The verdict in three sentences
When three agencies price the same business app between 18,000 and 95,000 EUR (about 27,000 to 140,000 CAD), they are not answering the same need: each has imagined its own scope. A requirements specification built in a discovery workshop (2,000 to 5,000 EUR) with MoSCoW-prioritised user stories and Figma mockups (about 3,000 EUR) brings the gap between quotes below 30 %. This 5,000 to 8,000 EUR budget prevents an average 20 to 40 % overrun during the project, far more than it costs.
Why quotes vary fivefold
A two-page brief saying "we want an app to manage our job sites" leaves every vendor guessing the roles, screens, business rules and connections to your existing tools. The cautious vendor prices everything, the aggressive one prices the minimum and recovers through change orders.
| Grey area in the brief | One vendor's low assumption | Another's high assumption | Typical gap (2026 estimate) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of user roles | 2 roles | 6 roles with fine-grained permissions | 6,000 to 12,000 EUR |
| Accounting connection | Manual CSV export | Real-time API to QuickBooks or Sage | 5,000 to 15,000 EUR |
| Mobile app | Responsive site | Offline PWA | 8,000 to 20,000 EUR |
| Legacy data migration | None | 10 years of spreadsheets to clean | 3,000 to 10,000 EUR |
| Dashboards | 1 statistics page | Configurable reporting with exports | 4,000 to 12,000 EUR |
| Hosting and security | Shared hosting | Canadian data residency, compliance hosting | 2,000 to 8,000 EUR |
Added up, these six grey areas easily explain a 50,000 to 70,000 EUR gap between two honest quotes.
What a useful specification contains
A good specification runs 15 to 30 pages. It describes what users must be able to do, without imposing the technology, and prioritises unambiguously.
| Section | Expected content | Writing effort |
|---|---|---|
| Context and goals | Current problem in numbers, success metrics | Half a day |
| Personas and roles | Who uses what, with which permissions | Half a day |
| MoSCoW user stories | "As a…, I want…, so that…", ranked Must, Should, Could, Won't | 2 days in workshop |
| Business rules | Calculations, validations, statuses, exceptions | 1 day |
| Figma mockups | 10 to 25 clickable key screens, about 3,000 EUR | 1 to 2 weeks |
| Integrations | Existing tools, exchange formats, volumes | Half a day |
| Non-functional requirements | Performance, privacy (Quebec Law 25), hosting, accessibility | Half a day |
| Acceptance milestones | Acceptance criteria per release | Half a day |
MoSCoW is the budget lever: by asking for separate pricing of the Musts and the Shoulds, you get a comparable baseline across vendors and a list of options you switch on according to budget.
Fixed price or time and materials: choosing the contract
| Criterion | Fixed price | Time and materials |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Set upfront, 15 to 25 % risk margin included | Day rate 450 to 700 EUR (about 650 to 1,050 CAD) |
| Prerequisite | Precise specification and validated mockups | Client-side product owner available |
| Mid-project changes | Priced change orders | Absorbed in the time budget |
| Main risk | Scope dispute | Budget drift |
| Best for | Well-scoped app from 20,000 to 80,000 EUR | Evolving product, exploratory MVP |
A hybrid works well for an SME: fixed price on the Musts with acceptance milestones, then capped time and materials for the Shoulds and later changes.
Mini case study
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Julien, managing director of a 35-person energy retrofit SME in Montreal, received three quotes for a job-site tracking app: 18,000, 52,000 and 95,000 EUR. He invests 4,000 EUR in a three-day discovery workshop and 3,000 EUR in Figma mockups. Result: 42 user stories, 24 of them Musts. New quotes on the Musts come in at 46,000, 51,000 and 58,000 EUR, a 26 % spread. He picks the 51,000 EUR fixed-price quote with 4 acceptance milestones. On his previous unscoped projects, overruns reached 30 %. Applied to 51,000 EUR, that 30 % meant 15,300 EUR: the 7,000 EUR of scoping pays for itself twice.
FAQ
How much does writing a requirements specification cost in 2026?
A facilitated discovery workshop costs 2,000 to 5,000 EUR, plus about 3,000 EUR for Figma mockups. Written alone in-house, it takes a manager 8 to 15 working days.
Should the specification impose a technology?
No, unless there is a real constraint (mandated hosting, compatibility with an existing tool). Let the vendor propose, and ask them to justify the choice and the annual maintenance cost, usually 15 to 20 % of the build.
What is the MoSCoW method?
It ranks every feature as Must, Should, Could or Won't (not this version). A well-scoped app puts 50 to 60 % of stories in Must.
How many vendors should we consult?
Three or four is enough. Beyond that, the analysis effort exceeds the benefit. Require line-by-line pricing on user stories so you can actually compare.
Which acceptance milestones should we plan?
Usually 3 to 5 releases, each validated against written acceptance criteria, with 20 to 30 % payment per milestone. Plan a 3-month bug-fix warranty after go-live.
Let's scope your project. Share your brief, even a rough one, and your budget range: we offer a 2,000 to 5,000 EUR discovery workshop and release-by-release pricing within 2 weeks. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
