The fastest way to get a useful quote is not a long brand deck. It is a short, boring brief. Here is what I actually need. There is a one-page PDF if you want it on the table.
The one paragraph
What the business does, who it is for, and what the website must achieve (enquiries, bookings, orders). Four sentences is plenty.
Pages (or features)
Home, about, 4 services, contact is a site. “We need something amazing” is not. If you have a shop, roughly how many products. If you need a login, who logs in and why.
The current site
Send the URL. I will look at it. If URLs must stay the same, say so — that is a redirect job as well as a design job.
Examples
Two or three sites you like, and one sentence on why (clear services, photography, the shop). I will not copy them. I need the direction.
Who edits it
If someone on your team will change copy weekly, we are probably on WordPress with training. If nobody will log in, we can keep the content model smaller.
Money and time
A budget band (“under £2,500” is more useful than “competitive”). A deadline only if it is real: a shop opening, a campaign, a domain renewal. “ASAP” means nothing without a date.
Access later, not on day one
Do not email hosting passwords in the first message. After we agree a quote I will ask for what is needed, on a channel that is not a random thread.
What I will do with it
Reply within a working day: fit, a price band, risks (thin content, messy migration, shop complexity). If we proceed, a written scope. That is when the number locks.
Download the checklist PDF or just send the paragraph →
