Mobile App City measures its average client at $6,860: $2,900 up front plus $110 a month across three years. That figure shows the shape of a good website quote, which is one clear build line and one clear monthly line. This article walks through how a non technical agency owner gets from the first conversation to a written number the client signs.
The process is the same whether you hire freelancers, build a team or use a wholesale production partner. What changes is how confident you can be in your cost line, and that is the number everything else hangs on.
What does a website quote actually have to contain?
A website quote has to state what the client gets, what it costs, what is not included and when payment is due. If any of those four is vague, the dispute you have later is predictable.
Write the deliverables as things a client can check: the number of pages, whether there is a contact form, whether the site works on mobile, and whether copy and images come from you or from them. Then write the exclusions just as plainly. Typical exclusions are extra rounds of design changes, ongoing hosting and support, and any online store or booking system that was not discussed.
A client does not need technical language. They need to know that when you say "five page website", you both mean the same five pages. Name them in the quote.
Why you need your cost before you name a price
Quote from your cost, not from what competitors seem to charge. If you do not know what the build costs you, you cannot know what you are making, and a non developer is most exposed on exactly this point.
Most people get that cost one of three ways. Freelancers usually quote per job, and the figure can move if the scope shifts. A hired team gives you a known cost but also wages whether or not you have work. A wholesale arrangement gives you a fixed rate list. Mobile App City describes its model this way: "You know your cost before you quote, so you always know what you are making." Its wholesale rates for individual services are not published, so partners get them as partners rather than from a public price list.
Whichever route you take, get the cost in writing before the client sees a number.
How to scope a website when you are not technical
Scope a website by asking about the business goal first and the pages second. A developer thinks in templates and plugins; you think in what the client needs the site to do, and that is the better starting point.
Four questions cover most of it:
- What should a visitor do on this site: call, book, buy or enquire?
- Which pages does the business need to support that, and which are nice to have?
- Do they have a logo, photos and written content, or are you supplying them?
- Is anything on the site connected to another system, such as bookings, payments or a mailing list?
If the answer to the last question is yes, flag it to whoever is building before you put a number in writing. Integrations are where a simple looking brief turns into extra hours. You do not have to understand how they work, only to know that this is the point where you ask a question rather than assume.
Separating the one off build from the monthly line
Quote the build and the ongoing service as two separate lines. The build is a payment for work done; the monthly line is what keeps the client with you and keeps you paid after the project is finished.
Mobile App City splits its own range the same way. Some services cost the client a small amount each month and pay the partner for as long as they run. Others are big jobs paid up front, like the Acenda app at six figures, and they keep paying every month afterwards too. Services start around $100 a month and run up to six figure custom builds.
Here is the average client as a worked example. The up front line is $2,900 and the monthly line is $110. Held for three years, those two lines make the $6,860 average. Treat it as a measured average for MAC partners, not a promise for your clients. It does show why the monthly line deserves its own sentence in your quote: over three years it accounts for the larger share of that average.
MAC also measures how long clients stay: three years when partners work its stay in touch system, and 23 months without it. So state what the monthly fee includes in one sentence, so the client does not read it as a charge for nothing, and then keep delivering it.
Setting your margin and your payment terms
Set your margin as a deliberate decision, then write payment terms into the quote. These are two separate choices, and new agency owners often make neither on purpose.
Your retail price is your cost plus the margin you want. Because you are not a developer, your value is the sale, the relationship and the management, so price for that rather than for hours. Under the MAC model you set your own retail prices and keep 100% of the difference between your price and the wholesale price.
For payment terms, state in the quote how much is due, when it is due and what triggers each payment. A client who has agreed to those terms in writing is easier to chase than one who has only agreed verbally.
Handing the job to your production partner
Once the client signs, the job passes to whoever builds it, and your quote is the brief. If the quote is specific, the handover is easy. If it is vague, you spend the project translating between the client and the builder.
On the MAC model, your client buys, you hand the job to MAC, and it comes back finished under your brand. MAC describes its team as designers, developers, marketers and project managers who are already hired and already managed, so there is nobody for you to hire or manage. MAC does not publish each team's internal steps, so the contact route is the place to ask about them.
It also helps to know who carries the technical risk. MAC's agreements are written so the liability for the technical work sits with MAC rather than with the partner personally. Where a service runs on MAC's platform and shared code, that stays with MAC; where a client paid for their own custom build, it goes with them. Which applies is set at the point of sale, so it belongs in your quote conversation too.
Getting to the first quote with support behind you
The hardest quote is the first one, because you have no history to lean on. MAC builds support around that moment: it gets on your first four prospect calls with you, so you are not working out the technical questions alone.
Every partner also receives the 2-a-Week Client System, which runs on 20 proven strategies, and a partner picks four to six of them. MAC measures that 82% of partners who complete training and onboarding get their first client inside 21 days. That is a measurement, not a guarantee of how quickly you will land a client.
The agreement runs five years and renews with no renewal fee, so the cost line you quote from does not change because a term ended. MAC says it does not guarantee any amount of revenue to partners, and the same discipline applies to what you promise clients.
Common quoting mistakes for non developers
The costliest mistakes are a vague scope, an unchecked integration and a price set to win rather than to earn. All three come from the same place: quoting before you have the facts.
Another is changing your price from client to client with no reason you could explain. Decide your margin first, and let the scope be what moves the number.
The third is promising what you cannot verify. If a client asks whether the site will rank on Google or double their enquiries, say what the site is built to do and leave the guarantee out.
If you are weighing whether to build an agency around this approach, this guide to starting a digital agency when you have no tech skills covers how a production partner model fits together for someone who sells rather than builds.
Frequently asked questions
How do you quote a website if you are not a developer?
Work backwards from a confirmed cost: add your margin, then write the scope in terms the client can check. The sections above cover each step, and the one rule to hold onto is that no price goes to the client until your cost is in writing.
Do I need to understand code to quote a website?
No. You need to understand what the client wants the site to do, what pages it needs and what it costs you to have it built. The technical detail belongs to whoever builds it.
Should I quote a fixed price or by the hour?
A fixed price per defined scope is easier for a non developer, because you are not tracking hours you did not work. Define the scope tightly and price changes as separate additions.
Can a client see my wholesale cost?
On the MAC model the work comes back under your brand and, as far as clients are ever aware, the team are your staff. You set your own retail price, so your cost stays your own business.
How do I find out my cost under the MAC Partnership?
The partnership costs $25,000 once, with $0 royalties and $0 monthly fees to MAC, and finance is available for approved applicants. Specific wholesale rates are not published, so use the contact page to ask about them.
What if the client wants something I did not quote?
Treat it as a new line in a revised quote. Because your original quote listed exclusions, you have a clear reference point for that conversation.
Related pages
This article draws on the following pages.
