What Should You Check Before Hiring a Web Design Company?

Before hiring a web design company, check eight things and get the answers in writing: what you will receive, what it will cost in total (including ongoing and third-party bills), who will own the domain, code, content, and accounts, how changes are handled, whether the portfolio and reviews are genuine, how they approach quality, accessibility, and security, what maintenance is included and whether it is optional, and what happens if you part ways. A good provider will answer all of these plainly before you commit.

This checklist works with any provider, including Wild Logic.

The short checklist

Scope and deliverables

Ask for a written scope that lists the pages, features (forms, booking, payments), who writes and supplies content and photos, how many revision rounds are included, and what "done" means. Scope is what every later conversation about price and timing depends on, so vague scope is a common source of disputes.

Pricing you can follow

A useful quote separates three kinds of cost: the one-time build, any recurring service from the provider, and third-party bills such as domain registration, hosting, email, and paid plugins. Ask which items are fixed, which are estimates, and exactly what would change the price. If part of the work is not yet defined, it should be labeled as such rather than folded into a number that will change later.

Ownership: domain, code, content, accounts, analytics

This is the section to slow down on.

Domain. The domain should be registered to your business, in a registrar account you can sign in to. ICANN's statement of registrant responsibilities says the registrant "will assume sole responsibility for the registration and use of your domain name" and must keep account information current (ICANN). If someone else is the registrant, you do not control the name your customers use to find you.

Design, code, and content. Paying for work does not automatically transfer copyright. The U.S. Copyright Office explains that work commissioned from an independent contractor counts as a "work made for hire" only in specific categories and only with a written agreement signed by both parties (U.S. Copyright Office, Circular 30). The practical takeaway: make sure the contract says who owns the finished site and deliverables, and when ownership transfers. Ask about anything that cannot transfer, such as licensed fonts, stock photos, themes, or platform subscriptions. For significant contracts, have an attorney review the ownership terms.

Accounts and analytics. Ask for your own administrator login (not a shared password) to hosting, the content management system, analytics, and Google Search Console. In Google Analytics, only users with the Administrator role can add or remove users (Google Analytics Help). In Search Console, owners have full control, and every property needs at least one verified owner (Search Console Help). Your business should hold those roles.

Wild Logic's website ownership checklist walks through each account and what to verify, whichever provider you choose.

Contracts and change requests

Before signing, confirm the contract covers scope, price and payment schedule, what counts as a change, how changes are priced and approved, timeline and what can delay it, ownership and transfer terms, and what happens if the project is cancelled partway through. Ask to see an example change order. A clear one shows the original total, the adjustment, the new total, and any effect on the timeline, and nothing starts until you approve it in writing.

Verify the portfolio

Open the live sites, not just screenshots. Check that they load, work on your phone, and that the contact forms appear to function. Ask which parts the company did (design, development, content, or all three) and whether the work was done by the current team. It is reasonable for a portfolio to include earlier work by the founder, as long as it says so. Wild Logic's work page notes that its collection "includes earlier work by Wild Logic's founder, alongside Wild Logic projects." If a portfolio claims results (traffic, leads), ask how they were measured.

Reviews and references

Reviews help, but they are one signal. The FTC recommends looking at a variety of sources, watching for bursts of reviews in a short period, and checking a reviewer's other reviews, and it warns that you cannot always tell a fake review from a real one (FTC Consumer Advice). Ask for one or two past clients you can contact, and ask them about communication, deadlines, and handoff, not just the design.

Accessibility and quality practices

Ask which accessibility standard they build toward (WCAG 2.2 is the current W3C version, per W3C) and how they test. The W3C recommends evaluating accessibility early and throughout development and says "no tool alone can determine if a site meets accessibility standards" (W3C WAI). Be cautious of anyone who guarantees legal compliance or relies only on an automated score. Also ask how they test forms, mobile layouts, and page speed before launch.

Security and access

Ask how the company handles passwords and account access. Good answers include individual accounts rather than shared logins, a password manager, and multi-factor authentication. CISA recommends long, random, unique passwords stored in a password manager (CISA) and notes that people who enable MFA are significantly less likely to get hacked (CISA). The FTC advises small businesses to put vendor security expectations in writing and to consider how vendors use, keep, and delete data (FTC).

If the company will also handle search optimization, Google advises granting only read access to Search Console for an audit and warns that "no one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google" (Google Search Central).

Maintenance: what's included, and is it optional?

Ask what happens after launch: who applies updates, who checks backups, who fixes broken forms, and how requests are handled. Then ask whether maintenance is required to keep the site. You should know whether ending a maintenance plan affects your ownership or access, and what continues to bill separately (hosting, domain, email).

Communication

Ask who your main contact is, how you will communicate, how quickly they typically respond (and whether that is a target or a commitment), and whether decisions will be written down. Google's own list of interview questions for SEO providers includes asking whether they will share all the changes they make and explain their reasoning (Google Search Central). The same expectation is fair for a web designer.

Exit and transfer

Ask now, while everyone is friendly: if we stop working together, what do I receive, how, and how quickly? A clear answer lists account access, files or code, content, and documentation, and names anything that cannot transfer. Ask whether there are any fees to move the site and what happens if the company closes.

Red flags

• Pressure to sign quickly or "limited-time" pricing.
• The domain or hosting will be registered in the provider's name "for convenience."
• Ranking or traffic guarantees.
• No written scope or change process.
• Maintenance required to keep your site or your logins.
• Reluctance to give you administrator access.
• A portfolio of screenshots only, with no live links.

Questions to send before you sign

• Can you send a written scope with pages, features, content responsibilities, and revision rounds?
• Which costs are one-time, which are recurring, and which are billed by third parties?
• What would change the price?
• Will the domain and hosting be in my business's name and account?
• Who owns the design, code, and content when the project is paid, and what cannot transfer?
• Will I have my own administrator access to hosting, the CMS, analytics, and Search Console?
• How are change requests priced and approved?
• Which portfolio projects did your current team build, and which parts?
• Can I speak with a past client?
• What accessibility standard do you build to, and how do you test?
• How do you store and share passwords?
• What maintenance is included, and is it optional?
• What happens if the project is cancelled midway?
• If we part ways, what do I receive and how?

A low-pressure next step

Send these questions to every company you are considering and compare the answers side by side. If you want to see how one provider answers them publicly, Wild Logic publishes its answers on what you pay, what you own, what changes, and what happens after launch. You can also read who runs Wild Logic. If you would rather talk it through, you can book a call.