You agree on a ten-page website, then discover halfway through the project that copywriting is excluded or that an enquiry form counts as an extra feature. Each side may have had a different project in mind.
Before hiring a web design company, ask who supplies the content, how reviews work, what counts as a change, and what you will receive at handover. These questions turn a general promise into work you can follow and test.
1. What exactly does the quote include?
“A complete, mobile-friendly website” leaves a lot unanswered. Ask for the pages, languages, forms, features, and third-party integrations to be listed, along with anything excluded from the proposal.
For example, a supplier’s website that displays products is different from one that lets visitors select several products and submit a single quote request. Describe what the visitor needs to do, rather than just naming a page.
Also ask whether the design is custom or theme-based, and what you can change later. Our guide to custom design versus a ready-made theme explains how that choice affects scope. To compare the financial details, use the company website cost and quote comparison guide.
2. Who handles copy, images, and translation?
Writing content and entering it are separate tasks. A design company may expect to format the text and images you supply, while you expect it to write your company profile and services from scratch. Settle that responsibility before design begins.
- Copy: Who gathers the information, writes the draft, and checks its accuracy?
- Images: Who supplies approved product and project photographs? Are image purchases or photography included?
- Languages: Who translates the second language and approves terminology and product names?
- Content entry: How many pages or products will the team enter, and what will you add later?
If you run a construction company, the team can build your project pages, but it still needs approved project names, descriptions, and photographs. List the required material, its owner, and its delivery date so finished layouts do not sit waiting for content.
3. When do I review the design, and what can I change?
Ask how each stage is presented and approved. Does the process start with the homepage? When will you see the inner pages? How many feedback rounds are included? Define a round as a consolidated set of comments on a particular stage, and agree on who submits and approves it.
Illustrative example: Changing section order or colors during the agreed design review may fit within that round. Adding an appointment-booking system after approving an informational website is a new feature that needs its own estimate.
Clarify the difference between correcting a failure to meet approved requirements, making a change within a review round, and expanding project scope. Before approving an addition, understand its cost and effect on the schedule.
4. How is the schedule set, and what happens if work is delayed?
Ask for reviewable milestones such as structure approval, content preparation, interface design, development, testing, and launch. Find out when the delivery clock starts: on the initial payment, or after the required content and access have been supplied?
Set aside time for your reviews at each stage. Agree on how late content, late approvals, or delivery delays will affect the schedule. Record the impact and revised delivery date so both sides know what happens next.
5. How will I know the website is ready to accept?
Agree on a test checklist tied to the required functions. For a quote-request form, submit test data, confirm it reaches the right inbox, check the visitor’s confirmation message, and verify that the submission is saved if storage is part of the agreed scope.
- Open the pages, menus, and links on mobile and desktop.
- Review text, images, languages, and Arabic RTL and English LTR layouts.
- Try editing a text block and an image using the admin permissions your team will have.
- Test external integrations, such as a CRM connection, against agreed success and failure scenarios.
Keep acceptance feedback in one list. Identify what blocks launch and what both sides agree can be handled later. “Development is finished” does not, by itself, describe the results of these tests.
6. Who controls the accounts, and which files will I receive?
Ask whose name is on the domain registration, who controls the hosting account, and who holds administrator access. Your company should ideally control its core accounts and grant the delivery team the access it needs.
Request a written handover list covering the items that apply to your project: website files and database, the theme or custom code, admin access, included design files, and agreed backups and documentation. Define when each item is delivered and any conditions in the agreement.
Separate ownership of custom work from licenses for themes, plugins, fonts, and external services. Some licenses may be tied to the provider’s subscription. Ask which can be transferred, which require your own subscription, and how you can move the website to another provider if needed.
7. Does handover include training?
An admin area is only useful if your team knows how to use it. List the jobs they need to do: update a service, add a project, change an image, follow up form submissions, or manage users within their permissions.
Ask whether training is a live session, a recording, or a short guide, who can attend, and what it covers. For a custom feature, request a walkthrough of its steps and the situations where your team should contact support.
8. What does post-launch support cover?
Ask how long support lasts, when it starts, where to report issues, the working hours, and expected response times. Acknowledging an issue and resolving it are different steps; clarify both.
Fixing a problem in an agreed feature is different from adding a feature or writing new content. Handover assistance also differs from ongoing maintenance and development, which may include updates, backups, and security or performance reviews according to its scope. Ask for examples of what each service includes.
9. What renews, and how do I request future work?
Request a list of domain, hosting, plugin, email, and external-service subscriptions, with their terms and who pays for and tracks renewals. If the initial quote includes year one, ask about renewal charges and the option to move the service later.
Share near-term plans such as another language, a new branch, or a customer portal. You do not need to build them all now, but ask whether the proposed structure can support them and what information a future estimate would require. Keep launch requirements separate from later development.
10. Who manages the project, and how do payments relate to milestones?
Identify your project contact and the channel used to record feedback and approvals. Appoint someone on your side to gather the team’s comments and communicate a clear decision, particularly when working remotely.
Ask for each payment to be tied to a defined stage or deliverable in the agreement. Confirm the currency, applicable fees or taxes, and how completed work is approved. Establish a written change-request process that records the work, estimated cost, and schedule before it is carried out.
Final checklist before you agree
Read the proposal or agreement and check that it answers the points below. Anything unclear needs a written question and answer:
- Pages, languages, features, and exclusions.
- Responsibility for copy, images, translation, and data entry.
- Review stages, included rounds, and approval process.
- Schedule, start conditions, and how delays are handled.
- Acceptance tests and launch procedure.
- Account control, files, licenses, and handover conditions.
- Training, support, maintenance, and renewals.
- Payment milestones and pricing for changes to scope.
Before your website project begins
Written answers give you a reference for reviewing progress and understanding what you need to provide and what you will receive. Even on a small project, resolving these details early makes decisions during delivery easier.
Review our website design and development service scope, then send your requirements to the iKetch team to discuss pages, features, content, and handover before development starts.
