Anyone can read a website quote. Ten bullet points, one price, a delivery date. The trouble is that the things that will bother you two years from now are not in it. They never are. Who will own the domain, what happens if the supplier closes shop, what you will pay from year two onwards, and whether you will be able to swap a photo yourself.
This article is a list of twenty questions that bring all of that into the open before you sign. Each one comes with the answer you want to hear and the answer that should worry you.
It is not an exam the supplier is meant to fail. Most people who build websites honestly will answer eighteen of the twenty off the top of their head, and they will be glad you asked, because it saves arguments later. The point is different: to find out whether you are talking to the kind of supplier you think you found.
Short answer
- The questions that matter are not about looks or technology. They are about ownership, the cost from year two, and what happens when the relationship ends.
- The domain must be registered to your company. It is the only question on the list where the wrong answer is on its own a reason not to sign.
- A price that starts with „from“ and has no breakdown cannot be compared with anything. Ask what gets billed on top, not whether the total is high.
- A supplier who will not talk about life after launch is not planning to be there after launch.
- „That is too technical for you“ is an answer too. A bad one.
Why ask, when the supplier has a portfolio
Companies pick a supplier on two things: the price, and how the sites in the portfolio look. Both are understandable and neither is enough on its own.
A portfolio shows how a site looked on launch day. It does not show whether it is fast, whether the client can maintain it, what it costs to run, or whether the client still owns it. And it shows the best work the supplier has ever done, which is fair enough, but it means you are looking at the ceiling, not the usual result.
Questions show something else: how that person thinks when there is no prepared answer ready. You will not get that from a portfolio, and it decides what the relationship looks like the moment something goes wrong. Something always goes wrong.
A website is not judged by how it looks on launch day, but by the shape it is in three years later
How to use the list
Twenty questions in one meeting is too many. Nobody wants to sit through an interrogation, and a supplier who feels like a suspect starts defending himself instead of talking straight.
- 1Send the four ownership questions by e-mail beforehand. You want those answers in writing, because they end up in the contract.
- 2Ask the rest in the meeting and let the answers run. If the supplier pauses and says they will check, that is a good answer. A quick answer that says nothing is worse.
- 3Note the three answers that did not sit right and ask again a week later. If a different answer comes back, you know enough.
- 4Ask every supplier the same questions. Only the comparison has value; one set of answers on its own tells you very little.
Group 1: who ends up owning all this
This is the only group that decides whether you can ever leave. Everything else can be fixed later; this cannot. A company without its own domain does not have a website or e-mail, it only uses them.
| Question | Good answer | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| Who will the domain be registered to? | Your company as the holder, from day one | „We keep it on our account, it is simpler“ |
| Do I get the source code and may I hand it to someone else? | Yes, once paid for, and it is in the contract | „The code stays ours, you get a licence“ |
| Can I move the site to another provider? | Yes, you get a database and file backup | „It runs on our platform, it cannot move“ |
| Who holds the credentials and how do I get mine? | You have yours right away, the supplier has separate ones | „We do not hand those out, you might break it“ |
The usual trap is not bad faith. It is convenience. The supplier registers the domain under their own account because it takes two minutes instead of twenty, and nobody notices for five years. The problem arrives when you part ways, or when that person stops answering e-mail. You can get the domain back, but it takes months and a lawyer.
The clause about the source code does not have to be complicated. One sentence will do.
The domain sits with the supplier, the code is theirs, and the site runs on a platform nobody else will take over. Leaving means building everything again.
The domain is yours, so is the code, and the site runs on ordinary technology. Leaving means handing a backup and credentials to somebody else.
Group 2: the price and what is not in it
Website quotes are hard to compare because each one assumes something different. One includes the copy, another assumes you will supply it. One counts on your photo archive, another on a photo shoot. The gap in the final figure then comes from scope nobody wrote down, not from quality.
| Question | Good answer | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| Is that price final, or an estimate? | Final for the agreed scope, changes priced in advance | „Depends how it goes“ |
| What exactly gets billed on top? | A list: photography, copy, second language, migration | „Nothing, it is all included“ with no breakdown |
| What will I pay from year two? | A figure for hosting, domain, updates and backups | „We will sort that out“ |
| What if I change the brief halfway? | A described process: cost and date impact stated upfront | „We will deal with it“ or „that is not possible“ |
The year two question is the most useful one in the group, because that is where most of the cost hides in cheap quotes. A site at 20 000 CZK with compulsory maintenance at 2 000 CZK a month costs 72 000 CZK over three years, but the number on the front page of the quote says twenty.
