You asked three companies for a price and received three documents that cannot be compared. One is a single figure. One is a table of hours. One is eleven pages. The figures differ by a factor of three.
They are answers to three different questions. The work is to find out which question each company answered.
01Put them in one table
- What is included, item by item.
- What is explicitly excluded.
- What the price assumes: content supplied by you, access to systems, decisions made on time.
- The stages, and what you receive at the end of each.
- How changes are priced.
- What happens after launch, and what that costs each month.
- Who owns the code, the designs and the accounts.
02Where the differences usually hide
- Design: a template adapted, or drawn from nothing.
- Content: written and photographed, or assumed to arrive from you.
- Testing: on real devices and with real users, or not mentioned.
- Connections to other systems: counted, or left for later.
- Project management: included, or expected of you.
- Support after launch: included for a period, or extra from the first day.
03Questions to send back
- What is not included that we might assume is?
- What would raise this price?
- What would you cut if we needed it for less?
- What do you need from us, and by when?
- What do we own at the end?
The quality of the replies tells you as much as the quotes did.
04Reading the price
A much lower price nearly always means a smaller scope or an untested assumption. A much higher one may include things the others left out, or may simply be high. Ask each company to price the same written scope, and most of the spread disappears. What remains is a real difference in rate, approach or confidence.
05What to weigh beside the price
- Did they understand the problem, or only the request?
- Did they ask anything that made you think?
- Will you work with the people you met?
- Is the first stage small enough to judge before you are committed?
In short
- Quotes differ because each company priced a different scope.
- Line them up on inclusions, exclusions, assumptions, stages, changes, aftercare and ownership.
- Ask each company to price one written scope.
- Weigh understanding and the people beside the figure.
Questions
Should we share our budget?
A range helps. It lets a company propose the best thing for that money in place of guessing, and you can still compare what each offers within it.
Is a detailed quote better than a short one?
Detail is useful when it describes scope and assumptions. Length alone is not a virtue.
Can we negotiate?
Negotiate scope before rate. Removing something you do not need saves more than pressing on the hourly figure, and does not cost you goodwill.
How does Quantum Beetle quote?
A written scope first, then a clear quote before any work starts, with what is included and what is not stated plainly.
Sounds like your problem?
Tell us about it. We'll say honestly whether the swarm can help, and what it would take.
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