Buyer checklist · reviewed 26 Sep 2026
A useful quote distinguishes one-time implementation, recurring provider charges, optional support and business-supplied work.
Ask for the first-year total and the expected renewal register in writing.
Quick answer
Website costs commonly omitted from a headline build price include domain and hosting renewals, email, paid themes or apps, transactional services, payment and shipping charges, copy, photography, migration, tax, maintenance and future changes. Ask who pays each provider, who owns each account, the current renewal basis and what happens if the developer relationship ends.
These are separate services even when one provider bundles them.
Record the provider, account owner, plan, initial term, renewal basis, storage or traffic limits, backup arrangement and cancellation process. Check current prices on the provider's own checkout because promotional and renewal prices change.
A feature may depend on a subscription that is not owned by the developer.
List every paid dependency, billing account, renewal date, licence limits and the effect of non-renewal. Include form delivery, maps, search, chat, analytics, cookie tools, image services, booking, tax, shipping and inventory connectors where used.
“Website included” does not automatically mean the business material is written and prepared.
State who supplies or approves copy, translations, product data, photographs, legal policies and accessibility text. Define how much old content is migrated and cleaned, and who verifies accuracy and permissions.
Online-store operating charges sit outside development.
Verify the current payment-gateway, marketplace, platform, shipping, SMS and tax-invoicing terms directly with those providers. Charges can depend on plan, payment method, volume, geography and contract; a developer should not present one percentage as universal.
A defect window is different from ongoing maintenance.
Define what post-launch defects are corrected, for how long, and what counts as a new request. For maintenance, record update and backup duties, response window, included time, emergency route, exclusions and cancellation or handover terms.
Make the complete operating picture part of procurement.
Please list every one-time and recurring charge needed to run this scope for the first year, the expected renewal basis after that, the billing account owner, taxes, usage-based charges and anything the business must buy or supply separately.
Questions
Next step
Send the requirements and ask for the build, third-party and renewal items to be separated.