How to choose a videographer
Price is the easiest thing to compare and usually the least useful one. These five matter more.
Some quotes cover filming only, with the footage sent to an editor who was not on set. That is a normal way to work, but it means someone is making creative decisions about a moment they did not see happen. Worth asking outright.
“A highlights video” is not a spec. “A two-minute recap plus three thirty-second vertical cuts” is. If a quote does not say lengths and formats, ask before comparing it to one that does.
Overtime should be a stated rate, not a conversation that happens at eleven at night when a shoot has run long.
Counterintuitive in New Zealand: by default it is you, but almost every contract changes that in writing. Full explanation here. Worth knowing before you sign, not after you need the raw file.
Most venues and corporate sites require a public liability certificate before anyone is allowed on the floor. A supplier who can produce one the same day you ask is a small but real signal about how they run their business.
The question underneath all of them
Not “is this the cheapest option”, but “do I know exactly what I am getting, and does the person quoting seem to know exactly what they are doing.” The second one is harder to fake than the first.
More on the different types of video production business, and which one your job actually needs.