I used to quote the whole website on the first call. Now I won't give a number until we've spent two weeks – paid – defining what we're actually building. It sounds counterintuitive. A potential client asks, “How much will the website cost?” and the obvious answer seems to be a number. But here's the problem: at that point, nobody really knows what the project is yet.
You might know you need a new website and might even have a list of pages. But do you know:
- What the positioning should be?
- What the site needs to communicate?
- Which pages actually matter?
- What the customer needs to understand before they take action?
Usually, not yet… so any quote at that stage is partly a guess.
The problem with quoting too early
If I quote too low, the project eventually forces compromises. Pages get added, the structure changes, and messaging needs to be rewritten. Suddenly, the original scope doesn't match the actual work. On the other hand, if I quote too high, I might lose a good project simply because I priced something that hadn't been properly defined. The outcome? Neither is particularly useful.
This is why I moved upstream. Before design, development, or even a detailed build estimate, there needs to be a clear direction. That doesn't mean a giant discovery process, nor months of workshops and decks, but just enough strategic work to understand what we're actually building.
Two weeks can change the entire project
That involves starting with a focused, paid two-week strategy sprint for the right engagement:
- First, we define the positioning
- Then, we map the pages and structure
- Next, we clarify what the website needs to say and why
- Later, we identify what belongs in the build and what doesn't
- Finally and most importantly, we establish a direction that the rest of the project can follow
The strategy is yours to keep. If you decide to move forward with the build, the strategy fee is credited toward it. That's important to me. I'm not asking a client to pay for a document they may never use. I'm creating the foundation the build will depend on either way. And after two weeks, we're no longer discussing an abstract website, but something real.
The quote becomes easier because the project is clearer
This is also where strategy protects both the client and the initiative. Everyone knows exactly what they are building, and the team knows what decisions have already been made. There is less room for the project to slowly become something completely different from what everyone agreed to at the beginning.
It's the same principle I've seen across rebrands and larger website initiatives: when direction isn't defined early, execution eventually becomes a negotiation. Everyone starts interpreting the brief differently. As a consequence, more feedback and revisions follow. Small decisions become big ones because nobody knows who owns the direction. The work can still look productive for weeks… right up until everything starts piling up.
Strategy isn't another layer before the “real work”
That's the part I think companies sometimes misunderstand: strategy doesn't delay the website. Instead, it actually makes the website possible to build with confidence. That's why I start with the questions nobody scheduled time for:
- “What changed and what does the business need now?”
- “Who are we speaking to?”
- “What needs to be different?”
- “What does success actually look like?”
Once those answers are clear, the build has somewhere to go. And the client doesn't have to commit to a number based on assumptions made during a first conversation. That's why I've changed how I approach website projects. Two weeks of paid strategy is the cheapest insurance a website project ever buys.
Ready to define your website before you build it?
Start with a two-week paid strategy sprint. We'll define the positioning, structure, key pages, and direction before the build begins. The strategy is yours to keep, and the fee is credited toward the build if we move forward. Let's schedule a call.
