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What is Fixed-scope quote?
A fixed-scope quote is a single price for a written description of what will be built. It moves estimation risk from the buyer to the supplier, which is the correct direction — the supplier is the one who can estimate their own work.
Also called: fixed price · scope of work
Why it beats hourly for most projects
An hourly rate transfers all estimation risk to the client and rewards the supplier for working slowly. Neither is intended, and both follow from the structure rather than from anyone’s bad faith.
What makes it work
- A scope specific enough that both sides know what "finished" means
- Changes quoted before they are built, rather than absorbed silently or argued about later
- Staged payment tied to something the client can open in a browser
- A supplier willing to say when the scope is unclear rather than guessing at it
When hourly is genuinely better
Ongoing maintenance, exploratory work where the requirement is not yet known, and rescue work on an unfamiliar codebase. Quoting a fixed price for an unknown is either a gamble or a padded number.
Where this is covered in depth
A definition can only go so far. Writing a website brief that gets you comparable quotes covers this properly — 3 minutes, free, no email required.
Who wrote this
Anas Bin Masud builds e-commerce sites and does technical SEO for businesses in the UK, Canada and Pakistan. These definitions come from client work rather than from a content brief — where an entry describes a mistake, it is usually one found on a real site. More about how I work.