Website Development Quotation Format: What to Include (With a Sample)

Quotation, estimate or proforma invoice?

The three are often used as if they were the same document. An estimate is a rough figure that may change once the scope is clear. A quotation is a fixed price for a defined scope, open for a stated period. A proforma invoice is a request for payment issued after the client has agreed, usually to collect the advance.

For a website project, send a quotation once you know the pages, features and deadline. If you do not know them yet, hold a short discovery call first. A firm price on a vague scope is how a fifteen-page site gets built for the price of five.

What a website development quotation should include

A complete quotation fits on one or two pages. Every part below answers a question the client will otherwise ask later, usually in the middle of the build.

• Your business name, address, contact details and GSTIN if you are registered.
• The client’s name, company, address and GSTIN if they have one.
• A quotation number and date, so both sides can refer to the same version.
• A one-line subject, such as “Corporate website redesign, 8 pages”.
• Line items with a description, quantity, rate and amount.
• The SAC code and GST rate, with the tax shown separately from the price.
• The total, and the amount due as an advance.
• Timeline, payment schedule, what is not included and the validity date.

Break the price into line items

A single lump sum invites two problems. The client cannot see what they are paying for, so the only thing left to negotiate is the total. And when they ask for one more feature, there is nothing to point to that shows it was never part of the price.

Line items fix both. They also make it easy to offer a smaller version: drop the blog or the payment gateway, and the client sees exactly what the lower price buys.

• Design: number of unique page designs, and how many rounds of revisions.
• Development: number of pages, the platform, and that it works on mobile.
• Features: forms, payment gateway, booking, multi-language, blog, each on its own line.
• Content: who writes the text and supplies the images, and the price if you do.
• Setup: domain, hosting, SSL, business email and analytics.
• After launch: a support period, then maintenance as a separate recurring line.

Practical tipKeep one-off and recurring costs apart. Hosting and maintenance renew every year; if they sit inside the build price, the renewal invoice will come as a surprise.

A sample website development quotation

Here is a worked example for an eight-page business website quoted to a client in the same state. The figures are illustrative, not a price guide. Use the structure and put in your own rates.

• UI design, 8 pages, 2 revision rounds: ₹24,000
• Development on a CMS, responsive, 8 pages: ₹40,000
• Enquiry form, WhatsApp button and analytics setup: ₹6,000
• Domain and hosting for 1 year: ₹5,000
• Subtotal: ₹75,000
• CGST at 9%: ₹6,750
• SGST at 9%: ₹6,750
• Total: ₹88,500
• Advance due on acceptance (50%): ₹44,250
• Balance due before launch (50%): ₹44,250

Practical tipUnder the totals, add three short lines: delivery in 5 weeks from receipt of content, valid for 15 days, and content to be supplied by the client.

How to show GST on a website quotation

If you are registered for GST, show the tax separately from your price. Website design and development is a service, so it carries an SAC code, not an HSN code. The code commonly used is 998314, for IT design and development services, and the rate is 18%. Hosting and maintenance have their own codes, so confirm the right ones for your line items with your accountant.

The split depends on where the client is. For a client in your own state, charge CGST and SGST at 9% each. For a client in another state, charge IGST at 18%. The total is the same; only the breakup changes.

If you are not registered for GST, do not add GST and do not print a GSTIN. Quote your price as the full amount and say so plainly, so the client is not expecting a tax invoice later.

Practical tipAlways say whether a figure includes GST. “₹75,000 plus GST” and “₹75,000” are ₹13,500 apart, and the difference tends to surface on the day of the final invoice.

Set the payment terms before the work starts

Put the payment schedule in the quotation itself, not in a later email. A client who accepts the quote has then accepted the schedule with it.

Link each payment to something the client can see, not to a date. “On design approval” is harder to argue with than “after two weeks”, and it stops a delayed project from delaying your payment.

• Two parts: 50% in advance, 50% before the site goes live.
• Three parts: 40% in advance, 30% on design approval, 30% before launch.
• Larger builds: an advance, then a payment for each milestone delivered.
• Say how payment is accepted: bank transfer, UPI or a payment link.
• Say that the site goes live, and logins are handed over, once the balance is paid.

Say what is not included

Exclusions are the most useful lines in a web quotation and the ones most often left out. Anything you do not rule out, a client may fairly assume is part of the price.

• Content writing, photography and stock images, unless they are listed as a line item.
• Revisions beyond the stated number of rounds, charged at an hourly or per-change rate.
• Third-party costs: paid plugins, themes, payment gateway fees and SMS or email credits.
• Domain and hosting renewals after the first year.
• SEO work beyond basic on-page setup, and any ongoing marketing.
• New pages or features requested after approval, quoted separately.

Practical tipWrite one line on delays you do not control: if content or feedback arrives late, the delivery date moves by the same number of days.

Add a timeline, a validity date and a way to accept

Give a delivery time counted from the day you receive the advance and the content, not from the date of the quotation. Most late websites are late because the text and photos did not arrive.

Set a validity period, commonly 15 or 30 days. It gives you a reason to follow up and protects you from a client who returns six months later expecting the old price.

Finally, tell the client exactly how to say yes: reply to confirm, sign and return, or accept online. A quote with no clear next step is easy to leave unanswered.

Common mistakes in website quotations

Most of these cost nothing to fix and are expensive to leave in.

• One line and one figure, with no breakdown of the work.
• No mention of whether the price includes GST.
• No limit on revisions.
• No statement of who provides the content.
• No validity date.
• Hosting and maintenance hidden inside the build price.
• A new price sent over a call or chat, with the written quote never updated.

Send it, then follow up

The quotation is not finished when it is sent. Agree a date for the client’s answer when you send it, and book the follow-up straight away. If the scope or price changes, issue a revised quotation with a new version number, so the last document both sides saw is the one that was agreed.

For the timing of each follow-up, see our guide on how to manage leads for a web development agency. When the client accepts, raise the advance invoice the same day, using the same line items.

Creating the quotation in WTS CRM

You can build this format in a document or spreadsheet template. The weak points are the ones around it: retyping client details, working out the tax split by hand, and not knowing whether the quote was read.

In WTS CRM, a quotation starts from the lead or client record, so their details are already filled in. Each line takes a description, SAC code, quantity, rate and GST rate, and CGST and SGST or IGST are worked out from the place of supply. The client opens the quotation as a link and can accept it on the page, you are told when it is first opened, and an accepted quotation converts into a GST invoice with the same lines. Quotations are part of the Solo, Team and Agency plans.