The quickest way to a good website quotation is a good description of what you want. Not a long one. A page of answers to the questions below is enough, and it saves the studio and you two or three rounds of back and forth before anyone can put a number on the work.
Why the same brief produces such different prices is covered in what custom software costs in the Maldives. This is the practical half: what to write down before you ask.
Say what the website is for
Write one sentence that starts "People should be able to". Book a room. Ask for a quote. Find our opening hours. Order from the catalogue. Apply for a permit. If you cannot finish that sentence, the project is not ready to be quoted, and a studio that quotes anyway is guessing. It also gives you a way to judge the site afterwards: did people do the thing?
List the pages you expect
A list of pages is more useful to a developer than a mood board. Home, about, services and contact is the shortest version. A guesthouse adds rooms and how to get there. A shop adds categories and products. A council adds notices, services and forms. Do not worry about getting it perfect. A page you forget becomes a change request later, and a page you list that nobody needs is money spent.
Decide who will keep it up to date
Prices change, photographs age and notices expire. Decide now whether you or a member of staff will edit the site, how often, and how comfortable that person is with a computer. If nobody will update it, say so, because it changes what should be built. A site you edit yourself needs an admin that suits the person using it. A site nobody edits needs to be simple enough that it does not go stale.
Check who owns your domain
This is the one that causes real damage later. Find out who your domain is registered to. It should be your business, with an email address you control, and not an employee who has left or a developer you stopped working with. Decide which addresses you want, a .mv, a .com or both, and what your email should end in. If you already have a domain, bring the login or the name of whoever holds it. If you do not have one, we can register one for you.
Think about email
Business email on your own domain looks like a business and keeps working when a member of staff leaves. If you want it, say so in the brief, because it is set up alongside the site. Devcity Mail does this.
Say which languages
English only, Dhivehi only, or both? Both is more work than it sounds, because every page has to be written, checked and kept up to date twice, and Dhivehi is written right to left. Decide before the design starts. We cover it in building a website in Dhivehi and English.
Gather what only you have
Logo files, photographs you have the right to use, and the words about your business. Stock photographs of an island that is not yours do your business no favours, and visitors notice. Text is the part most people underestimate. A studio can design a page without your words but cannot finish one. As the cost guide says, what a studio needs from you is where most delays begin, and content is usually the answer.
Decide what happens to an enquiry
If the site has a contact form, a booking form or an order button, somebody has to receive what it sends, and answer. Name that person. An enquiry that waits two days for a reply is worse than no form at all. If you take payment or deposits, say how: transfer, cash on arrival or card. Card payment adds work and cost to the build, so it is worth knowing early whether you need it.
Show us three sites you like and one you do not
Not to copy them, but to see your taste and what you mean by words like modern or clean, which mean something different to everyone. One site you dislike, with a reason, is worth as much as three you like.
Tell us your budget and your date
Many people leave these out in case it raises the price. It does the opposite. A studio can only fit a design to a budget it knows about, and can only plan around a date it has been given. If the date matters, such as a season, an opening or a deadline, say what it is tied to.
What to do with it
Put the answers on one page and send it, even if half of it says "not sure". We will help with the rest. From that page we build a free working sample of the site, so you can click through something real before you decide whether to go ahead. See how we build websites in the Maldives, or send us your page.