Every agency website has beautiful case studies. Very few tell you what it's like to work with them on a Tuesday afternoon when something breaks. After years of inheriting projects from other agencies — and fixing them — these are the questions we'd ask if we were hiring ourselves.
Ownership and Access
1. Who owns the domain, the code and the design files?
The only acceptable answer is you. The domain should be registered in your name, on your account. You should receive the source code (or full admin access) and the original design files at the end of the project. If an agency keeps any of these, you're renting, not buying.
2. Can I move my hosting elsewhere if I want to?
Good agencies offer hosting because it's convenient, not because it locks you in. Ask what a migration away would involve and whether there's an exit fee. Our managed hosting, for example, is month-to-month.
3. What platform will you build on — and why?
An agency that builds everything on the same platform may be choosing what's easiest for them, not what's best for you. You want to hear reasoning: "WordPress because your team will edit content daily" or "Shopify because you're selling physical products and need reliable checkout."
Process and Communication
4. Who will I actually talk to?
Many agencies are sold by a senior person and delivered by juniors or freelancers you never meet. Ask for the name of your day-to-day contact and whether they're on the team.
5. Will I see designs before development starts?
Clickable prototypes — usually in Figma — let you catch problems when they cost minutes to fix, not days. If the first time you see your site is on a staging server, changes will be expensive.
6. How do you handle changes to scope?
Scope always changes. The question is whether it's handled with a written change request and a price, or discovered on the final invoice.
7. What does the timeline look like, week by week?
Vague timelines ("6–10 weeks") hide risk. Ask for milestones and what they need from you at each one. Most delays come from waiting on client content — a good agency will tell you exactly what to prepare. Our website launch checklist is a useful starting point.
Quality and Results
8. How will you measure whether the site worked?
"Looks great" isn't a result. Enquiries, bookings, sales and search visibility are. Ask which analytics will be set up and what numbers they'd expect to move.
9. What about speed, accessibility and SEO?
These should be included, not upsold. Ask what page-speed scores they typically hit and whether they handle redirects from your old URLs — skipping redirects can wipe out years of Google rankings overnight.
10. Can I speak to a client from a year ago?
Recent clients are still in the honeymoon period. A client from a year ago can tell you what support is really like.
After Launch
11. What happens when something breaks?
Ask about response times, who fixes it, and what it costs. A clear care plan with defined response times beats "just email us". See our breakdown of what a website care plan should include.
12. Who updates plugins, backups and security?
If the answer is "you", make sure you're comfortable doing it monthly. If it's them, get it in writing. Neglected updates are the most common reason small-business sites get hacked — something we cover in why WordPress management saves money.
Why We Ask These Questions of Ourselves
Quadcydle exists because too many businesses end up juggling a designer, a hosting company, an IT person and a marketer who never talk to each other. We build, host, run and grow under one roof so there's always one person accountable.
If you're weighing up agencies right now, send us your brief — we're happy to answer all twelve of these questions in writing, and we'll tell you honestly if we're not the right fit.