Choosing the wrong web designer is an expensive mistake. You can end up with a site that looks nothing like what was promised, a project that drags on for six months, or a finished product you do not own and cannot update without paying extra fees every time. Most of these situations are avoidable if you ask the right questions before you sign anything.
Here are the seven questions worth asking every agency or freelancer you speak to.
Can I see recent work, live websites I can actually visit?
A portfolio on the agency's website is a starting point, but any decent designer can make screenshots look good. Ask for live URLs you can open in your browser. Check that the sites load quickly, look good on your phone and actually function properly. If a designer is reluctant to share live examples, that tells you something.
What exactly is included in the price?
Get this in writing before you commit. Does the quote include copywriting, or do you need to supply all the text? Are stock photos included, or will those be extra? How many pages? How many rounds of revisions? What about the domain name, hosting, SSL certificate? A price that looks competitive can quickly balloon once the extras start appearing. The clearer the scope, the fewer the surprises.
What is the timeline and what are the milestones?
Get a clear timeline with specific milestones: design approval by week two, development complete by week four, launch by week six, or whatever the schedule looks like. Vague answers like "it usually takes a few weeks" are a red flag. Projects without clear timelines have a habit of drifting indefinitely, and you often have no recourse when they do.
Who will actually be doing the work?
Some agencies sell projects and then outsource the actual build to cheaper contractors, sometimes overseas, sometimes without telling you. There is nothing inherently wrong with contractors, but you deserve to know who is touching your site. Ask directly. If you are hiring based on someone's portfolio and personal style, you want to know whether that person is the one actually building yours.
Who owns the site once it is built?
This matters more than most people realise. Some agencies build your site on proprietary platforms or keep the files on their own hosting, which means you are dependent on them indefinitely. You should own your domain, have access to your hosting account, and be given all the files at the end of the project. Ask specifically: if I wanted to move my site to a different agency tomorrow, could I take everything with me?
How does the revision process work?
Find out how many rounds of revisions are included, what counts as a revision versus a new piece of work, and what the process looks like in practice. Some designers are flexible and collaborative throughout. Others treat any change after sign-off as a billable extra. Neither approach is wrong, but you need to know which one you are signing up for before you start, not after you have handed over 50 percent of the fee.
What happens after launch?
A good designer does not disappear the moment your site goes live. Ask what post-launch support is included, how bugs or issues are handled, whether there is any training on how to update the site yourself, and what ongoing maintenance might look like. You should also ask whether the site will be built on something you can manage yourself, or whether you will need to call them every time you want to change a phone number.
One more thing: trust your instincts on communication. If it takes three days to get a reply to a simple enquiry during the sales process, it will take longer once the project is underway and your leverage is gone. How an agency communicates before you hire them is a reasonable preview of how they will communicate while building your site.
What we do differently at Wellington Web Co.
We build all sites in house, give you a fixed price upfront and transfer full ownership at launch. Our contracts specify milestones, revisions and what is included, no vague scoping, no hidden extras. You can see live examples of our work on our projects page, and if you want a sense of what your site might cost before you even speak to us, our project estimator gives you a real number in under two minutes.
If you have questions, get in touch. We are always happy to answer them directly.