enough structure to deliver on time. Pick the one whose size matches your project.
Compare quotes properly
Put the quotes side by side and compare scope, not totals. Same pages? Same languages? Is the booking system included in both? Hosting? Training? Often the cheaper quote is simply a smaller project.
Whoever you choose, ask them how they handle the basics we covered in web development best practices. If the answers are vague, keep looking.
If you would like a fixed-price proposal from us, tell us what you need. You will talk to the person who builds it. More about how we work is on the about page.
