Decide three things before you call anyone
Before talking to a developer, answer three questions: why do you need the site, who will visit it, and what will you count as success? A shop in Tashkent might need a site so customers coming from Instagram can place an order without a long chat in direct messages. A dental clinic might need booking requests to land straight in the receptionist’s Telegram. Those are very different projects, and without clear answers the conversation drifts into button colours.
Pick a metric early: number of enquiries, cost per enquiry, share of orders from phones. Share a budget range too. It helps the contractor propose a fitting solution, since some businesses need a one-page site and others need a catalogue with integrations. Tashkent has freelancers, small teams and full-service agencies. The real difference is usually not price but whether the provider will put terms in writing and report with facts.
What the brief should include
A technical brief does not need to be a huge document. If you do not have one, you can build it together with the contractor in a discovery call, but both sides should sign off before work starts. The working minimum:
- the site’s goal and the main action a visitor should take: enquiry, call, order;
- a list of pages and the blocks on each key page;
- language versions: Uzbek, Russian and, if needed, English;
- forms and where requests go: Telegram, email, CRM;
- integrations: Click, Payme, stock, accounting;
- who prepares texts, photos and the logo.
What drives the cost of a website
A sensible estimate is split into blocks: structure and prototype, design, front-end and back-end development, content, integrations, testing and launch. When those lines are visible, the “why is it so expensive” question mostly answers itself, because you can see what you pay for and what you could drop.
The costly surprises are the things nobody discussed up front: a second language version, a catalogue with filters, a CRM link, online payment through Click or Payme. The cheapest projects start with ready materials. If your logo, texts and photos already exist in good quality, a whole block disappears from the estimate. A single line reading “turnkey website” with no breakdown usually means the scope has not been calculated and will be clarified along the way, at your expense.
Contract clauses worth reading twice
The most common source of disputes is a vague phrase like “website development” with no appendix describing the scope. Your contract and its appendices should cover:
- the list of work, linked to the agreed brief;
- stages with delivery dates;
- payment terms: currency (sum or dollars), an advance and the remainder by stage;
- the number of revision rounds at each stage;
- transfer of rights to the design and code;
- the domain and hosting registered to your company, with admin access in your hands;
- who fixes errors after launch, and on what terms.
How to vet a contractor before paying
Do not rely on portfolio screenshots. Open live links: does the site work today, how does it look on a phone, do the forms actually send? Ask what the contractor personally did on each project and how the site performs now. Polished case studies sometimes exist only in a slide deck.
Ask who exactly will run your project and how communication works. An answer like “a manager will message you on Telegram,” with no names and no schedule, often means the task will be passed down a chain. Then ask the uncomfortable question: how does handover work, which documents get signed, who is responsible for errors after launch? The answer shows how the team behaves when things are difficult, not when they go well.
Accepting the work and life after launch
Acceptance is not “do I like it or not”; it is a checklist. Every page from the brief is there, forms reach the right email and Telegram chat, both language versions are complete. Test speed and layout on inexpensive Android phones, because many of your customers use exactly those. Before signing the acceptance act, make sure analytics is installed. Without it you will not know whether the site brings enquiries.
The work does not end at launch. Domains need renewing, content needs updating, backups need to run, and a broken form needs fixing. Agree in advance who handles this and on what terms. If you plan to manage the site yourself, ask for a short admin training and a screen recording.
Warning signs and where to start
Three signs an order is heading the wrong way: a promise of search rankings or an exact number of enquiries before launch, an estimate without a breakdown, and reluctance to fix stage deadlines. Nobody can guarantee results before testing and real statistics.
At markdev we start with a brief covering the goal, audience, competitors and timing. Then we prepare a structure and an itemised estimate, sign a contract with stages, and take the project from prototype to launch and analytics setup. If you would like to talk through your own project, leave a request and we will go through it together.
FAQ
Can I order a website without a ready technical brief?
Yes. The brief is usually written together in a discovery session: you describe your business, customers and competitors, and the contractor turns that into a page structure and a work list. Just approve the document before work begins.
How many revisions should be included?
The exact number depends on the contract. What matters is that it is written down for every stage: prototype, design, development. Sending changes as one list rather than one by one keeps the project from dragging on.
Should I pay in sums or dollars?
Either works if the currency and payment schedule are in the contract. A typical scheme is an advance plus payments by stage. Full prepayment with no interim handovers is a reason for caution.
Who should own the domain?
Your company. Hosting and admin access should also be yours, otherwise you depend on the contractor whenever you want to change providers.
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