We got a quote for a corporate website, but what does it include and is it really necessary for us?

We're in a similar line of business in Ostim. We had a corporate site built for 38.000 TL in late 2023. The agency initially pitched us a 70k custom panel package too; once we switched to a standard CMS and dropped the foreign language module, the price immediately dropped to 38k, and it was delivered in two weeks.

Have them revise the quote: take out the multilingual support and the custom design from scratch. Have them add a clean product catalog a quick quote button, and a technical specs download area instead. The price will instantly drop down to the 35.000 - 45.000 TL range.

When a factory buyer visits your site they don't care about flashy animations. They look at whether there's a technical spec sheet, what the SKU is, and if they can download the technical drawings... Skip the agency's bells and whistles and go for a simple layout that showcases your technical catalog clearly.

steer clear if they say they're building a custom panel. if you ever fight and part ways with the agency down the road no other dev will be able to touch the site and you'll be locked in.

Make sure to clarify these 3 points in writing before signing any contract: 1) The domain and hosting will be registered under your company's name, 2) The agency will handle uploading the product photos and technical documents into the system, 3) Free bug support will be provided for at least 6 months after the site goes live.

"Corporate" is the easiest way to double the price in the agency world. There are tons of agencies that claim custom software in the proposal but just set up a standard open-source template behind the scenes. Don't pay a single cent before clarifying what the underlying stack is in the contract.

I recommend reviewing the copyright and intellectual property clauses in the proposal. It must be explicitly stated in the contract that upon project completion, all source code, graphic assets, and administrative access rights for the site will be transferred to your company.

what exactly does this admin panel do? like like when we bring in a new valve model tomorrow will we be able to add the product to the site ourselves without paying the agency?

this thread is archived and ask who prepared the quote and who will actually do the work.

in legacy systems, the most expensive thing is unknown dependencies then anyway correct me if I'm wrong.

I went through the same thing.

I was thinking the same thing. Code without setup documentation isn't yours even if you have it.

If you get three different answers on a topic, the question was asked wrong. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I agree with this. If acceptance criteria aren't written, when the work is done is open to debate.

Just leaving this note, it might be useful.

The discussion got scattered, let me summarize. Every "we'll look at it later" in a meeting means unbilled work.

That's all, sorry if I went on too long.

heres how it went for us but honestly the harder it is to reverse a decision the slower you should make it.

the real issue isn't the number, but what it's based on. anyway i'm also curious if anyone does it differently.

Correct.

I feel the same way. Code without setup documentation isnt yours, even if you have it.

Mistakes made on the what is a corporate website side are usually reversible but expensive... tbh correct me if Im wrong.

If I understood correctly, you're saying: Any unwritten clause becomes a point of disagreement later, as both sides remember it differently.

If you post the result here, it will help others too.

Let me speak from the other side; I'm on the supplier side. If you get three different answers on a topic, the question was asked wrong.

Proven by experience.