How to compare website redesign quotes

Website quotes are hard to compare because each one describes a different job in different words. To compare them fairly, rewrite every quote into the same ten lines: pages, who supplies the content, ownership, the build price, three years of running costs, revision rounds, how changes work after launch, old page addresses, email, and timeline. Then the cheapest quote and the best-value quote usually turn out to be different ones. Below is the sheet, how to fill it, and how to read it.

Why two quotes for "a new website" can be thousands apart

One quote covers six pages built from a template with your own text. Another covers fifteen custom-designed pages, new copywriting and a photo shoot. A third looks cheap but adds a monthly fee for as long as the site exists. All three are called "website redesign" at the top. Until you lay them side by side on the same lines, you are comparing a bicycle, a car and a lease.

Before you ask for quotes: give everyone the same brief

The easiest way to get comparable quotes is to ask for the same thing. Send every provider the same short brief:

Your current site address.
The pages you want, by name, or "the same pages as now".
Whether you will supply text and photos or want them written and taken.
Any features: contact form, booking link, gallery, map.
Your two or three main goals.
That you need every old page address kept working and your email left untouched.
A request to list all yearly costs after launch.

Providers who answer the brief point by point make the next step easy. Those who send a glossy package price that ignores it tell you something too. Website redesign proposal: what should be in it lists what a full proposal should contain.

The comparison sheet

Take a sheet of paper, or a spreadsheet, and give each quote its own column. Then write these eleven lines down the left side and fill in each cell from the quote. Where the quote is silent, write a question mark.

Pages included
Who writes the text and who provides the photos
Domain and site owned by me: yes, no or unclear
Build price
Yearly costs after launch
Three-year total
Revision rounds included
Small changes after launch: how, and what they cost
Old page addresses kept or forwarded
Email checked at launch
Launch date

Every question mark becomes a question you send back before deciding.

How to fill in the tricky lines

Line 1, pages. Count them. "Up to five pages" for a business with eight services means you are buying a smaller site than you have now. Note any extra-page charge.

Line 2, content. If one quote includes writing and another does not, either add the writing cost to the second or ask the first to quote without it. Otherwise you are comparing different jobs.

Line 3, ownership. Write yes, no or unclear. A "no" here is not just a detail. A cheap quote where the provider keeps the site is really a rental, and leaving later means starting over. Website rental vs owning your website explains the trade-off.

Line 5, yearly costs. Add everything that repeats: hosting or builder plan at the renewal price, domain, email, care plan, plugin or app fees. If a quote says "hosting from" or gives only a first-year price, ask for the regular price.

Line 6, three-year total. Build price plus three times the yearly costs. This is the number to compare. Three years is a fair window because most small businesses keep a site at least that long.

Line 8, changes after launch. Write down how you would update your hours or a photo: yourself in an editor, by email to the provider, or by paid request. If paid, write the price for a typical small change.

Lines 9 and 10, addresses and email. Write exactly what each quote says. "We'll take care of it" is not the same as "every current page address will forward to its new page, and we check MX records before and after the switch".

Reading the finished sheet

Once every cell is filled, look for these patterns:

The cheap quote with a long monthly tail. Low build price, high yearly cost, and the provider owns the site. Often the most expensive over three years.
The expensive quote with extras you did not ask for. Strategy workshops, custom illustration, a blog setup. Ask what the price would be without them.
The quote that skips your existing site. No mention of old addresses or email. Cheaper because it leaves out work that someone will have to do.
The quote that matches your brief. Lists your pages, states ownership, gives yearly costs, mentions addresses and email. Even if it is not the cheapest, it is the one you can hold to account.

Beyond the numbers

Two quotes can look identical on paper and still be very different to work with. A few checks:

Look at live sites they built. Open three on your phone. Do they load quickly, show a tappable phone number, and say clearly what the business does?
Ask a past client. Call one of those businesses and ask whether the project ran on time and whether they can make changes themselves.
Notice how they answered your brief. Clear, complete answers at the quote stage usually mean clear communication later.
Ask whether you can see the site before paying in full. A provider confident in their work rarely minds.

Questions that settle a close call

If two quotes are close, ask both:

What will I pay in year two if I make no changes at all?
If I leave after a year, what do I take with me?
What does it cost to add one page later?
Who exactly will build my site?
What is the earliest you could show me a working draft?

Website redesign questions to ask before you hire anyone has more.

What to do this week

Write your one-page brief and send the same one to every provider.
Build the comparison sheet and fill it as quotes come in.
Send back questions for every blank cell.
Compare the three-year totals and the ownership line before anything else.

It also helps to have one option you can actually look at, not just read about. You can see your site rebuilt first and add it as a column on your sheet, with the finished site in front of you instead of a description.