A few questions generally decide the matter. First: is this software central to how you make money, or internal plumbing? Second: how long will the work last — a quarter or a decade? Last: who answers the phone at two in the morning when it breaks?
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Process matters as much as team size. Ask how change requests are handled, who writes the acceptance criteria and how quality assurance works. A well-run team can walk you through a live build at the end of each sprint.
Watch for a mismatch between the engineers on the sales call and the developers actually assigned. Insist on named engineers in the agreement, with a provision about substitutions.
Finally, state what you want in the response. Request a breakdown by feature or module, the assumptions behind each number, the risks the team sees and a range rather than a single figure.
Finally, state what you want in the response. Request a breakdown by feature or module, the assumptions used, the risks the team sees and a range rather than a single figure.
Write down the hard constraints. The list covers systems you must integrate with, the data you already hold and its condition, security and compliance rules, traffic expectations, target platforms and infrastructure that is already decided.
Look out for any distance between the team in the pitch and the people who will code. Insist on the names and CVs of the actual team in the statement of work, with wording that requires notice before anyone is swapped.