Choosing a web designer is mostly a judgement about the relationship rather than the portfolio. Portfolios show what somebody built with a good client and a healthy budget. They tell you nothing about what happens when a launch slips or a payment page breaks.
These are the questions that do.
The ownership questions
Ask them first, before design, before price. They determine whether you are commissioning an asset or renting one.
Who registers the domain, and in whose name?
It should be yours, registered to your company, with you holding the account. A supplier registering it on your behalf is common and usually well intentioned, and it becomes a serious problem the day you want to leave.
Who owns the code when it is paid for?
Get this in writing. Some suppliers license rather than transfer, meaning the site you paid to build cannot move with you.
Can I take the site elsewhere?
Ask plainly: if I gave notice tomorrow, what would you hand over, in what form, and how long would it take? A confident supplier answers immediately. Hesitation is the answer.
This is covered in more depth in who actually owns your website, and it is the single most common regret we hear about.
The scope questions
Who writes the content?
The most common cause of an overdue project. Establish whether copywriting is included, whether photography is included, and what happens to the schedule if your side is late.
What happens after launch?
Is there a snagging period? How long? What counts as a bug versus a change request? Sites always need adjustments in the first month, and whether those are free is worth agreeing before launch rather than after.
How will my team update the site?
Ask for a demonstration of the editing experience with your own content, not a video. Some builds are beautiful and effectively read-only, which means every text change becomes an invoice.
What is not included?
The most useful question in the list. A supplier who answers it clearly and unprompted is telling you they have run projects before.
The people question
Ask who will actually do the work. Agencies sometimes sell with a senior designer and deliver with a junior, which is not inherently wrong but should not be a surprise.
With a freelancer, ask what happens if they are ill during your build, and who could pick the work up. A good answer exists; the absence of one is a risk you are accepting.
Warning signs
A fixed price with no questions asked. Anyone who quotes a website without asking what it must do is quoting for a template. That may be fine — but you should know that is what you are buying.
Guaranteed first place on Google. Nobody can guarantee this and reputable suppliers do not claim it. It signals how the rest of their claims should be read.
Pressure to decide today. Website projects run for months. There is no legitimate reason a decision cannot wait a week.
Vagueness about hosting. If you cannot get a straight answer about where the site will live and what you will be able to access, assume the worst.
A portfolio of dead links. Check that the sites in the portfolio still exist and still look like the screenshots. It is a five-minute check and it is revealing.
Ask what happens when we part ways. The answer tells you more about a supplier than anything else in the conversation.
Comparing proposals that are not comparable
Three quotes at four, nine and eighteen thousand pounds are usually three different projects. Normalise before comparing.
Build a simple list and fill it in for each: pages included, copywriting, photography, content migration, functionality, testing, training, hosting for year one, support after launch, ownership terms, timeline.
Then price the gaps. The four thousand pound quote that excludes content, hosting and support is not the cheapest option once those are added, and it frequently ends up the dearest.
What good looks like in the first conversation
The suppliers worth working with tend to behave the same way early on. They ask about your business before your website. They ask what happens after an enquiry arrives. They push back on something you have asked for and explain why. They are specific about what they will not do.
They also give you a range rather than a number when the scope is not yet clear, which is honesty rather than evasion.
If it helps to have the brief straight before you approach anyone, our website brief guide covers what to write down. Our web development team works with UK businesses on that basis, and will tell you when what you need is smaller than what you asked for. Start a conversation.
