Twelve questions to ask a web agency before you sign

Most website disputes are about ownership, maintenance and expectations — never about design taste. These questions surface all three before money changes hands.

Ownership

1. Who owns the domain? It should be registered in your name, with you as the administrative contact. Non-negotiable.
2. Whose hosting account is it? Yours, ideally, with the agency given access. Not the reverse.
3. Do I get the source code and the database? The answer should be an unhesitating yes.
4. What licences are involved and in whose name? Premium plugins and fonts registered to the agency stop working when you leave.

Process

5. Who writes the content? The most common source of overrun. Get it stated in writing.
6. How many revision rounds are included, and what is a round?
7. What is explicitly not included? A good answer here is a sign of experience.
8. Can I see a site you built three years ago? Recent work shows skill; older work shows whether it lasts.

After launch

9. What does maintenance cost and what does it cover?
10. How do I make small changes myself? If the answer is "send us an email", every typo becomes an invoice.
11. What happens if I want to leave? Listen carefully. Reluctance here is the single most useful signal in the conversation.
12. Who do I call when the site is down at 8pm on a Friday?

Two more that reveal a lot

"What would you talk me out of?" A studio that only agrees is selling, not advising. And: "What is the ongoing cost over five years?" A €4,000 build with €300 a month attached is a €22,000 decision, and it should be discussed as one.

Get it in writing

Scope, deliverables, revision rounds, payment schedule, ownership on final payment, and what happens if either side walks away. Not because you expect trouble, but because writing it down is how both sides discover they meant different things.