Saving A Buck Or Two
The one quickest way to save right off the bat is to have a plan when we meet. If you have a fairly good idea what you want before we talk it may save a false start or two. One client brought a typewriter page workup to me: one page for each page that he envisioned for the site. On each page he had written down what he thought should be included on that particular page. On some pages he had sketched some representative drawings, on others he had taped picture samples that he wanted to use. This helped me immensely--it gave me an idea of how he saw it before I even started.
If you do something of that nature there is no reason to get real technical unless you want to give me everything at once and avoid having to see me until it's done. But that rarely happens anyway; what I need is information to build a common theme for all the pages on your site. The details can be filled in once a skeleton is in place.
A business card may be handy if you already have one--you may have a logo on it that you'd like to convert for web use. I can also sample any included color scheme to work some color into a mockup. Of course any pictures that you know you want to use, as well as copy, will come in very handy. Don't worry if you don't have all of this information yet though. I will work with you to see that, in the end, you have the page that you need.
Of course I'm available to sweat all the details also. From A-to-Z if need be. But this little discussion was about saving you some money. See, we're already halfway home...