Give providers the same brief
Describe services, pages, languages and functions. State whether an existing site needs migration and who supplies text and images. A service page, product page and user area are not equivalent units. If the brief differs between providers, comparing figures stops being useful.
Ask about content and reviews
Clarify whether copy is written or merely placed, whether images are adapted and whether products are loaded. Ask about approval stages and what counts as an extension. Your company's involvement also takes time and can affect the schedule.
Separate initial and recurring costs
Initial development is different from hosting, domains, maintenance and acquisition. Check licences, renewals, recipients of payments and what happens when changing suppliers. Advertising management differs from media spend. For SEO, check the actual billing period rather than only a monthly equivalent.
Consider handover and dependencies
Ask which access, files and guidance you receive and what you can edit. A tool convenient for the supplier may not fit your operations. Request an explanation of the technology and its maintenance implications, without assuming one technology is always better.
Use published prices as scope references
Standard options help frame investment when your project fits their terms. Starting prices are not fixed fees for every requirement. Our proposals page and service pages carry current references; the final proposal specifies deliverables, taxes, timing and external costs without charging twice for shared tasks.
