7 September 2026 / 6 min read
How to write a website brief that gets you accurate quotes
The difference between three wildly different quotes and three comparable ones is usually one page of writing.
- process
- briefs
- pricing
If three studios quote you £3,000, £11,000 and £40,000, they are not disagreeing about price. They are guessing at three different projects.
The short answer
A useful brief answers six questions: what the business does, what the site must achieve, who it is for, what has to be on it, what you are working with, and what you can spend. One page is enough. Vagueness is what produces padded quotes, because a careful studio prices the risk it cannot see.
The six things to include
What you do, in one sentence. Written as a customer would say it, not as your industry says it.
What success looks like. "Twenty enquiries a month" is a brief. "A modern, professional website" is a mood.
Who it is for. One or two real audiences, and what each needs to do on arrival.
What must exist. Pages, features, logins, payments, bookings, languages, integrations. List the must-haves separately from the nice-to-haves.
What already exists. Current site, brand assets, hosting, domain, the systems it has to talk to, and who edits it now.
Budget and timing. Give a range. Withholding it does not get you a lower price; it gets you a quote for the wrong project.
Three sentences that cost you money
- "We want something like Apple's site." Which part, and with which budget?
- "We will decide the content later." Content decides the structure, and structure decides the price.
- "Just make it easy to update." Easy for whom, and how often?
Examples help more than adjectives
Two or three sites you like, with a sentence on what specifically you like about each — the type, the pace, the way the products are shown. Adjectives are interpreted; examples are not.
Skip the blank page
Our guided brief asks twelve tick-box questions and produces a briefing document plus three priced tiers, which you are welcome to take to other studios. Compare it against our published prices and you can see exactly how the number was reached.