Hiring someone to build a website is awkward because you’re buying something you can’t fully judge. You can’t read the code, so a fair quote and a padded one look much the same. The bad outcomes are familiar: a site you can’t edit without paying, a domain registered in the agency’s name, a quiet agency after launch, or a final bill bigger than the quote.
Most of that can be caught before you sign. You don’t need technical knowledge, just the right questions and a habit of getting the answers in writing.
Look at live work, then ask about it
Ask for links to live sites, not just screenshots. Open them on your phone. Do they load quickly, read clearly and work properly? Try a form or two.
Then ask about one or two of them. What was the brief, what did the agency do, what did the client need to supply? If you can, talk to a past client. An agency that’s done good work is usually happy to put you in touch. One that only talks about how the sites look, and never about what they were meant to achieve, is telling you something about its priorities.
Questions worth asking, and what a good answer sounds like
“Who owns the domain, hosting account, design and code when we’re done?” Good: you do, and the domain is registered in your name from day one. Worrying: “we take care of all that” with no specifics, or a site that can only run on the agency’s own system.
“How will we update it ourselves?” Good: a clear answer about which parts you can edit, with what tool, and a short handover or guide. Worrying: every text change goes through them, at a price they haven’t mentioned.
“What happens after launch?” Good: a defined period for fixing bugs, then a clear option for ongoing maintenance at a stated price, or a clean handover if you’d rather manage it. Worrying: nothing defined, or a long contract you have to sign before you’ve seen the site.
“What will it cost to run each year?” Good: a list covering domain, hosting or platform fees, paid plugins or apps, and maintenance. Worrying: they’ve only quoted the build.
“How do you decide what to build?” Good: they ask about your customers, how people find you, what the site has to achieve and what you already use. Worrying: they jump to features and design trends before asking anything about your business.
“If I sell online, how do you handle accessibility?” Good: a concrete answer about how they build and test for it. The European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882) has applied since 28 June 2025 to e-commerce services offered to consumers in the EU. There are some transitional rules, and microenterprises providing services are exempt: under the Directive, that means fewer than 10 staff and no more than €2 million in annual turnover or balance sheet. Even if you’re exempt, the question is worth asking: it decides whether customers with a disability can use your site at all.
How they answer matters as much as what they say. Plain, direct answers are a good sign. Jargon, vagueness and “don’t worry about that” are not.
Get these in writing
Before any money changes hands, the agreement or proposal should state:
- What’s included: pages, features, integrations, content, languages.
- How many rounds of design changes, and the price of extras.
- A dated plan, including what you need to supply and when.
- Ownership: domain in your name, admin access for you, and who holds the licences for paid themes, plugins and fonts.
- What support looks like after launch, for how long, and what it costs after that.
- Payment stages tied to delivered work, not just dates.
If an agency resists putting this in writing, that’s your answer.
Red flags in a quote
- One line, one price. “Website: €X” tells you nothing about what you’re getting.
- No mention of content. Somebody has to write the words and supply the photos. If the quote doesn’t say who, assume it’s you.
- A price far below the others. The difference usually comes back later as a template you can’t change, add-on charges, or a project that stalls. Ask what’s different about their approach.
- A platform chosen before your goals were discussed. Choosing a platform explains why this matters.
The most expensive quote isn’t automatically the safest either. What you want is a clear, itemised scope matched to what the site has to do. What a website actually costs has a side-by-side checklist for comparing quotes.
How the early conversations feel
Do they listen, or pitch? Do they tell you when something you’ve asked for isn’t worth the money? Do they explain trade-offs in plain language? You’ll be working with these people through design, revisions and launch, so how they communicate before you’ve paid is a fair preview of how they’ll communicate after.
If you’d like to put these questions to us, tell us what you’re planning. Our web service page explains how we scope, build and hand over.