Most briefs I get are a list of pages. That is the least useful information you can give a developer. What changes the build is where you are taking the business.
I run a business as well as build them. Invoices, quiet months, the client who does not pay, deciding whether to take on work bigger than is comfortable. So when a founder talks me through their plans, I am reading it as someone who has made those decisions, not just as a supplier.
The brief is usually the wrong question
Someone asks for a five page site with a contact form. The question I ask is what happens after the contact form. Half the time nobody has decided.
The real question is what the business needs more of. More enquiries. Better qualified enquiries. Bookings without the phone ringing. Staff spending less of the week copying data between spreadsheets. Answer that and the pages define themselves.
Website, web app, or native app
These are three different budgets and three different timelines, so it is worth being clear which one you are asking for.
A website presents information and turns visitors into enquiries. A web app does work for people: accounts, bookings, dashboards, payments, uploads. It runs in a browser, needs no store approval, and can be updated the same day.
A native app is worth the extra when you need push notifications, offline use, device hardware such as camera or GPS in the background, or a place on the home screen. If none of those apply, a web app does the job for less and ships sooner. Plenty of businesses pay for an app when what they needed was a fast mobile site.
| Website | Web app | Native app | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job it does | Presents information, generates enquiries | Does work: accounts, bookings, dashboards, payments | Same as a web app, plus device features |
| Typical build | 2 to 4 weeks | 6 to 12 weeks | 10 to 20 weeks |
| Updates | Same day | Same day | App store review each release |
| Worth it when | You need to be found and contacted | People log in and do something repeatedly | You need push, offline use, camera or GPS in the background |
Different sectors, same questions
I have built for a roofing firm, a funeral directors, a jewellers in Hatton Garden, a sports massage clinic, a food business in Archway, and a handful of apps. On paper they have nothing in common.
The conversation is the same every time. Who is the customer, what are they worried about when they arrive, and what should they do next. The funeral directors needed calm and an obvious phone number. The jewellers needed enquiries rather than a checkout, because that purchase does not happen in a basket. Same three questions, different answers.
Your plans are part of the spec
Founders have a picture of where this goes. Two more vans. A second location. Franchising. Selling in five years. Handing it to their kid.
That changes the build. A business being sold in five years wants clean, documented, transferable, nothing exotic. A business opening three more branches wants a new location to be an afternoon of work rather than a new project. A business staying exactly as it is wants the cheapest thing that runs indefinitely. Same budget, three different builds, and if I do not ask I am guessing.
The parts that are not my job
Sometimes what is holding a business back is not the website. It is the pricing, or nobody answering the phone, or a service that is genuinely hard to explain. I will say so, even though it is not what I am being paid to say.
It works the other way too. If your site is costing you leads and someone has told you it is fine, I will show you where.
What working together looks like
You talk, I ask questions that do not sound like they are about the website, then I tell you what I would build, what I would not, and roughly what each option costs to build and to run. No account manager and no agency layer. You message me, you get me.
Related reading
Tell me where you are taking the business and I will tell you what it needs built. The first conversation costs nothing.
Book a callStraight answers
- Do you only work with tech businesses?
- No. Most clients are ordinary businesses: trades, clinics, shops, professional services. The questions are the same in every sector. Who is the customer, what are they worried about, and what should they do next.
- Do I need a website, a web app or a native app?
- A website presents information and generates enquiries. A web app does work: accounts, bookings, dashboards, payments. A native app is worth it when you need push notifications, offline use, device hardware or a home screen presence. Most businesses need the first, some need the second, fewer need the third than think they do.
- I do not know what I need. Is that a problem?
- No, that is the normal starting point. Arriving with a fixed list of pages is often worse, because it locks in decisions before anyone has asked what the business needs.
- Do you charge for the first conversation?
- No. We talk, I tell you what I would build and what I would not, and you decide. Sometimes the answer is that you do not need a developer yet.