9 Questions to Ask a Web Developer Before You Pay a Deposit

Most web projects that go badly were diagnosable in the first meeting. The information was there, nobody asked for it, and the trouble arrived in month three.

These nine take about twenty minutes. What matters is not just the question, it is what a good and a bad answer sound like, so here is both.

1. "What happens if I leave?"

Ask this first, before pricing, before anything. It is the fastest read on how a company operates.

Good: an immediate, specific answer. You own the files, the domain is yours, we export everything, here is the notice period.

Bad: discomfort, a change of subject, or an explanation of why parts of it are not possible. That answer may be honest and it may even be fine, but you need it now rather than in year four: who owns your website.

2. "Who writes the words?"

The most common cause of stalled projects, and it is almost never discussed up front.

Good: a clear division. We write it, or you write it and here is the deadline and what happens if it slips.

Bad: "we'll work that out." You will discover in week five that they were waiting on you while you were waiting on them.

3. "What exactly does the monthly cover?"

Good: an itemized list. Hosting, domain, email, updates, security, backups, and a stated allowance for content changes.

Bad: a single number with the word maintenance next to it. Ask what a text change in month seven costs and how fast it happens.

4. "How many rounds of revisions, and then what?"

Good: a specific number and an hourly rate afterward. That is a company that has run projects before.

Bad: "unlimited." It is either priced in already or it becomes an uncomfortable conversation in week six. Neither is a gift.

5. "What happens after launch?"

Good: a described handover. Training, documentation, a support channel, a named person, a response time.

Bad: silence, or the implication that launch is the end. Launch is the middle.

6. "Whose name is on the accounts?"

Domain, hosting, analytics, search console, business profile.

Good: yours, and they will show you.

Bad: ours, for convenience. Convenience for whom is the question worth asking out loud.

7. "How long, and what makes it take longer?"

The second half matters more than the first.

Good: a range plus honest dependencies. A stated window, longer if content is late or if approvals take more than a few days each round.

Bad: a confident single number with no conditions. Every project has dependencies, and a vendor who does not name them has not run enough of them.

8. "What will this site not do?"

The most revealing question on the list, and almost nobody asks it.

Good: a real list. It will not handle inventory, it will not integrate with your dispatch software without extra work, it will not rank for your city term in three months.

Bad: "whatever you need." That is not scope, that is a sales line, and undefined scope is where change orders live.

9. "Can I see a site you built two years ago?"

Anyone can show new work. Two-year-old work shows whether their sites age, whether clients stay, and whether the thing still functions.

Good: two or three, happily, with permission to call the owners.

Bad: only recent work. Ask directly why.

Three answers that should end the conversation

A guarantee of the top spot on Google. Nobody controls that. Somebody promising it is either inexperienced or counting on you not knowing.

A single-line quote with no deliverables. "Website design and development, $8,500" is a number, not a quote: what a custom website actually costs.

Refusal to put ownership in writing. Not a disagreement about terms, a refusal to write them down.

The one to ask yourself

After all nine, one more, and it is about you.

Can I describe what I want this site to do, in one sentence, without using the word professional?

Book more appointments. Stop answering the same four questions on the phone. Sell twelve products online. Get found by people in the next town.

If you cannot answer that, no vendor can build the right thing, and the best of them will say so before taking your deposit.

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We answer all nine before anyone pays us anything, and we will tell you when a builder would serve you better: when a website builder stops being enough.

Bring us the quote you are considering and we will tell you what is fair and what is padding, or see website design.