How to compare website proposals: the lines that change the price
Quotes for the same website can be thousands of pounds apart. Usually it's not the rate, it's what each one leaves out. Here's how to line them up before you sign.
To compare website proposals fairly, put every quote into one table with the same rows (discovery, design, content, migration, integrations, testing, training, hosting, support, change control, contingency, licences and exclusions), fill each gap with a question or your own estimate, and compare the totals over three years rather than the headline build price. It takes an afternoon for three proposals. It’s often the afternoon that changes which agency you pick.
I spent years inside agencies writing proposals, and the honest truth is that most aren’t dishonest. They’re written to win, by people who know which assumptions to leave unstated. You buy a website every few years; they write proposals every week. This guide evens that up.
Why quotes for the same job differ so much
When three agencies quote £8,500, £12,000 and £15,500 for what looks like the same brief, the day rates are rarely the main reason. The difference is usually in four places:
- They read the brief differently. “A shop with around 300 products” can mean importing a clean spreadsheet or rebuilding messy data by hand. Each agency picked an interpretation and priced it.
- They moved work to you. Content entry, product photography, testing and redirects are often quietly assumed to be “provided by the client”.
- They priced risk differently. One agency adds contingency for the integration nobody fully understands. Another leaves it out and plans to raise a change request later.
- They split the cost over time differently. A low build price with expensive support can cost more over three years than a higher build with cheap support.
None of that shows in the headline. All of it shows once the proposals sit in the same table.
The lines that change the price
These are the rows I put every proposal through. If a proposal doesn’t mention a line, that’s not a saving, it’s a question.
| Line | What a clear proposal says | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | Days, workshops and what it produces (a specification, a sitemap, a revised estimate) | No discovery at all, or discovery that can re-price the whole job with no cap |
| Design rounds | How many rounds, on which templates, and what counts as a round | “Unlimited”, or one round on the homepage only |
| Content | Who writes, who enters, how many pages or products are loaded | “Content to be supplied by client” with no volume stated |
| Migration | What moves (products, customers, orders, blog posts) and how old URLs are redirected | Redirects missing; this is how search traffic gets lost at launch |
| Integrations | Which systems, which data, in which direction and how often | One line saying “integration with your systems” |
| Testing | Who tests, which devices and browsers, against what criteria | “User acceptance testing by client” as the only testing |
| Training | Sessions, who attends, and written guidance | Not mentioned |
| Hosting | Provider, plan, monthly cost, and whose name the account is in | Bundled into a support fee you can’t separate |
| Support | Monthly cost, hours included, response times, what’s excluded, minimum term | A first-year price with no renewal price |
| Change control | How changes are requested, estimated and approved in writing, and at what rate | No process, or a rate that’s only “on request” |
| Contingency | An amount or percentage, and what it’s for | None on a job with integrations or migration |
| Licences | Themes, plugins, apps and platform subscriptions, with yearly costs, in your name | Licences in the agency’s name, or “included” with no detail |
| Exclusions | A clear list of what isn’t included | No exclusions list at all; everything unlisted becomes a change request |
Licences deserve a second look. Platform subscriptions and premium plugins are recurring: Shopify plans are billed monthly or yearly, and published UK guides put premium WordPress plugins at roughly £30 to £200 a year each. They’re small individually and add up across a three-year view.
How to normalise proposals into a like-for-like table
Normalising means adjusting each proposal so they all describe the same job. You’re not trying to rewrite their prices, just to make the gaps visible and roughly costed.
- Use your brief as the spine. List what you asked for down the left. Each proposal gets a column.
- Mark each line. Included, excluded, or unclear. Note the clause or page number so you can find the wording again.
- Cost the gaps. For anything excluded that you still need, add an estimate: from another proposal that does include it, from the agency’s own day rate, or as a clearly labelled guess. For anything unclear, write a question.
- Add three years of running costs. Hosting, licences and support, at the renewal price, not the first-year offer.
- Compare totals, then everything else. Price is one column. The team, the approach and how well they understood the problem are others.
A worked example (fictional)
Three fictional agencies quote for the same fictional shop. Every figure below is made up to show the method; none comes from a real proposal.
| Line | Agency A | Agency B | Agency C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Headline build price | £8,500 | £12,000 | £15,500 |
| Product and content entry | Excluded: add £1,200 | Included | Included |
| Second design round | Excluded: add £800 | Included | Included |
| Migration and redirects | Excluded: add £1,500 | By client: add £1,500 | Included |
| Training | Not mentioned: add £300 | Included | Included |
| Stock feed integration | Unclear: allow £2,000 | Included | Included |
| Like-for-like build | £14,300 | £13,500 | £15,500 |
| Support over three years | £150 a month: £5,400 | £250 a month: £9,000 | £95 a month: £3,420 |
| Three-year total | £19,700 | £22,500 | £18,920 |
The cheapest headline ends up in the middle, and the most expensive headline ends up cheapest over three years. That’s not a rule; sometimes the cheapest quote really is the best value. The point is that you can’t tell until the gaps are costed. The proposal comparison walks through a similar fictional example interactively, with the clause wording behind each line.
When the gap is real
Sometimes, after normalising, one proposal is still much dearer. That can be perfectly reasonable. A larger agency carries more people, more process and more cover, and on a complex build with several integrations that depth is worth paying for. A two-person studio may be the better value on a brochure site and the riskier choice on a trade portal. Once the proposals are comparable, you can have that conversation on its merits, rather than wondering what’s hidden in the small print.
Questions to send back
Send the same questions to every agency, in writing, and ask for written answers. How they answer is useful evidence in itself.
- Which assumptions is this price based on? Please list them.
- What’s excluded that a project like this would normally need?
- How many design rounds are included, on which templates, and what does an extra round cost?
- Who loads the content and products, and how many are included in the price?
- How will old URLs be redirected, and who checks them after launch?
- For each integration: which data moves, in which direction, how often, and what happens when it fails?
- What testing do you do before handing over for our testing, and on which devices?
- What is your change request process and day rate? Could I see an example change note?
- Which licences will we need, at what yearly cost, and whose name will they be in?
- What does support cost after the first year, and what’s the minimum term and notice?
- Who exactly will work on the project, and is any of it subcontracted?
If an answer comes back vague, ask once more. If it’s still vague, that tells you how change requests will feel halfway through the build.
Make the comparison stick in the contract
Once you’ve chosen, carry the comparison into the statement of work (the document saying what will be delivered, by whom, for what cost). Every assumption you clarified should be written in. Every milestone should have a defined output, a cost and acceptance criteria: a written list of what “finished” means, agreed before work starts. The acceptance criteria builder drafts those for common features, and the sample documents include a change control note and a proposal outline you can borrow from.
If the agency handles your customers’ personal data, the contract also needs data processing terms; UK GDPR requires a binding contract between you and any processor.
What I’d do
Build the table before the pitch meetings, not after, so you can ask about the gaps in the room. Cost the gaps roughly; precision doesn’t matter as much as visibility. Compare over three years. And never choose on headline price alone, in either direction.
If you’d rather not do it yourself, send me the proposals (PDF is fine). Comparing them is part of project scoping and agency selection, a fixed-price piece of work from £750, or £1,500 for portals and systems. I don’t take referral fees from agencies, so I’ve no reason to prefer one over another.