That does not make monthly fees a scam. Somebody is doing that work and wants to be paid for it. It only means you should add up the whole thing rather than read the entry price.
Group 3: what it will run on and who will hold it up
This is where readers usually worry they will be out of their depth. You will not be. These questions are written so that what matters is how the supplier answers, not which technology gets named. If „why this one“ produces an explanation you understand, that is a good sign whatever the answer turns out to be.
| Question | Good answer | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| What will you build it on and why that? | A reason tied to your company and the scope | „We build everything on this“ with no link to the brief |
| How many plugins or third party libraries will it use? | A number, and who keeps them updated | Nobody knows, because nobody counts them |
| How many third party scripts will load for a visitor? | A list and what each one is for | „Just the usual ones“ |
| What PageSpeed score will my site get? | A range, and what will drag it down | A promise of 100, or „that means nothing“ |
The last question has a catch worth knowing about. Nobody can honestly promise you a hundred, because the result depends on what you add to the site later. A chat widget, a map, an embedded video or a marketing agency's tracking code can knock thirty points off the score, and the supplier can do nothing about it.
So a good answer sounds roughly like this: without third party scripts your site will score around here, with them around there, and this is the list of things that will hurt it. Both a promise and a dismissal are bad answers, because both mean nobody is measuring.
Group 4: who does the work, and how much of it lands on you
The most common cause of delay is not programming. It is source material. The site waits for copy, for photos, for a product list, or for three people in the company to agree on one sentence. And because no quote ever mentions it, it looks like the supplier is running late.
| Question | Good answer | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| Who exactly will work on this? | Names, and which of them you will be talking to | „We have a team“ with no names |
| How many hours will this take from me and my people? | An estimate in hours and at which stages | „Almost none, we do it all for you“ |
| Will I see it before it is finished? | Yes, a design and a work in progress site to click through | First look at the very end |
| What does handover and training look like? | Training, a guide, and a safe place to practise | „We will send you the login details“ |
„Almost none“ sounds like good service, but it is bad news. It means one of two things. Either the supplier plans to write the copy without you, in which case the site will carry generic filler that says nothing about your company. Or they have not thought about it, and you will find out halfway through.
An honest answer is uncomfortable and sounds more like this: two hours for the kick off call, three to five hours gathering material on your side, and two hours of feedback at each stage. Ten to fifteen hours of your time, spread over six weeks.
Group 5: life after launch
A website is not finished on launch day. Something always gets adjusted in the first few weeks, because only real use shows what does not work for people. So the question is not whether there will be changes, but who makes them and at what price.
| Question | Good answer | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| What if I find a bug a week after launch? | It gets fixed; defects against the brief are on my side | An hourly rate for everything, immediately |
| How fast do you respond when the site is down? | A stated response time and how to report a fault | „Give us a shout and we will see“ |
| What happens if we stop working together? | Backups, credentials and the domain handed over, agreed upfront | It has never come up |
| How will I know the site is bringing anything in? | Visits and enquiries measured, with the dashboard shown | „Traffic will grow“ with nobody measuring it |
After launch the supplier gets in touch once a year with a hosting invoice. When something breaks you wait for a free slot and every e-mail is billable.
After launch you know the response time for an outage, what counts as a fix and what counts as new work, and where to check for yourself whether the site brings enquiries.
Three answers that should end the meeting
Most poor answers are just sloppiness and can be negotiated. These three cannot, because each one means something is being kept from you.
- „We keep the domain on our account.“ If an offer to transfer it to you does not follow, it is deliberate rather than lazy.
- „The code stays ours.“ On a custom site you are paying for in full, that means paying for something you cannot take with you.
- „That is too technical.“ Anyone who understands their trade can explain it to somebody outside it. Refusing means either unwilling or unable.
