What should a website design quote include?
A good website design quote tells you six things in writing: the scope (which pages and features), the deliverables (what you receive at the end), the exclusions (what is not included), the timeline, the number of revision rounds, and the payment terms.
If any of these is missing, you are not yet holding a quote you can compare. You are holding a price.
Below we walk through an example quote, section by section. It is illustrative only: a made-up small hotel, not a real client, written the way we would want any quote to read. For the wider picture of how the total adds up, our guide to a website quote breakdown and total cost in Thailand covers running costs too. To understand how the seller reached the number in the first place, read how web designers price projects.
An example quote, section by section
Example only. A fictional 30-room boutique hotel in Bangkok wants a new bilingual hotel website with an enquiry form. A clear quote for that brief would contain these sections.
1. Scope summary
Two or three sentences: "A new English and Thai website on WordPress with a custom theme, replacing the current site, for direct room enquiries." If you cannot recognise your own project here, stop and ask.
2. Page list
Every page named: Home, Rooms (with one page per room type), Facilities, Location, Offers, About, Contact, Privacy notice. Each in English and Thai. A page count alone, such as "up to 15 pages", should still be backed by a list you agree.
3. Features
Enquiry and booking request form, WhatsApp and LINE buttons, photo galleries, a blog if wanted. For a store this section would name the platform, PromptPay, cards, COD, courier setup and e-Tax invoices.
4. Content
Who writes the text, who translates it, who supplies photos, who loads it all.
5. SEO and technical setup
On-page basics, keyword mapping and schema markup if included, mobile testing and page speed checks.
6. PDPA
For a PDPA-compliant website: cookie consent that blocks non-essential cookies until the visitor agrees, consent wording on forms, and a privacy notice page (with a note on who supplies its legal text).
7. Training and launch
How staff will be shown to edit rooms and offers, and what happens on launch day: domain switch, redirects from old pages, final checks.
8. Price, timeline, revisions and payment terms
One total, with any optional items priced separately, and the terms covered in the sections below.
Revisions and changes
Most disagreements after a project starts come from one word: change. A quote should separate two things.
- A revision is feedback on work already in scope: "make the booking button larger", "use the other photo on the Rooms page", "the Thai heading breaks badly on mobile". A quote should say how many rounds are included. Our Business package, for example, includes two revision rounds.
- A change adds something new: an extra room type page, a Chinese language version, a restaurant section that was not in the page list. A fair quote explains how changes are handled, usually a short written estimate you approve before any work starts.
Ask the designer to define a round. Collecting all feedback into one list per round, from everyone who needs to approve, keeps the project on time and avoids arguments about whether scattered messages count as one round or five.
Content, timeline and dependencies
A timeline in a quote only means something if it says what the designer needs from you and when. Our typical project takes 15 days, and that assumes content arrives on time. Large e-commerce catalogues can take longer, and a good quote says so rather than promising the same date for every size of shop.
Look for a list of client dependencies, for example:
- Logo files and brand colours by the start date.
- Final English text, and Thai text if you are translating it yourselves.
- Photos in the best resolution you have.
- Access to the current domain and hosting accounts.
- One named person who approves each stage.
If the quote gives a date but lists nothing you must supply, the date is a hope, not a plan.
What does a website quote usually exclude?
The exclusions section is the most useful part of any quote, because it shows where extra costs will come from. Common exclusions:
- Hosting and domain. Normally paid by you, directly to the providers, every year.
- Copywriting and translation. If the quote assumes you supply finished text in both languages, it should say so.
- Photography and video. Stock photos, a shoot of your rooms or products.
- Third-party licences. Premium plugins, a paid theme, or for a store the platform plan and apps; our breakdown of Shopify plans and fees in Thailand shows how those add up.
- Payment gateway and courier accounts. The designer connects them; you open and pay for them.
- Legal text. A designer can build the privacy notice page and consent flows, but the legal wording is your responsibility or your lawyer's.
- Work after launch. Maintenance is usually separate. Ours is priced per site on request.
Exclusions are not a warning sign. A quote with none at all is.
Payment terms
Payment terms belong in the quote, in writing, before work starts. Look for how the total is split, what triggers each payment (signing, design approval, launch), how you pay, and what happens to payments if the project is paused or cancelled. Also check what the price says about tax, so there is no surprise on the invoice.
We do not publish a standard schedule: our payment terms are set out in each written quote, alongside the scope and timeline. If a designer cannot tell you their terms until after you commit, ask again before you do.
Red flags and how to compare quotes
Red flags
- Vague scope: "a modern website" with no page list or features.
- No exclusions: everything seems included, until the extras arrive.
- Unclear ownership: the quote does not say whose name the domain and hosting accounts are in, or who holds the admin login.
- No change process: nothing on how new requests are priced.
- A date with no dependencies, and no mention of revisions.
Comparing two quotes fairly
- Put both page lists side by side and mark the gaps.
- Compare features, languages and revision rounds, not just totals.
- Add the exclusions of each quote as estimated extra costs.
- Add three years of running costs for each option. A builder subscription can look cheap until you check how much a website costs on Squarespace or Wix over the same period.
- Ask each seller the questions the quote leaves open. The answers tell you a lot about how the project will run.
Our packages start from THB 10,000 for Starter, THB 30,000 for Business and THB 50,000 for E-commerce, all indicative and one-time; our pricing page lists what each includes. You can also see how a project moves from brief to launch in our design process. When you have a brief, ask us for a website development quote, or send it by WhatsApp or call +66 93 004 4098.
