Why the brief decides the quality of the quotes
Ask three agencies for a price on "a new website" and you will receive three numbers that cannot be compared. One has assumed you will write the copy and is quoting for a configured theme. Another has included research, new copy, custom templates and a redirect plan. The third has guessed somewhere in between. None of them is wrong; they simply answered different questions.
A written brief removes the guessing. It forces you to decide what you actually need before anyone starts selling, and it gives every agency the same starting point. The proposals you get back then differ in approach, judgement and price for reasons you can see.
A brief also becomes a reference during the project. When a question arises about whether something was in scope, the brief and the proposal it produced are what both sides return to.
What to include in a web design brief
A brief does not need to be long. Four to six pages is plenty for most business websites. What matters is that it covers the points below, honestly and specifically.
| Brief section | What to write | Why the agency needs it |
|---|---|---|
| Business and offer | What you sell, to whom, and what makes you different | Shapes structure, messaging and design direction |
| Goals | What the site must achieve, in measurable terms where possible | Lets the agency propose an approach, not just a build |
| Audience | Who visits, what they need to know, what makes them hesitate | Determines content, page order and calls to action |
| Current site | What works, what does not, traffic and enquiry sources | Reveals what must be preserved, including rankings |
| Pages and features | Draft sitemap, forms, booking, integrations, languages | Defines the scope the quote is built on |
| Content | Who writes copy and supplies photography, and when | Content is the most common cause of delay |
| Brand | Existing guidelines, logo files, what may change | Tells the agency how much design freedom it has |
| Technical constraints | Preferred platform, systems to connect, hosting, accessibility needs | Avoids proposals that cannot work with your set-up |
| Timeline and decision-makers | Deadline, reason for it, who approves | Shapes planning and the number of review rounds |
| Budget | A range or ceiling, if you can share one | Lets agencies propose what is realistic for that investment |
Writing each section well
Goals that an agency can design for
"A modern website" is not a goal. "More enquiries for commercial fit-outs from facilities managers in the North West" is. If you can, state where enquiries come from today and what a good enquiry looks like. An agency can then design the journey towards that action.
Audience in their own words
Describe the two or three types of buyer who matter most and the questions they ask before they get in touch. Sales staff and account managers are the best source. These questions often become the core pages of the site.
An honest view of the current site
Share access to analytics and Search Console, or at least the headline numbers. Note which pages bring in traffic and enquiries. A new site that drops those pages or changes their addresses without redirects can lose visibility overnight, which is why a proper website migration plan belongs in the scope.
A draft sitemap, not a final one
List the pages you expect: services, sectors, about, team, case studies, insights, contact. Mark which are essential. Invite the agency to challenge the list; a good one will, based on research into how your buyers search.
Content responsibilities
Be candid about who will write. If your team intends to write the copy, say how much time they really have. If you want it written for you, say so, because it changes the quote substantially.
Should you share a budget?
Many companies hesitate, fearing that a budget becomes the price. In practice, withholding it usually wastes everyone's time. Without a range, agencies either quote what they think you want to hear or design a proposal you cannot afford.
A sensible approach is to give a range or a ceiling and ask each agency to explain what they would prioritise within it and what they would leave for a later phase. The answers tell you a great deal about their judgement. If you genuinely do not know what a site of your scope should cost, read our guide on what drives website cost first, then ask agencies to set out options.
Also say whether figures should be shown excluding or including VAT, so the quotes line up.
What a good website quote should give back
A strong proposal does more than repeat your brief with a number attached. Look for:
- A summary of your situation in their words, showing they understood the brief rather than pasting a template.
- An approach by phase: research, structure, content, design, build, testing, launch and aftercare.
- A concrete list of deliverables: which templates, which pages, which features.
- An explicit list of exclusions. What is not included matters as much as what is.
- Your inputs and deadlines: what you supply, when, and how many review rounds there are.
- Ownership terms: domain, hosting, code, licences and content in your company's name.
- One-off and recurring costs shown separately, with VAT treatment stated.
- How change requests are handled and priced.
Questions to ask before you sign
- How will your research change the structure I proposed?
- Who exactly will work on the project, and who is my day-to-day contact?
- How many rounds of feedback are included for design and for copy?
- What happens to the URLs of my current site, and who sets the redirects?
- How do you test accessibility, and against which standard?
- What will I pay after launch, from when, and for what?
- How will we measure whether the site is working three and six months after launch?
Accessibility deserves a specific answer. The W3C's WCAG guidelines are the usual reference, and an agency should be able to say which level it designs and tests to. Our page on accessible web design explains why that matters for UK businesses.
Red flags in briefs and in quotes
On your side, the most common brief mistakes are a wish list of features with no goals, no word on content, and a deadline with no reason behind it. On the agency side, watch for:
- A price with no breakdown. You cannot tell what you are buying.
- No questions asked. An agency that quotes without asking anything has not thought about your business.
- Silence about content. It usually means they expect you to supply everything.
- Accounts in their name. Domain or hosting registered to the agency makes leaving hard.
- No plan for your existing site. A relaunch without redirects often loses traffic.
- Ranking or revenue promises. Nobody can honestly promise a position in Google.
- A vague timeline with no phases, milestones or dependencies.
How many agencies to approach, and how to compare them
Three is usually enough. Fewer gives you no comparison; many more turns selection into a project of its own and rarely improves the outcome.
Compare the proposals line by line against your brief, not by the total. Where one is much cheaper, find out which parts are missing: research, copy, redirects or aftercare are the usual candidates. That can be a reasonable choice, but make it deliberately. Then weigh the conversations: who asked the sharpest questions, who challenged your assumptions, who you would trust when something goes wrong.
If you want to understand the discipline before you brief, our explainer what is web design covers the principles, and our web design page shows how we run projects.
How we respond to a brief
We do not send a quote in reply to a brief alone. Every project starts with the Beacon Strategy Session: a paid, 50-minute conversation with the founder about your ambition, your market and whether we are a good fit, for £225 excl. VAT. It is a conversation, not an audit or written plan, and the fee is not credited against a later project. Afterwards we decide whether we take the project on; if we do, you receive a proposal with a fixed scope and a fixed price that follows the structure on this page. Our how we work page explains the steps in detail.