Website projects can go wrong in the brief long before the build. The buyer did not know which questions to ask, and the supplier did not ask them either.
This checklist covers the questions to ask before you sign anything.
Key PointAsk who owns the site, the domain and the hosting before you ask about design.
Who will actually do the work?
The person you speak to at the sales stage may not build the site. Subcontracting is not a problem in itself, but you should know who is responsible.
- Who will be doing the work?
- Have they built similar sites?
- Can I see live examples I can open on my own phone?
Who will own the website?
- The platform or code. If the site is on a mainstream platform, you should have direct access to the account. If it sits on a supplier's own system, moving later may mean a rebuild.
- The domain. It should be registered in your name, not the supplier's.
- The hosting. You should have access, so the site does not depend on one relationship.
Watch OutIf the domain is registered in the supplier's name, your web address depends on that relationship.
What happens when something goes wrong?
- How quickly will the supplier respond to a reported problem?
- Is there a support contract, or is every fix charged separately?
- If the supplier closes, what happens to the site?
What is included in the price?
- Is copywriting included, or do you supply the text?
- Is photography included?
- Is it built from a template or a custom design?
- Does it include basic search set-up, such as titles, descriptions and a sitemap?
- How many rounds of revisions, and what happens after launch?
How will the site perform?
Ask how the site will score on Google's Core Web Vitals, whether it is fully responsive, and how it meets the WCAG accessibility guidelines.
If the site uses cookies for analytics or advertising, ask how it follows the ICO's guidance on cookies and similar technologies.
Pro TipOpen every portfolio example on your own phone. Screenshots are not evidence.
Owning your site versus renting it
Many of these questions come down to one: are you buying a website, or renting access to one? Both can be sensible, but they behave very differently the day you want to leave.
- If you own it, the content is yours in a format you can read, another developer can pick it up, and leaving means a migration.
- If you rent it, the content lives inside the supplier's platform, and leaving can mean a rebuild.
Answers that should give you pause
- "Don't worry about the technical side" in reply to who owns the domain.
- "It's all in the monthly fee", with no answer to what happens if the fee stops.
- A portfolio with no live links.
- No mention of support or response times.
What the handover should include
- access to every account: platform, domain, hosting and analytics;
- a short explanation of how to make basic changes;
- notes on anything non-standard in the build.
Our website building page explains how we work: if the arrangement ends, you keep the content, the pipeline and the ability to run it. Our guide to what breaks when systems don't talk covers connecting a site to the rest of your business, and our integration service does that work. Book a free call to talk it through.