Home > Blog > How to Help Clients to Set Realistic Budgets, Timelines, and Expectations

How to Help Clients to Set Realistic Budgets, Timelines, and Expectations

Author: Tom Cottrill | Date Posted: Mar 25, 2021

It all comes down to the details. When it’s your job to help your clients set realistic budgets, timelines, and expectations for web development projects, it all comes down to the details. Extract every piece of information you can from your clients ahead of time so that when you work with the developers to create a project scope, there are no surprises that pop up. Web developers hate surprises. Trust us.

Work with your clients to set tangible goals for a website redesign project so that success can be measured every step of the way.

Budgeting for a Website Redesign Project

Creating a realistic budget for any project is difficult. It doesn’t matter if it’s something as simple as adding a lead form or something as complex as a web redesign, budgets are hard.

The best way to manage expectations with your clients is to do as much upfront work as possible. Ask questions that help you get a realistic idea of the scope and if you can expect any changes or side projects down the road.

1. Will it be a custom website/form/app or built from an existing theme?
2. What functions do you want the site to have? Focus on function, never features.
3. What are the must-haves vs. the nice-to-haves?
4. What type of software integration will be needed?
5. How much work will it be to integrate ADA standards?
6. How much training will be necessary once a project is completed?

The most important thing you need to establish when budgeting for a redesign project is how the site needs to function to meet its goals. This will help eliminate unnecessary changes, additions, or edits along the way.

Creating a Timeline for a Website Redesign Project

Why is creating the budget step one? Because if your clients are working with a small budget, you know there won’t be additional funds to make changes along the way. This speeds up the timeline and helps to eliminate a lot of back and forth.

Using the initial list of functionality requests, web developers can usually work backward to create a fairly reliable timeline. Again, the key is keeping your clients realistic in their requests.

Stakeholder meetings are a great way to assign individuals to elements on the project timeline. This not only holds the web developers accountable, but it holds your clients accountable as well. Any delays in the timeline can be easily attributed to a specific team member and rectified in a timely manner.

Setting Expectations with Your Clients During a Redesign

No two web development projects are the same and no matter what your clients think, no web development projects are simple. Ultimately, the more customization a project or redesign has, the longer and more expensive the project will be. And, the more involved your clients are in providing the web developers with the support they need, the faster the project will be finished.

Need a quote for a website redesign? Reach out to Ignitro Studios.for a customized project quote to help you sell your clients on a project.

About Ignitro Studios

Since 2013, Ignitro Studios has been working to blend marketing and technology in support of agencies and other marketers. By understanding both sides of web development, we have a unique perspective and advantage within the industry. We provide design, development, project management, QA, and strategy, driving the bus so our clients don’t have to. We will work with our clients to get results while also empowering them to do their job better. Learn more about Ignitro Studios.