Systems scoping

Seven questions, then a real answer.

No name, no email, no company until the end. Answer the questions and you get the recommendation, the complexity, the implementation approach and a price range, whether or not you ever tell us who you are.

This is the scoping tool for the systems side of the business: a bespoke application or client portal, a CRM, an automation, an integration or an AI receptionist. It is not the general contact form. If you already know what you want, or you just want to send us an email and get a human reply, use the contact page instead.

The enquiry architect is a guided scoping tool on werehousemedia.com that asks a business roughly seven questions about how it operates (sector, size, where the time goes, where its data actually lives, missed call volume where relevant, timeline and budget) and then produces an indicative recommendation before asking for any contact details.

The recommendation names the likely shape of the solution (a single automation, a connected system across existing tools, an AI receptionist, document and quote automation, a bespoke build with its own data model, or a process audit first), states the project complexity, sets out how it would be implemented in stages, and gives an indicative price range drawn from the published price list: single automations £650 to £1,500, connected systems £1,950 to £4,500, bespoke builds £4,500 to £12,000, a managed AI receptionist from £999 setup plus £250 a month, and a systems audit that is normally £495 and free for a limited time.

The calculation runs entirely in the visitor's browser and nothing is sent until they choose to send it. It is an indication rather than a quote; a real price is fixed in writing after a conversation.

Question 1 of about 9

What kind of business is this?

So the examples that follow are about your world rather than somebody else’s.

Trades or field serviceEngineers, vans, jobs at addresses Clinic or practiceDental, veterinary, medical, aesthetic, therapy Professional firmSolicitors, accountants, surveyors, consultants Charity or membership bodySupporters, members, volunteers, funders Manufacturing or engineeringMaking, machining, fabricating, supplying Retail or e-commerceSelling products, online or in person Property or constructionDevelopers, agents, contractors Something else, or hard to categorisePerfectly common. It changes very little.

How many people are in it?

This decides more about the right answer than the sector does.

Just us 2 to 5 6 to 20 21 to 50 More than 50 It varies a lotSeasonal, or a lot of subcontractors

What is actually eating the week?

Choose as many as apply. If nothing here is quite right, the last option is a real answer rather than a polite one.

Answering the phoneCalls missed while everyone is busy Producing and chasing quotesWritten up late, then never followed up Onboarding new clientsThe same setup steps every single time Retyping between systemsThe same information keyed in twice or more Invoicing and chasing paymentThe conversation nobody wants to have Producing documents and contractsCopied from the last one and edited Knowing what is going onNumbers rebuilt by hand to answer a simple question Scheduling, rotas or bookingsA shared calendar doing a system’s job We are not sure yetSomething is wrong, but naming it is the problem

Where does your information actually live?

Not where it is supposed to live. This is the single biggest factor in what any of this costs.

One system, and everyone uses itThe expensive half of the problem, already solved Two or three systems that do not talkMuch the most common answer Spreadsheets and email, mostlyAlso very common, and fixable Paper, and in people’s headsHonest, and worth knowing before anything is quoted Genuinely no ideaWhich is itself a useful finding

Roughly how many calls go unanswered in a week?

A guess is fine. Your phone bill knows the real number, and it is worth checking before you spend anything.

Fewer than 5Below this the arithmetic usually does not work Between 5 and 15 Between 15 and 40 More than 40 No idea at all

Is there software you would want to keep?

Building around something that already works is usually cheaper than replacing it.

Yes, and it works wellThen the job is connecting to it, not replacing it Yes, but it is part of the problem Not reallyA clean start, which is simpler than it sounds We would want advice on that

When would you want this working?

As soon as possibleSomething is actively costing money Within about three months Sometime this year Just working out what is possibleA completely legitimate reason to be here

Roughly what have you got in mind?

The published prices are on this site already, so this is not a filter. It only changes what gets recommended first.

Under £1,000 £1,000 to £5,000 £5,000 to £15,000 More than £15,000 No idea, and that is partly why we are hereThe most honest answer, and very common

Where should the answer go?

This is the first time you have been asked for anything. It comes straight to us, it gets a reply within one working day, and there is no mailing list to be added to because there is no mailing list.

Your name Email

Company Mobile (optional)

Anything the questions missed? How did you find us? (optional)

Your answers reach one inbox and are used to write you a recommendation. No mailing list. How we handle what you send.

JavaScript is off, so this is showing as one long form rather than one question at a time, and the recommendation cannot be worked out in your browser. Fill in what applies and send it. It reaches exactly the same inbox and you will get the same answer back by email.

Why it works this way

Value first, contact details last.

Almost every automation and software firm in Britain puts a "book a discovery call" button where a price should be. The call exists to qualify you, and you leave it knowing roughly what you knew before, having given away your details to find out.

This does the opposite, on purpose. The questions are the ones that genuinely decide what a system costs, principally where your data actually lives, which is the single biggest factor and the one nobody asks about. The recommendation is computed in your browser from the published price list on this site, not generated by us after reading a lead form. If you close the tab at that point, you have still had the useful part.

