What to ask a web design agency before you hire one

Before you hire a web design agency, ask who will do the work, what the quote includes and excludes, and whose name the domain, hosting and code will be in when the project ends. Then ask how they handle accessibility, what happens to your existing search traffic, and what support you get after launch. The answers to those questions tell you more about how the project will go than any portfolio does.

The questions below are grouped in the order most people need them. Send them by email before a call so the answers come back in writing.

Who will actually work on my website?

Ask for the names and roles of the people who will design, build and manage your project, and who your day-to-day contact is. Some agencies pass parts of the work to outside contractors. That can be fine, but you should know about it, and the contract should say the agency is responsible for their work.

Also ask how quickly they reply to email and how often you will get an update. A written answer ("within one business day", "a short update every Friday") is something you can hold them to later.

Can I see live sites you built, and talk to a past client?

Screenshots and mockups show what a designer can draw. A live site shows what was shipped. Ask for three or four URLs of sites the agency built that are online today, then open them on your own phone. Check that the menus work, that forms send, and that pages load in reasonable time on mobile data.

Ask if you can speak to one past client. A short call with someone who has been through a project with them is worth more than a page of testimonials.

What is included in the quote, and what will cost extra?

A quote that says "5-page website" leaves most of the real decisions open. Ask for a written scope that lists:

every page or page template being designed and built
who writes the text and who supplies photos
how many rounds of design changes are included
which forms, integrations or payment features are in scope
how content from your old site will be moved over
what happens when you ask for something that was not in the original scope, and how it is priced

A separate guide, What a website redesign quote should include before you sign it, goes through each scope item.

Whose name will the domain, hosting and code be in?

This is the question people most often forget and later regret. Ask the agency to confirm, in the contract, that:

the domain is registered with you as the registrant, in an account you control
the hosting or platform account (for example, a Webflow site plan or a WordPress host) is in your name or can be transferred to you
you receive the source files, admin logins and design files at handover
copyright in the custom design and code passes to you once you have paid, in writing

The registrant is the person or company the registrar treats as the domain holder. ICANN's rules give the registrant rights, including the right to get the transfer code for the domain from the registrar within five calendar days of asking. If the agency registered the domain in its own name, those rights sit with the agency. Who owns the code, domain and accounts when an agency builds your website? covers each item in more depth.

Which platform will you build on, and can my team edit it?

Ask which platform they recommend and why it suits your business. WordPress is open-source software released under the GPL licence, so you can move a WordPress site to another host or another developer. Webflow sites live on Webflow's hosting, and Webflow lets an agency transfer a site, with its site plan and custom domain, to the client's own workspace.

Then ask for a demonstration of the editing screen. If your marketing person will update blog posts, prices or job listings, they should be able to do it without calling the agency. Ask whether training and a short written guide are part of the handover.

How do you make the site accessible?

Accessibility means people who rely on screen readers, a keyboard in place of a mouse, zoom or captions can use your site. The current W3C standard is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, and it has three levels (A, AA and AAA). Ask for AA, the middle level. If you sell to consumers in the European Union, the European Accessibility Act has applied since 28 June 2025 and covers services such as e-commerce.

Useful follow-up questions:

Which WCAG version and level will you build to?
How do you test it? W3C's own guidance says evaluation tools cannot check every accessibility requirement automatically, so ask whether someone also tests with a keyboard and a screen reader.
Will you give us a written report of what was checked?

What happens to my search traffic when the new site goes live?

If page addresses change during a redesign, visitors and search engines following old links will hit errors unless each old address points to its new one. Google's guidance for site moves is to map old URLs to new URLs and use server-side permanent redirects (301 or 308). Ask the agency whether they will build that redirect map, and whether you can review it before launch.

Also ask how they check page speed. Google publishes three Core Web Vitals with "good" targets: Largest Contentful Paint within 2.5 seconds, Interaction to Next Paint of 200 milliseconds or less, and Cumulative Layout Shift of 0.1 or less.

What support do I get after launch?

Get these answers in writing:

how long they fix bugs for free after launch, and what counts as a bug
whether ongoing maintenance (software updates, backups, security fixes) is offered, what it costs per month and what it covers
how you ask for help, and how quickly they respond

How are payments staged?

Many agencies ask for part of the fee up front and the rest at milestones. Ask what each payment is tied to, for example design approval or launch, and make sure the final payment is due after the site is live and you have checked it. Link the transfer of ownership to the final payment in the contract so both sides know when handover happens.

Questions people also ask

How many agencies should I get quotes from?

Three quotes are usually enough to see how differently agencies read the same brief, without spending weeks on calls. Send all of them the same written brief so the quotes can be compared line by line.

Should I pay a deposit before work starts?

A deposit is normal. Ask what it pays for and whether any of it is refundable if you cancel before design starts, and get the answer in the contract.

What should I send an agency before the first call?

A short brief: what your business does, who the site is for, the pages you think you need, sites you like, your deadline and your budget range. A budget range helps the agency propose a scope that fits.

Is it a warning sign if an agency will not put the domain in my name?

Yes. You should be the registrant of your own domain. If an agency insists on keeping it, ask why in writing and get a clear, dated plan for transferring it to you.