SEND ME THE OTHER QUOTE
Someone has quoted you for a website and you cannot tell whether it is a good deal, because you have nothing to compare it against. Send it to me and I will tell you in writing what it does not cover. I will not quote against it.
What I read it for
Two quotes with the same number on the bottom are routinely not the same job. The difference is almost never in the part you were shown.
Whose name things end up in
Who the domain, the hosting and the analytics are registered to. If the answer is the agency, leaving later costs you more than the build did.
Whether the legal side is there
Privacy, terms, cookies and a working consent notice. POPIA applies to a one-page site the same as a big one, and it is the most commonly missing line.
What counts as a revision
How many rounds are included, what happens on the round after that, and whether feedback has a window attached or drifts indefinitely.
What is scoped versus assumed
Content, images, product loading, migrations and integrations are where quotes quietly differ. Two numbers that look alike often are not.
What happens when it breaks
Whether there is a defect warranty after launch, how long it runs, and what is specifically excluded from it.
What the timeline actually depends on
Whether a date is committed or aspirational, and what moves it. Usually it is your content, and usually that is not said out loud.
What the comparison is not
Worth saying plainly, because a free offer usually has a hook in it and you are right to look for it.
- Not a price match. I will not beat their number, and I will not ask you what it is in order to undercut it.
- Not a quote from me. The comparison is about their scope. If you want a price from me, that is a separate conversation.
- Not a review of your existing website. Looking at a live site properly is the paid Audit, and it is a different job.
- Not a sales call. You get it in writing, and you are free to take their quote. Sometimes I will tell you to.
The honest reason the comparison is free: my own rates have been checked against very few competitors, and reading real quotes is how I keep them sensible. You get a straight answer, I get a better sense of the market. I never publish what you send me and I never name the company.
Common Questions
A written checklist against the quote you were given: what it covers, what it does not, and the questions I would ask before signing it. Things like who the domain and hosting end up registered to, whether analytics and a cookie notice are included, whether the legal pages are written or pasted, how many revisions you get, and what happens if you want to leave.
No, and I will not quote against them as part of the comparison. Sometimes the honest answer is that the quote in front of you is good and you should take it. If I wanted to win on price I would not be spending the time reading someone else's scope for free.
Nothing. It takes me twenty minutes to read a quote properly, and I would rather spend that than argue about price later. If you then want work from me, that is a separate conversation with its own quote.
Not as part of the comparison. It looks at their scope, not my price, and mixing the two turns a straight answer into a sales pitch. If you want a number from me afterwards, start a project and I will scope it properly. Work that is genuinely unknown starts with a paid Audit.
I read it, and I keep a copy. Comparing what the market actually charges is how I keep my own pricing honest. I never publish it, never name the company to anyone, and never pass it on.
Send it over
A PDF, a screenshot, or the email they sent you. Whatever you have is enough.
Or see what I charge for a starter site