Questions to ask a web developer before you hire one

This checklist is for business owners commissioning a website, including those choosing a web designer or an agency handling both design and development.

Start with the questions that change the decision

You don't need to turn the first call into an interrogation. Start here, then use the relevant sections below:

• What would you recommend for our business, and what led you to that recommendation?
• What does the quoted price take us through to, and what will we need to arrange separately?
• Who will design, build and write the website, and who is responsible for the whole project?
• What will we own, control and be able to change after launch?
• What happens if something breaks, we need more work or we want to move to another provider?

Bring your current website, the main reason you're changing it and any deadline or budget constraint. Explain how customers find you now and what you want visitors to do. Useful examples include recurring customer questions or enquiries you'd like more of. You don't need to arrive with a technical solution.

Where this checklist comes from

This checklist draws on SOL STUDIOS' client-question records and our July–August 2026 mystery-shopping study of web agencies. Price, technical requirements and trust were the largest buying-stage categories in our client records. The questions follow those concerns into the commitments: what gets built, what the client supplies and what happens afterwards.

The agency study compared questions, recommendations and written proposals before signing. It did not test the quality of websites later delivered.

1. What would you recommend, and why?

Ask:

• What do you think our current website is failing to do?
• Who would you build the new site for, and what should those visitors be able to do?
• Why does your recommended approach suit that job?
• What would you leave out, defer or recommend we spend less on?

A useful answer starts with your situation. A credible place for referred customers to check your details may need a straightforward site. Helping different customer groups assess your services and make enquiries can require different pages, content and proof.

Notice the follow-up questions. If you say “more leads”, do they ask which customers you want and which services you need to grow? Those answers can change the page priorities, proof and enquiry forms.

Studio Sondar provided a useful example in our July 2026 research. Its questions explored the current and desired audience mix. The proposal carried that distinction into two audience paths and a content plan.

We spoke directly with a founder at JTB Studios in August 2026, and the questions clarified budget, business size and timing. The conversation did not investigate customers, category or what would distinguish the business in comparable depth. These observations concern the sales process, not later delivery.

Knowing your budget helps an agency decide whether it can take the job. Knowing why a particular customer chooses you helps it decide what to build. Both are useful, but the first doesn't answer the second.

Ask the provider to trace one important answer into its recommendation. If you want to attract a different customer group, what would change in the pages, content or enquiry process? Look for that change in the proposal. A lengthy workshop description doesn't establish the connection on its own.

You aren't asking for a complete strategy for free. If paid discovery is needed, establish what it will decide and whether its findings can change the proposed build. Get that sequence in writing before treating an early estimate as settled scope.

2. What exactly are we buying?

Ask the developer to walk you through:

• the pages and reusable layouts included;
• the functions, forms and integrations they will build;
• any content, products or data they will move;
• the design and development work included; and
• the exclusions and assumptions behind the quote.

Page count alone is a poor comparison. A service page using an existing layout and a booking page connected to availability and payments are both “one page”. The work is different.

Compare two quotes against the same task, including what happens afterwards. “Enquiry form included” may cover collecting a message without assigning it to a team or recording it in your customer system. If those steps matter, name them and ask who checks the connection works. Otherwise, the cheaper quote may simply contain less of the work you need.

An existing system may need inspection before the developer can confirm an integration. The proposal should explain who will resolve that uncertainty and whether it could change the price or scope.

Check whether “website design” includes development and launch. If another provider builds the site, ask who obtains that quote and coordinates the work. Compare the cost of reaching the same finished website, including any separately purchased build.

3. Who writes the copy and supplies the images?

Ask:

• Is copywriting included for the agreed pages?
• What information do you need from us, and how finished does it need to be?
• Who edits the copy when the design or page structure changes?
• Who selects, licences and prepares the images or video?

“You supply the content” can mean rough notes or every word and image in finished form. Ask who turns your business knowledge into the actual page copy. If it's you, include your writing time or a separate copywriter in the comparison. Supplying facts and reviewing a draft is a different workload.

At SOL, we include website copywriting for the stated pages, using the client's business information, source material and feedback. We treat the words as part of building the website. Bulk catalogue writing, specialist long-form content and regulated or technical copy need an explicit allowance in the proposal.

If you're writing it yourself, check who gives you the page plan and who reviews the result. A designer can't reliably plan around five paragraphs that later become fifteen. Agree when the text needs to be ready and who handles changes after layout approval.

You don't need a full photo library to begin, but someone needs a plan for the missing material. Ask whether the project will use existing images, stock, custom visuals or separately commissioned photography. Include any production or licence costs in your comparison.

