A logo is a small deliverable with an enormous price range, and the gap is almost never about how long the mark took to draw. It is about the research behind it, the system around it, the rights you receive and whether anyone checked that you can safely use it. Those four explain most of the difference between two quotes.
A logo is not an identity
An identity is the mark plus typography, colour, layout rules, photography direction, application to the things your business actually produces, and guidelines someone else can follow. A logo alone leaves every subsequent decision to whoever is making the next document, which is how a brand becomes inconsistent within a year.
Research is what the money buys
Understanding the category, what competitors look like, where the brand should sit and what it must work on, from a phone screen to signage. A mark developed without that can be attractive and indistinguishable from three competitors, which is the specific failure that makes a cheap logo expensive later.
Check the trademark before you commit
A clearance search before adoption is the step buyers skip most often and regret most expensively, because rebranding after a conflict costs far more than the design did. Registration is a separate legal process. Ask whether the designer arranges clearance or whether that is yours to organise, and do it before anything is printed.
Ownership and files
Agree that copyright in the final mark transfers to you on payment, and that you receive source files in editable formats plus every variant you will need. Licensing rather than assignment is common at the cheap end and limits what you may do later, including registering the mark.
Questions people ask about logo design agencies
Why are some logos so cheap?
Because they are drawn without research, often from a library of forms, licensed rather than assigned, and delivered without a system or clearance. That is a legitimate product at that price and it is not the same purchase.
Do I need a full identity system?
If more than one person will produce material, yes, or consistency will not survive. A small business can use a minimal system covering type, colour and a few layouts.
Should the designer do the trademark search?
Many will arrange a preliminary search and clearance is ultimately a legal question. What matters is that it happens before adoption rather than after launch.
How long should a logo project take?
Weeks rather than days for anything involving research and revisions. Rushed identity projects tend to be resolved by the client picking a favourite rather than by an argued recommendation.