How do you compare quotes from software developers?
Read each quote for what it assumes and what it leaves out, then line the stages up side by side. Check which parts are fixed and which can move, and whether testing, hosting, changes after launch, training and handover are covered. Two quotes for the same job often differ because they assume different things, so ask every developer the same questions in writing and compare the answers, not only the totals.
Start with quotes that answer the same brief
Quotes only compare when they answer the same question. If each developer heard a different description of the job, you are comparing guesses. Give everyone the same written brief; the related answer on what to have ready before hiring a software developer helps you write it. Then ask for each quote in writing, so the assumptions are on paper.
Line up the stages and the parts that go missing
Copy each quote onto one sheet, one column per developer. These are the rows where quotes often differ, and where a missing line is easy to mistake for "not needed".
| Part of the job | What to find in each quote |
|---|---|
| Stages | What gets built first, and what you can try at the end of each stage. |
| Testing | Who tests, on what, and whether your real examples are used. |
| Hosting | Where it will run, in whose name, and who deals with renewals. |
| Changes | Whether changes during the build and after launch are covered, and how one is asked for and agreed. |
| Training | Whether anyone shows your staff how to use it, and in what form. |
| Handover | What you receive at the end: the code, written notes, the accounts and the logins. |
| After launch | Who fixes what breaks, and whether that is part of this quote or separate. |
What is fixed and what can move
Read each quote for the words that make it conditional: assuming, estimated, subject to, if, to be confirmed. Each marks something that can move. A quote with no such words is not necessarily firmer; the conditions may simply be unwritten.
Mark every item as fixed (defined work for an agreed result), flexible (it depends on time spent, an unknown or a choice not yet made) or missing. For each flexible item, ask what happens if the assumption turns out wrong, who decides, and when you would be told. The related answer on what decides the cost of custom software lists what makes a job bigger and has questions on how changes are agreed.
Questions that bring the differences out
Put the same questions to every developer and compare the written answers.
- Walk me through the first stage: what will I be able to do at the end of it?
- Which parts of this are optional, and which would I need in practice?
- What is the most likely reason this would take longer than quoted?
- What would you need to see before you called a stage finished?
- Who will show my staff how to use it, and when?
- If we did only the first stage and stopped, what would I have, and whose name would the accounts be in?
- What does this quote leave out that I might find out about later?
A clear comparison is not yet a choice
Once the quotes are lined up, the people matter too. The related answer on a freelance developer or a software company weighs the two routes, and the related answer on checking a developer's work covers approving work in stages once you start.
Ascent Vision builds custom software, so read this with that in mind.
Related answers
- What should you have ready before hiring a software developer?
- What decides how much custom software costs, and why do projects run over?
- Should you hire a freelance developer or a software company?
- How do you check a developer's work before paying for more?
Custom software and apps
Off-the-shelf tools get you most of the way. When the last stretch is where the time goes, we build the part that fits: the dashboard, the portal, the internal tool or the app.