What are you actually comparing?
One proposal may describe a lightly customised theme. Another may include stakeholder discovery, audience journeys, original design, responsive behaviour, content structure, integrations, redirects and launch testing. Headline prices hide those differences.
Start by normalising scope. Put each proposal beside the same checklist and mark whether an item is included, excluded or still assumed.
- Original design or existing template
- Number of page types and reusable sections
- Copy, photography and content entry
- Booking, CRM, property, commerce or other systems
- Technical SEO and redirect planning
- Accessibility, device and browser testing
Does a London agency need a London office?
A physical office may matter if in-person workshops are essential to your team, but it should not be inferred from a location landing page. Arkidis serves London and UK businesses without publishing an unverified office address.
Evaluate access to the people doing the work, the quality of communication and the project evidence. Those factors affect delivery more directly than a prestige postcode.
Redesign costs are shaped by the existing site
An established website carries history. Existing URLs may rank, earn links, support campaigns or connect to third-party systems. Auditing and migrating that value is real work and should appear in the scope.
Ask how the supplier will inventory URLs, map redirects, preserve metadata where useful, test forms and check indexability after launch.
A better way to request quotes
Give each agency the same commercial brief: what the business sells, who the priority audience is, what the current website fails to do and which actions matter. Add known technical constraints and the deadline reason.
A serious response should connect recommended work to those goals and explain what is not included. If the answer is only a page count and a price, important decisions remain hidden.