What it is not

Not a quote. It is an indication with a range attached. A real price is fixed in writing after a conversation, and it can land outside the range in either direction once we have seen the actual mess.
Not a lead score. Nothing about your answers changes whether you get a reply or how quickly.
Not a sequence. One reply from a person, within one working day. No follow-up chain.
Not sent early. Nothing leaves your browser until you press send on the last step.

If you would rather just talk

Entirely reasonable, and often faster. Email us and describe one bad week. That gets to the same place. The contact page has a plain form if you prefer, and there is a WhatsApp number in the footer.

Where the numbers come from

Every figure this produces is on the site already: the automation page for the price ladder and why the audit comes first, bespoke software and CRM for builds with their own data model, and the AI receptionist page for the phone, including the honest arithmetic about when it is not worth it.

The alternatives

Who should you actually hire to build it?

Five routes a UK small business realistically chooses between. The figures for the other four are typical published UK rates rather than a strawman.

Five ways to get a small business website built in the UK, compared on cost, what is included, who it suits and the tradeoff
Route	Typical cost	What you actually get	Who it suits	The tradeoff
DIY site builder Wix, Squarespace	£150 to £600 a year	A template, an editor, hosting and SSL. You make every design decision and write every word.	Pre-revenue ideas, and anyone testing whether the demand is there before spending on a build.	Your own evenings, for weeks, and a layout plenty of other firms are running too.
Freelancer	£800 to £3,000 one-off	At £800, a template with your logo dropped in. At £3,000, somebody who plans before building.	Owners with a clear written brief who can judge design work and project-manage it themselves.	The widest quality range of any route, and the quote will not tell you which end you have bought.
Small studio This is Werehouse Media	From £995 for an entry build, £1,495 upwards multi-page	Strategy, copy written from an hour-long interview, bespoke web design rather than a template, SEO groundwork, launch. Same people throughout.	Owner-managed businesses that want enquiries from search and a fixed number in writing first.	A short book, so there is a queue. You may wait two or three weeks for a start date, and the team is small enough that illness can move it.
Mid-sized agency	£8,000 to £25,000	A designer, a developer, an account manager and a project manager, plus cover when one of them is off sick.	Companies with a marketing lead, several internal stakeholders and a formal sign-off process.	Part of the fee coordinates people you may not need. Two vans and a mobile number do not need that structure.
Large agency	£25,000 and up	Discovery phases, custom platforms, procurement, contractual response times, named support.	Organisations building a platform rather than a website, with legal and IT sign-off to satisfy.	Months before anything is live, and every change goes through a process instead of a person.

The long version, with what moves a quote →

Be honest with yourself

When this is not for you.

Five situations where we would rather lose the enquiry than take the money. If one of these is you, the right answer is somewhere else on this page or on somebody else's.

You want a multi-page site on a single-page budget

Under £1,495, the honest answer is a smaller site done properly at £995, not six pages done thinly. If you need all six live now, build it yourself on Squarespace for a year and come back when the site is earning enough to justify the build.

You want a large team on the account

You get a small studio. That is the point, and it is also the limit. If your project needs a project manager, a separate designer, a separate developer and a formal procurement trail, an agency is the right call and will not be a rip-off at the price they quote.

You need cover, not a small team

We take a handful of builds at a time. There is no support rota, no two-hour response, and sometimes a wait of a few weeks for a start date. An agency at £8,000 upwards sells you exactly that cover and is worth the money if you need it.

Your work already arrives by word of mouth

If the phone rings without Google doing any of the work, your next £500 does more in reviews, photographs and your Google Business Profile than in a rebuild. Come back when search is where the next customer has to come from.

You need a shop with hundreds of products or a customer login

Large catalogues, stock syncing with a system you already run, and portals where customers log in are a team's job. We will say no rather than learn on your budget.

Ask if you are a fit →

About the tool

The questions people ask first.

Do I have to give my details to get the recommendation?

No. The questions come first, the recommendation is shown next, and contact details are only requested after that. The calculation runs in your browser and nothing is sent until you press send on the final step, so closing the tab at the recommendation still leaves you with the useful part.

Is the price range a quote?

No. It is an indication assembled from the published price list on this site: single automations £650 to £1,500, connected systems £1,950 to £4,500, bespoke builds £4,500 to £12,000, a managed AI receptionist from £999 setup plus £250 a month, and a systems audit that is normally £495 and free for a limited time. A real price is fixed in writing after a conversation and can land outside the range in either direction.

Why does it ask where my data lives?

Because it is the single biggest factor in what automation costs, and almost nobody asks. The same brief is a morning’s work in a business that keeps everything in one system and several days in one holding the same information across an inbox, a spreadsheet and a notepad. Quoting before knowing which one you are means either overcharging the tidy business or asking the untidy one for more money halfway through.

What happens after I send it?

One reply from us, within one working day, saying whether the recommendation the tool produced is right and what it would actually cost. There is no sales sequence, no mailing list and no qualification call before a person reads it. If the honest answer is that nothing here is worth buying at your volume, that is what the reply says.