How Do Price Quotes Work for Manual WCAG 2.1 AA Audits?

My name is Kris Rivenburgh.  I’m an attorney and the author of The ADA Book.  I’m also the founder of Accessible.org.

So that I can efficiently provide a transcript and closed captions, I will read from the transcript itself.

When it comes to manual audits, Accessible.org’s approach is as follows:

First, our audits use the present version of WCAG, WCAG 2.1 AA, as the standard.  Furthermore, our audits include both desktop and mobile environments which makes for a much more robust and helpful report because you can be confident that you’re aware of issues not only on desktop but also on tablets and cell phones.

Second, we have a range of prices most website owners can expect to pay already listed on the services page.  This is so you have a rough idea of what to expect.  If your website is smaller and simpler, you can expect to pay on the lower end.  And if you’re website is larger and more complex, you can expect to pay on the higher end.

The other major factor is the number of accessibility issues.  The more issues you have, the more time it will take to go through them and thus the higher the cost to audit.

So, when it comes to price, the determination is based primarily on three things:

  • Number of pages and/or screens
  • Complexity (i.e., are there a multitude of interactive components?) and
  • State of accessibility

Third, if you request a quote, we will review your website and provide you with an estimate.  This estimate is almost always going to be within 15% of the final quote, should you want one.

We will have a quick turnaround on this estimate.  We’ll quickly review your website’s primary pages and have a good feel for where the price will land.

We do this so that you can have a good approximation of the cost and use that to make a decision.  If the audit doesn’t fit within your budget, there is no sense in delaying the quote process to provide you a more exact number that still isn’t within your budget.

If after receiving the estimate, you decide you would like to proceed within an audit, we require a small deposit to fully scope the website, determine the pages and/or screens that should be audited, and detail the work to be completed.

So long as you continue with the audit, there is no extra cost as the deposit will be applied to your balance.

If you decide against the audit, we keep the deposit.

Because even scoping for audits and drafting the subsequent statement can take an hour or more, I had to institute this policy because I’ve had a number of organizations say that they were ready to move forward, but then ultimately back out or never even respond.

And that is how quotes for manual WCAG audits work at Accessible.org.

If you would like help with an audit or remediation, you can find out more about accessibility services at Accessible.org.

Furthermore, I highly recommend you read The ADA Book.  The ADA Book is quick and to the point and helps everyone understand the legal landscape and the different elements in play when making a website or other asset accessible.

Links to both resources and my contact information are provided below.