4. Who will do the work, and can they show relevant examples?

Ask who handles the business direction, design, development, copy, testing and project management. Find out which roles are internal and which involve collaborators.

An external developer or specialist can be a good arrangement. Establish who briefs them, checks their work and resolves a disagreement between design and technical requirements.

Ask how the people building the website receive the decisions made during discovery. If a customer requirement cannot be built as planned, who brings that decision back to you? A named project contact is useful; knowing who carries the reasoning from the first conversation into delivery tells you more.

Ask to see a project with similar demands to yours. Look for the relevant capability: an editable service website, a complex enquiry path, a store migration or an integration. A recognisable client logo doesn't tell you which of those jobs the agency performed.

For a claimed result, ask:

• What changed, and over what period?
• What work did your team contribute?
• Were advertising, SEO, pricing or other business changes involved?
• Can the client confirm the work and experience?

A portfolio can demonstrate design and build quality without proving a revenue increase. A reference can tell you about communication, revisions, unexpected costs and support without supplying a sales-growth statistic. Use each form of evidence for what it actually shows.

5. Why this platform, and what can we change ourselves?

Ask for a demonstration of an editing task your team will perform, such as changing a service description or adding a project.

Then ask:

• Why do you recommend this platform for our requirements?
• Is the site built from a theme, designed and built specifically for us, or assembled with AI assistance?
• Which changes can we make ourselves, and which need a developer?
• What would happen if we needed another provider to maintain or extend it?

The build label should lead to an explanation of the work. “Custom” might describe the design, the code, or changes to a pre-existing theme. Ask which parts are specific to your project and what limitations remain. Choose on the requirements it can meet, rather than assuming one label settles the question.

The developer should ask who will manage the content and how often it changes. Use the demonstration to settle that responsibility. If your team needs to publish projects weekly, can the nominated person do it without a developer? If not, decide whether to change the setup or budget for someone to do it.

Check that training, instructions and the relevant access are included in the handover. If the agency will manage everything, establish the process and charges. “Easy to update” doesn't tell you who will do the updating.

6. What will we pay, including after launch?

Ask for the price basis, GST treatment and payment schedule. Establish whether the figure is a fixed fee, an estimate, an hourly allowance or a subscription.

Keep the project fee separate from ongoing obligations:

• hosting and domain renewal;
• platform, plugin or other software fees;
• maintenance and support;
• future content or feature changes; and
• any separately purchased SEO or marketing work.

For each recurring cost, ask who invoices it, what it includes and what happens if you stop paying. A low setup fee with a required subscription is a different purchase from a project fee with separately paid hosting.

Put unavoidable ongoing costs beside the build fee before comparing quotes. Keep optional marketing or improvement work separate. That lets you distinguish the price of keeping the purchased website running from the price of doing more with it.

Ask how extra work is agreed. If you request another page, change an approved design or discover a new integration requirement, when will you see the added price? Get the approval process in writing so an idea raised in a meeting doesn't quietly become an unexpected invoice.

Check what each payment covers, what remains to be delivered and how cancellation works. Get advice on unclear terms or substantial risks before signing.

7. What do you need from us, and when?

Ask for an estimated start date and delivery period, with the assumptions behind them. “Six weeks” means little until you know whether it begins after payment, a workshop, content delivery or design approval.

Work backwards from any firm launch deadline. Ask which decisions and materials must be ready before each stage can start. Two agencies quoting six weeks may be describing different starting points and very different amounts of work left to you.

The developer should identify who on your side will supply information and approve the work. A project with several decision-makers needs a way to combine feedback before it reaches the designer.

Clarify:

• when business information, images and access are needed;
• what you review at each stage;
• how many revision rounds are included;
• what happens if either side misses a deadline; and
• how changes after approval affect the schedule and price.

Ask how a revision differs from new work. Changing a heading within an agreed layout is different from requesting a booking system after approving the design.

If the full scope cannot meet your deadline, ask what a smaller first release would include and what would follow later.

8. What will we own, and could we leave?

Ask about the specific assets and accounts:

• Who controls the domain registration, hosting and editing accounts?
• What rights do we receive in the design, content and code, and when?
• Which software, reusable code or third-party assets are licensed rather than transferred?
• What files, exports, access and instructions are included at handover?
• What would moving to another provider require, cost and leave behind?

“You own the website” needs more detail. Account access, ownership rights and the practical ability to move a site are different questions.

A platform account may let you change content without giving you an independently hostable copy of the website. An agency may also keep rights in its reusable code while licensing its use in your project. Ask the provider to explain the arrangement and show where the agreement records it.

