Every week owners come to us saying I paid for a site, the builder vanished, I do not even have access. The most expensive website is the one built twice. Ask these 7 questions BEFORE paying — including to us.
The seven questions
- 1. Can I see 3 live sites you built? — not screenshots, live addresses. Open them on a phone.
- 2. Who owns the site after payment? — code, design, domain, hosting access: all must be YOURS, with credentials handed over.
- 3. What exactly does the price include? — a written spec: pages, features, content entry, revisions.
- 4. What is the deadline — in writing? — with phases: design, build, test, launch.
- 5. What happens AFTER launch? — a bug guarantee, maintenance terms, the price of extra changes.
- 6. Where will it be hosted and who has access? — a site on someone else's hosting without your access is a hostage.
- 7. How do we communicate during the project? — one contact, regular reviews; two weeks of silence is an alarm.
Red flags
A price without a spec · everything will be great with no contract · no live portfolio · asks for 100% upfront · promises first place on Google in a week.
And one honest note
The cheapest offer is usually the most expensive — something must be cut: testing, design, or the support you will need later.