How we scope and price a manufacturing website
How is a manufacturing website priced?
A manufacturing website is priced against scope rather than against a package, because the two variables that move cost most, capability depth and integration, are invisible until someone looks at the shop. Scope is agreed first, in writing, and the quote is fixed against that scope with the assumptions listed alongside it.
Why there is no price list on this page
A published tier list would be either wide enough to be useless or narrow enough to be wrong. Two shops with the same headcount and the same revenue can differ by a factor of three in website cost, because one documents its capability carefully and the other keeps it in three people's heads.
A number quoted before that is visible is a guess with a decimal point on it. We would rather spend an hour establishing scope and then commit to a figure we can hold.
How scope is established
Four steps, usually inside two weeks, ending in a written scope you can take to another agency for comparison if you want to.
A call with whoever quotes
Not with marketing. The quoting team knows which enquiries are worth having, which are not, and what is missing from the ones that arrive now. That conversation sets what the site has to collect.
A capability inventory
What the shop runs, what it holds, what it is certified to, and how much of that is already written down somewhere usable. This is the single largest cost variable and it is knowable in an afternoon.
A page and integration count
How many pages the capability set justifies, whether a catalog is involved, and what the site has to read from or write to. Counted rather than estimated.
A written scope and a fixed quote
The scope lists what is included, what is excluded, and the assumptions the figure depends on. The quote is fixed against it.
What a quote contains
Every quote we issue has the same six parts, so it can be compared against another agency's line by line rather than as a single number.
| Part | What it commits to |
|---|---|
| Scope statement | The pages, features and integrations included, named individually |
| Exclusions | What is deliberately not included, so it is not discovered later |
| Assumptions | The conditions the figure depends on, such as content arriving in a usable form |
| Schedule | Stage dates, and what we need from you at each one to hold them |
| Fixed figure | One number for the scope as written, not an hourly estimate |
| Change process | How a change is priced if the scope moves, agreed before it does |
What moves an estimate after it is given
Estimates move for a small number of reasons, and all of them are avoidable if they are named at the start.
| Cause | How it is handled |
|---|---|
| Capability data turns out to be undocumented | Flagged during the inventory, before the quote, not after |
| The catalog is larger or dirtier than described | Priced against a sample first, with the full load as a separate line |
| An integration is bidirectional rather than read only | Named in the assumptions; a write path is quoted separately |
| Content approval stalls | Schedule moves rather than price, provided the scope has not changed |
| New pages requested mid build | Priced through the agreed change process at the same rate as the original scope |
What you can compare us against
Ask any agency you are considering for a written scope with exclusions and assumptions, not a proposal with a single figure. The figure is the least informative part of a quote, and the assumptions are where the difference between two quotes usually lives.
If one quote is materially cheaper, the exclusions list is normally where the reason is.
What we are quoting for
What we need from you to quote
A quote needs four things. None of them require preparation, and all four come out of a single conversation with the people who already know the answers.
| Driver | Costs less when | Costs more when |
|---|---|---|
| What you make | A description of the processes and materials you run | Nothing more is needed at this stage |
| Who you sell to | The buyer types and whether a channel is involved | Nothing more is needed at this stage |
| What exists now | The current site, and where capability data currently lives | Access is helpful but not required to quote |
| What has to connect | The ERP, CRM or quoting system by name | Whether data flows one way or both |
Frequently asked questions
Why will you not publish a price range?
Because the ranges that would be honest are too wide to help you budget. Capability depth and integration scope move cost by more than a factor of three between shops of the same size, and neither is visible until someone looks.
Is the quote fixed or hourly?
Fixed against a written scope. Hourly billing puts the risk of a bad estimate on the buyer, and it rewards the wrong things. If the scope changes, the change is priced through a process agreed before the work starts.
How long does it take to get a quote?
Usually a week to ten days from the first call, most of which is the capability inventory rather than the writing. Simple projects with documented capability can be quoted faster.
Do you charge for the scoping work?
No. The scope document is yours whether or not you engage us, and it is deliberately written so it can be sent to another agency for a comparable quote.
Request a quote
Placeholder: scope and next-step copy. Section 8.1 puts RFQ submission at tier 1.