Test the exit answer against a specific situation: you want another developer to maintain the site without rebuilding it. What can you hand over, what continues to require a subscription, and what would need to be replaced? If moving means rebuilding, factor that consequence into the decision now.

Check that your business has the account control it needs and that renewal notices reach the right person. For a managed service, agree how access or transfer works if the relationship ends.

Business Victoria's guidance also identifies website portability and transfer costs as questions to resolve before engaging a developer.

9. How will you test it, support it and judge whether it worked?

Before launch, ask what the team will check and what you will approve. The testing should cover the actual work you're buying: mobile layouts, important browsers, forms, integrations and relevant accessibility requirements.

Ask who identifies the accessibility requirements and how the team will demonstrate they have been met.

Ask for a demonstration of the important paths. Send an enquiry and check its destination. For ecommerce, confirm how checkout, payment and fulfilment are tested. Establish responsibility for redirects and search setup when replacing an existing site.

Then separate three post-launch jobs:

1. correcting defects in the delivered work;
2. keeping the website and its services running; and
3. making later changes or improving results.

Those jobs may have different prices, periods and providers. Ask when included support ends, how urgent problems are handled and which requests become additional work.

If the website is meant to support enquiries or sales, ask what will be measured. “Analytics included” should name the useful actions being tracked and who can see them.

In our July–August 2026 agency study, six of nine written sales documents included analytics or measurement setup. Only one named a success measure specific to that buyer. None documented the full chain from a starting baseline and target through to review responsibility and funded changes. This finding concerns the written documents, not what agencies later did in delivery.

The gap is between being able to collect numbers and having someone responsible for acting on them. A report showing form submissions doesn't establish whether they were useful enquiries, what needs changing or who will make those changes.

If you're buying ongoing improvement, ask the agency to complete a sentence like this:

Agree what success means and what happens if the starting data doesn't exist yet. For example, if the goal is suitable enquiries, decide how you'll distinguish those from every form submission. The website may need information from whoever handles sales; that responsibility needs to be agreed too.

A standalone build doesn't have to include ongoing improvement. If improvement is promised or separately purchased, ask for the corresponding responsibility and allowance. Tracking setup alone doesn't provide it.

What should the developer ask you in return?

Expect questions about the decision you're making, including:

• Why are you changing the website now?
• Which customers, services or tasks should it prioritise?
• How do people currently find and assess your business?
• What is working, and where do customers or staff get stuck?
• What information and proof can you supply?
• Who will manage the site and approve the project?
• What budget, timing and operating constraints shape the options?

Watch what happens after your answer. Your priority customers should influence the content; your team's capacity should influence the editing system or ongoing arrangement.

That doesn't mean an agency asking three questions is better than one asking two. One follow-up that changes the recommendation can be more useful than a long form that only confirms your contact details.

Ask what the provider knows well enough to recommend now, what it still needs to investigate and whether that investigation could change the quoted work. Paid discovery can be a sensible next step. The important distinction is whether you're approving discovery, a provisional build estimate or a settled build scope.

Before signing, compare the conversation with the proposal

Put your notes beside the proposed scope. Choose one important business goal and find the work intended to address it. If you can't, ask the agency to explain the connection and clarify the document where needed.

Details deserve a consistency check too. SOD Digital's August 2026 requirements session was structured and addressed objectives and measurement. Its subsequent proposal contained unrelated client material and conflicting hosting and SEO scope or pricing lines. The useful conversation and the defects in the written proposal both matter. Neither is evidence of delivered performance.

A good meeting doesn't resolve contradictory paperwork. If one section includes a service and another charges separately for it, ask for a corrected proposal before signing. A verbal reassurance still leaves two written versions of the purchase.

For your own proposal, mark each item yes, no or unknown:

For each unknown, note who will answer it and whether it could change the price, scope or timing. Some details can wait until an agreed discovery stage. If work cannot yet be priced precisely, ask what budget is allowed and how the final cost will be agreed.

A budget allowance doesn't settle unclear rights, access or responsibilities. Clarify those before agreeing to them. An unknown isn't an automatic rejection, but resolve contradictory scope or prices before signing.

Check our fit too

Use the same questions with SOL. If you only need a simple online presence, a template or AI builder may be sufficient. Custom work can suit specific needs: attracting the right customers, helping them choose or buy, or simplifying business operations. We generally don't take small repair jobs.

If that sounds like your project, explore our web design approach or discuss your website. Bring what you know and what you still need help deciding. You don't need a finished technical brief before the first conversation.