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A website quote checklist that includes the invisible work

A five-page website is more than five pages of design. Count the work around the pages before you set a fixed fee.

Break the project into work you can estimate

List discovery, sitemap, wireframes, visual design, build, content placement, responsive checks, revisions, testing, launch and handover. Add project communication as its own line. A short weekly call still takes preparation and follow-up.

For each line, write both the quantity and the assumption. “Content placement: three hours, with final copy and compressed images supplied before build” is more useful than “content included”. If copywriting is required, estimate it separately.

Separate effort from external costs

Paid fonts, plugins and stock images are direct costs. Decide who purchases each licence and who owns the renewal. Do not bury an annual subscription inside a one-time website quote without explaining what happens next year.

Choose your uncertainty allowance

A contingency is a planning allowance, not permission for unlimited additions. Apply it to the estimated labour, then add direct expenses. If the brief is too uncertain to estimate, sell or agree a small discovery stage before committing to the entire build.

Review before sending

• Name the pages and the features on each.
• State who supplies copy and images.
• Define revision rounds and the decision-maker.
• List exclusions and third-party subscriptions.
• State payment stages and what moves the schedule.

Use the calculator with your own hourly target. Its example numbers are not market rates.