Most bad web design experiences were foreseeable. The client didn’t ask the right questions, the contract didn’t define the right terms, and both parties had different expectations about what was being delivered. That’s a process failure, not a personality problem.
These questions don’t guarantee a good project. But asking them before you sign will tell you a lot about whether the agency in front of you has done this enough to have clear answers.
Who Specifically Is Building My Site?
This question makes agencies uncomfortable for a reason. Many agencies sell the work of their senior people and deliver the work of their junior people. Some use overseas subcontractors not disclosed in the proposal. Some hand off everything after the first meeting to a developer the client never speaks with.
The correct answer: a specific name or small team, with examples of their work specifically. Not “our team” or “our development department.” If an agency can’t tell you who is actually building your site, that’s not an administrative detail — it’s a liability.
Ask for a portfolio of work done by the specific person assigned to your project. Compare that portfolio to the agency’s primary portfolio. The gap, if there is one, is instructive.
Do You Use Page Builders? Which Ones?
Direct. Unambiguous. Easy to ask, easy to get a clear answer to. And yet many agencies will still deflect.
If the answer is Elementor, Divi, WPBakery, or another page builder, the site will have performance trade-offs that matter. A skilled developer can mitigate them — but can’t eliminate the render-blocking JavaScript overhead entirely. An honest agency tells you upfront and explains what they do to minimize the impact.
If the answer is no page builders, ask what the theme is built on. “A custom theme we write from scratch” is the right answer for a hand-coded site. “A premium theme we customize” means it’s likely template-based.
Who Owns the Code and Design Files After Launch?
Get this in the contract, in writing, explicitly. The clause should read something like: “Upon receipt of final payment, all code, design assets, and files are transferred to the client in full. The agency retains no license to or ownership of any deliverable.”
If the agency hedges — “we’ll give you access to the site,” “you own the content,” “you can take the site wherever you want” — those are not answers to the ownership question. Access is not ownership. Content is not code.
Ask again: does the intellectual property of the code and design transfer to us on final payment? Yes or no.
Ben ran a dental practice and signed a contract without reading the IP clause. The clause said the agency retained “unlimited license to use all created work in portfolio and promotional contexts.” Legally ambiguous but ethically uncomfortable — his site was being used in the agency’s sales deck without his knowledge. A clearer IP clause would have prevented the situation.
What’s the Exact Scope? What’s Explicitly Not Included?
Ask for a scope that lists deliverables by item, not by category. “Website design and development” is a category. “Home page, Services page, About page, Contact page, Blog listing page, and single blog post template, plus a custom contact form integrated with your CRM” is a deliverable list.
Then ask: what isn’t included? The exclusions are as important as the inclusions. Common exclusions that get added as change orders:
- Copywriting (who writes the text for each page?)
- Photography and image sourcing (stock photo licenses, image optimization)
- Domain and hosting setup
- Email configuration
- Plugin licenses beyond what’s specified
- Revisions beyond a defined number of rounds
A good agency answers the exclusions question without prompting, because they’ve learned from projects where it wasn’t clear.
What’s the Payment Schedule Tied To?
Payment schedules should be tied to milestones, not calendar dates. “30% on signing, 40% on design approval, 30% on launch” gives you leverage at each stage — if the delivery isn’t what was agreed, you have a contractual hold point before the next payment is due.
Calendar-based payment schedules — “monthly installments over 3 months” — give the client no leverage if delivery lags or quality falls short.
Also ask: what happens if you (the agency) miss a deadline? Good contracts include provisions for timeline failures on the agency’s side, not just on the client’s side. If the contract only mentions client-caused delays, that’s a one-sided document.
The Start packages at Designodin use milestone-based payment tied to defined deliverables — because vague payment schedules create vague accountability.
What Happens After Launch?
Launch day is not the end of the project. Ask:
- Bug fix window: How long after launch will the agency fix bugs or issues at no charge? 30 days is standard. Less than 14 days is thin.
- Handoff materials: Do you get documentation on how to manage and update the site? Admin credentials? Hosting credentials?
- Training: If you need to update content yourself, is there a training session included?
- Maintenance options: If ongoing maintenance is available, what specifically does it cover? Not “keeping the site healthy” — what tasks, how often, reported how?
Lisa signed off on a site launch and then couldn’t log in to update a simple page. The agency’s contract had no post-launch support clause. A call to ask for help was quoted at $150/hour. She’d paid $9,500 for a site she couldn’t access without paying more. The contract hadn’t covered it — because she hadn’t asked.
What Does the Termination Clause Say?
Read the termination clause. Every contract should have one. It should specify:
- What happens to work completed if either party terminates the engagement
- What assets the client receives if they terminate before completion
- Whether there’s a kill fee if the client walks away early
- What “cause” means for termination — what actions would allow either party to exit without penalty
A fair termination clause gives the client access to all work completed to date and transfers it on a prorated payment basis. An unfair clause lets the agency keep all deposits and deliver nothing.
Ask the agency to walk you through the termination clause. If they haven’t read it recently, that’s a signal. If they can’t explain it clearly, that’s a bigger signal.
Can You Show Me PageSpeed Scores From Recent Projects?
This question cuts through almost everything else. Run the numbers they give you through Google’s PageSpeed Insights yourself. A consistent pattern of 80+ on mobile means they prioritize performance. A consistent pattern of 40–60 means they don’t, regardless of what the proposal says.
You can audit any current agency’s existing work before committing to them. Honest can run a site audit on their portfolio sites — giving you an independent read on their actual technical output before you’re in a contract.
FAQ
Is a verbal agreement with a web agency enforceable? In theory, some verbal contracts are enforceable, but proving the terms of a verbal agreement is extremely difficult. Never proceed on a verbal commitment alone. Even a short email confirmation of scope, price, and timeline creates a more defensible record than a conversation.
How detailed should a web design contract be? Detailed enough that a stranger could read it and understand exactly what’s being built, by whom, for what price, on what timeline, with what terms of ownership. If the contract could describe a thousand different projects, it’s not specific enough.
Should I use the agency’s contract template or hire a lawyer to draft my own? For most projects under $15,000, reviewing the agency’s template carefully and negotiating specific clauses is sufficient. For larger or more complex projects, a one-hour review by a contracts attorney costs $200–$400 and is worth it.
What’s a fair kill fee if I want to cancel mid-project? Standard practice: the agency keeps payment for work completed to date, plus a reasonable kill fee of 10–25% of the remaining balance. Anything above 50% of the full project as a kill fee is punitive and worth negotiating before you sign.
Can I negotiate contract terms with an agency? Yes — and any agency worth working with will engage in that conversation. If an agency refuses to negotiate any contract terms, that tells you something about how they’ll handle disagreements mid-project.
What’s the most common contract mistake business owners make? Not defining who owns the code. The second most common: agreeing to a scope defined in categories rather than specific deliverables. Both mistakes are easy to fix before signing and expensive to fix after.