Everything else is negotiation. Including a high price, a long lead time, and the fact that the supplier has never worked in your industry.
When twenty questions are too many
The other side belongs here too, otherwise the article reads as if every supplier were a suspect.
If you are buying a one page site for the price of a decent laptop, twenty questions make no sense. They cost both sides more time than the job is worth, and the supplier walks away. Four will do: the domain, the code, the cost from year two, and what happens if you find a bug.
And one thing that gets overlooked: the supplier is choosing too. A job that opens with a checklist from the internet and continues with an argument about every answer looks like distrust from the outside. What works best is sending the questions ahead with a line saying you want to compare quotes properly. The good ones welcome it, because they usually compete against quotes where whoever promises most wins.
How we would answer
It would not be fair to write an article about what to ask and keep our own answers for the meeting. Here they are, for the hardest questions on the list. Compare them with what you get elsewhere.
| Question | Our answer |
|---|---|
| Who will the domain be registered to? | Your company, from day one. At most we appear on it as a technical contact. |
| Who owns the code and the data? | You do. You can take the site and its content elsewhere at any time, with a backup of the database and the files. |
| Is the price final? | Yes, for the scope we agree on. We state the whole price upfront and within that scope it does not move. |
| Who will do the work? | The two of us. Nobody gets handed the project; you talk directly to the people building it. |
| What if I find a bug after launch? | Small adjustments in the first month after launch are not billed, because something always needs tuning. |
| How will I know it works? | Visit and enquiry measurement is part of the site and needs no cookie banner. The dashboard is yours, not just ours. |
There are two points where we come off worse than a large agency, and there is no sense hiding them. There are two of us, so we take on a limited number of projects at a time and sometimes the date we can offer is later than you wanted. And we have few references with measured results so far, because we have been trading under our own name for a short time. That is why we cut the price on the first projects in exchange for permission to publish the numbers from before and after launch, whatever they turn out to be.
Frequently asked questions
What should I ask a web agency before signing?
Four groups of things: who will own the domain and the code, what exactly is in the price and what gets billed on top, how many hours the project will take from your side, and what happens after launch. The single most important question is who the domain will be registered to. Get the ownership answers in writing, because they end up in the contract.
Who should own the domain, me or the supplier?
Your company, as the registered holder. The supplier can appear as a technical contact so they can manage the settings, but the holder must be you. If the domain sits with the supplier and the relationship ends badly, getting it back takes months and usually a lawyer.
How do I tell a good web supplier from a bad one?
By how they answer questions they have no prepared answer for. A good supplier can explain a technical decision to somebody outside the trade, says upfront how much of your own time the project will take, and raises life after launch without being asked. A portfolio only shows their best work, and only as it looked on launch day.
Is it normal for a supplier to keep the source code?
On a hosted platform or an off the shelf product, yes: there you are buying a service, not a work made for you. On a custom site you pay for in full, it is not. The contract should say that on payment the economic rights pass to you, including the right to have the work modified by somebody else.
How many questions make sense on a small project?
On a one page site, four: who the domain is registered to, who owns the code, what you pay from year two, and what happens if you find a bug within a month. Twenty questions on a small job cost more time than the job is worth and put off the good suppliers as well as the bad ones.
What if the supplier cannot answer one of the questions?
That is fine, as long as they say they will check and then actually do. A quick answer that says nothing is worse, and so is an answer that changes a week later. That is why it pays to revisit the three answers that did not sit right after a few days.
Summary
- Questions asked before signing show what neither the portfolio nor the price can: how the supplier thinks when there is no prepared answer.
- The domain belongs to your company. It is the one question where the wrong answer is on its own a reason not to sign.
- Cost a website over three years, not on signing day. A cheap quote with a compulsory monthly fee often ends up dearer.
- „How many hours will this take from me“ reveals more than any question about price. „Almost none“ is bad news.
- A good supplier does not mind being asked. Usually they are glad, because competing against someone who promises everything is hard.
- On a small job, four questions are enough. Twenty will put off the good suppliers along with the rest.
Want to compare our answers
Send us the address of your current site, or just tell us what you need. We answer within one working day, and we will answer all twenty questions in writing whether the job comes of it or not. The first consultation is free and commits you to nothing.