I write quotes for a living, so let me show you a realistic one with the markings on: which lines are standard, which are padding, and which are missing. By the end you will be able to read any quote yourself.
The quote, as you would receive it
Build of a small business website with booking.
- Discovery and scoping: $900
- Design, mobile and desktop: $2,400
- Development: $5,600
- Content entry and formatting: $800
- Testing and launch: $1,300
Total: $11,000. 50% upfront, 50% at launch. Delivery in 5 weeks.
Now the line-by-line.
Line 1: Discovery ($900)
Standard? Yes. This is where the developer learns your business, writes the scope, and produces the plan everything else depends on. Skipping discovery is how builds go sideways.
Check: does it say what the output is? A good quote says "written scope and sitemap you approve." If discovery just "happens," you are paying for a meeting, not an artifact.
Line 2: Design ($2,400)
Standard? Yes, and the price is sane for mobile plus desktop across every page type.
Check: how many revision rounds are included? If the quote is silent, ask. Two rounds is typical. Unlimited revisions do not exist in disguise; they exist as a scheduling trap.
Line 3: Development ($5,600)
Standard? Yes, it is the biggest line and should be.
Check: does it list the features included? Booking, payments, contact forms, admin access. If it just says "development," ask what happens when you later say "I assumed X was included." The written feature list is the answer to that argument before it starts.
Line 4: Content entry ($800)
Standard? Yes, and it is the line clients are most surprised by. Someone has to put your text and photos into the site and make them look right. That is real hours.
Check: what it excludes. A fair quote says "client provides final text and images." If content writing is expected from the developer, that is a different, bigger number.
Line 5: Testing and launch ($1,300)
Standard? Yes. Real device testing, form submissions, payment sandbox runs, redirects, analytics setup, going live.
Check: what happens after launch. Launch day fixes should be included for some period (mine is 14 days of free tweaks). If the quote says nothing about post-launch support, ask, because "bugs are extra" is not an answer you want to discover later.
The two sections missing from this (good) quote
Even decent quotes omit these. Do not sign without them:
- Exclusions. What this price does NOT include. Copywriting, photography, hosting, app store fees, ongoing maintenance. Exclusions protect you from the "I assumed that was included" fight.
- Change process. A sentence on how changes are priced. One paragraph: describe the change, get a price, approve, then it happens. Without this, every mid-project idea is a fresh negotiation.
Padding, and how to spot it
Padding is not a higher price. Padding is a price with no story. Signs:
- Line items that name no deliverable ("project coordination", "strategy")
- Round totals that do not match the sum of the lines
- Hours that do not map to anything you can see, click, or keep
An itemized quote at $11,000 can be more honest than a single-line quote at $7,000, because you can interrogate every dollar of the $11,000. Specificity is the tell.
The 5 questions that finish any quote review
- What is excluded from this price?
- How many design revisions are included?
- Who owns the code and site when it is paid off?
- What is the process and price for changes?
- What happens in the first 2 weeks after launch?
If the answers come back fast and in writing, you are talking to a professional. If you want a second pair of eyes on a quote you are holding, send it over. I will go through it line by line, no strings attached.