There's a moment every web project can die: the second invoice. The one that wasn't in the quote — for the "extra revision round," the "additional responsive work," the "scope adjustment." Fixed-price web design exists to make that moment structurally impossible, and after building sites both ways, we're convinced enough to publish our prices and stake the pitch on it. But fixed pricing has real mechanics and real limits, and a "fixed" label on a vague scope is worse than honest hourly billing. Here's how to tell the difference before you sign.
Why open quotes overrun (it's incentives, not evil)
Hourly and open-ended quotes drift for a boring reason: all the uncertainty lives on your side of the table. The builder estimates optimistically to win the job (everyone's competing estimate does), then reality arrives — the design takes three rounds, the content is late, a plugin misbehaves — and every surprise bills to you. No villains required; the structure does the work. Industry surveys have put the share of web projects exceeding their initial budget at well over half, and our anecdotal experience of quotes we've been shown in Spain matches: the final figure lands 30–80% above the first email more often than it lands on it.
The tell isn't the hourly rate — it's the answer to one question: "What exactly happens, and what exactly do I pay, if this takes longer than you think?" If the answer is fog, the fog is the business model.
What a real fixed price includes (in writing)
A fixed price is only as fixed as its scope definition. Ours, as a working example — the same logic should appear in any serious proposal:
- Deliverables by name: number of pages/sections, languages, features (booking flow, contact forms, menu, gallery — listed, not "etc.").
- Revision rounds counted: we include consolidated feedback on a scheduled review day; round four is a scope change, and it's said upfront.
- The technical floor, non-negotiable: mobile layout, loading speed within Google's thresholds, basic SEO, and code ownership — whose repo it is matters more than most line items.
- Timeline with a date, not a mood. Ours is 7 days for a landing.
- What's NOT included, explicitly: copywriting from scratch, e-commerce, logo design, content photography. An honest exclusions list is the best proof the inclusions list is real.
- Payment structure: we take 30–50% upfront, the rest when the site is live. You never pay 100% for a promise.
Our numbers are public — €290 landing, €490 campaign landing, business site from €890, €19/month optional maintenance (the pricing page) — same for everyone, no quote theater. The full market context, if you're comparing: what websites cost in Spain.
Red flags in proposals (collect the whole set)
- "Final price after a discovery call." For an online store — fair. For a landing page — a pricing strategy, not a necessity; landings are a well-defined product in 2026.
- A single number with no scope list. Fixed price + undefined scope = the flexibility lives in what you'll receive, not in what you'll pay.
- Unlimited revisions. Sounds generous; means the builder priced in your fatigue. Projects with unlimited revisions end when you give up, not when it's right.
- No exclusions section. If nothing is excluded, everything is negotiable later — in one direction.
- Maintenance bundled compulsorily. A fixed build price attached to a mandatory €80/month is an open quote wearing a disguise; run the 24-month total.
Where fixed pricing honestly doesn't fit
Symmetry demands it: some projects shouldn't be fixed-priced, and a builder who fixed-prices them is guessing at your expense. Genuinely exploratory work ("we'll know the design direction when we see options"), evolving products with shifting requirements, integrations with undocumented legacy systems — these are hourly or milestone territory, and honest agencies price them that way. Our fixed prices work because our scope is narrow on purpose: landings and small business sites, built on a tested system. If your project isn't that, an open engagement with a good agency is the right structure — just insist on the exclusions list and revision counts anyway; those travel well.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if I ask for something mid-project?
The question our whole model answers: if it's within the written scope, it's included; if it extends it, you get a price for the addition before work continues — never a surprise line on the final invoice. That boundary protects you more than it protects us.
Isn't a fixed price just an hourly estimate with padding?
A lazy fixed price is exactly that. A working one is built on repetition: when you've shipped the same well-defined product dozens of times, the risk premium shrinks toward zero and the efficiency is shared. That's also why our fixed prices sit below typical hourly outcomes, not above — the market ranges are in the cost article linked above.
You quoted me fixed, but my content is late. Whose problem is the delay?
Shared, honestly: the price stays fixed, the calendar shifts by your delay — a week of missing texts moves launch by a week, not the invoice. The dependency is written into the plan (day 1 is the content day), so nobody discovers it in week three.
The short version
Open quotes drift because uncertainty bills to you; a real fixed price moves that risk to the builder — but only if the scope, revisions, exclusions and payment structure are written down. Collect the red flags: price-after-call for a simple landing, no exclusions list, unlimited revisions, compulsory maintenance. Ours are public — €290, €490, from €890 — 30–50% upfront, rest at launch, one invoice, listed here — and if you have a proposal on the table right now, send it over on WhatsApp: we'll mark the soft spots for free, whoever you end up building with.