What a website brief needs, and why each part changes the quote
Studios price the work a brief describes, so every gap becomes a guess, and every guess becomes a different number. These are the parts that move a quote most:
- Pages and layouts. A list of the pages you expect, and how many need their own layout. Five pages that each need a unique design can cost more than thirty pages built from three templates.
- Content. Who writes the text and who translates it. Writing in scope is often a large share of the price; final copy from your team is not.
- Features and integrations. A form that emails one inbox is simple; forms that feed HubSpot or Salesforce, booking, payments or your own data are engineering work, and each one belongs on the list.
- The current site. If you have search traffic, moving it safely takes a URL inventory, a redirect map and checks after launch. Say so, or quotes will leave it out.
- Timeline. A fixed date, and what it depends on (a trade show, a funding round, a product launch), so the plan can work back from it.
- Budget range. It doesn't commit you. It lets each studio propose the right depth of work instead of three different projects.
- Decision. Who approves, so reviews have the right people in them from the first round.
Brief or RFP: which one to write
Write a brief when you already have two or three studios in mind and want comparable quotes. It's a few pages, and the conversation does the rest.
Write an RFP when your process requires competing bids: a procurement team, a board, a public body or a grant. An RFP adds what a formal process needs:
- A schedule: when the RFP is issued, when questions are due, when proposals are due, when you'll decide.
- Evaluation criteria with weights, so every bidder knows how proposals will be scored.
- Submission rules: where proposals go, in what format, and who answers questions.
- Requirements bidders must meet, such as an NDA, insurance certificates, a security review or an accessibility conformance report.
Give bidders time. Two to three weeks between issuing an RFP and the due date is common for a website; less than a week tends to get rushed, generic answers.
How to compare the proposals you get back
Compare scope before price. When two quotes are far apart, they usually describe different projects. Line the proposals up against your brief and check that each one covers:
| What to check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| An itemized scope and price | You can see what each line costs and remove what you don't need |
| Named people and roles | The team that sells the project should be the team that builds it |
| Who owns the code, design files and accounts | Ownership should pass to you, in writing; hosting, domain and analytics should be in your company's name |
| Recurring and third-party costs | Hosting, CMS plans, fonts and plugins renew every year, whoever builds the site |
| Content, translation and migration | The parts most often left out of a low quote |
| Testing and launch | Accessibility, speed and cross-browser checks, and who fixes what after launch |
The RFP mode adds a scoring grid with suggested weights (experience 30%, approach 25%, price 20%, team 15%, timeline 10%). Change them to match what matters to you, and agree them before the proposals arrive.
Mistakes that make quotes impossible to compare
- "A modern website" as the brief. Describe goals and pages, not adjectives; let studios propose the look.
- Hiding the budget. Without a range, one studio proposes a template and another a custom build, and neither is wrong.
- Asking for free design work. Spec work in a proposal costs studios days and tells you little about how they'd work with you. Ask for relevant past work instead.
- Forgetting the current site. Losing search traffic in a redesign is common and avoidable; mention it, and ask how each studio handles redirects.
- Different briefs to different studios. Send everyone the same document, and share answers to one bidder's question with all of them.
What happens to your answers
The builder runs in your browser. Your answers are saved in this browser only, so you can come back to them, and Start over clears them. Nothing is sent to Dardo unless you choose Send this brief to Dardo, which opens our contact form with the brief filled in; it's sent only when you press Send there.
Questions before you choose
What should a website RFP include?
An introduction to your organization, the purpose of the project, goals and how you'll measure them, the audience, a page list and features, content and integrations, the current site and any search traffic to protect, a schedule (issue date, questions and proposals due, decision, launch), a budget range, requirements bidders must meet, what each proposal must include, evaluation criteria with weights, and how to submit.
How long should a website brief be?
Long enough that two studios would quote the same project: usually two to five pages. A page list, the features and integrations, who writes the content, the timeline and a budget range matter more than length.
Should I share our budget in an RFP?
Yes, as a range. It doesn't commit you to spending it; it lets each studio propose the right depth of work. Without one, you get proposals for different projects that are hard to compare.
How many studios should get our brief?
Three to five is enough to compare approaches and prices. Send every one of them the same document, and share your answer to any question with all of them.
Is the brief builder really free? Do you store what I write?
Yes, it's free and needs no account or email. Your answers are kept only in your browser; Dardo receives nothing unless you choose to send the brief through our contact form.
Can I edit the document after exporting it?
Yes. Download it as a Word file (.docx) to edit in Word or Google Docs, or as Markdown for a wiki or Notion page. Printing to PDF is there for sharing a fixed version.
Sources & further reading
Sources behind this page, with further detail from the original publishers.
- W3C: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2w3.org
- Google Search Central: Site moves with URL changesdevelopers.google.com
- Google Search Central: Do you need an SEO?developers.google.com
- US Copyright Office: Circular 30, Works Made for Hirecopyright.gov