Spot a Great UK Developer from a Good Sales Pitch
Choosing someone to build a website can be difficult. For starters, you’ve got options for days. Most proposals sound good. Most portfolios look polished. And almost everyone will tell you they can build you a fast, modern website that works on mobile.
The differences usually appear after the project starts. If you’re currently comparing developers or web agencies, these are the questions worth asking before you sign anything. Let’s help you uncover hidden costs, vague process, and potential headaches – before they become an expensive mistake. There’s 12 questions you have to be asking.
1. Who’s building my website?
It’s worth asking. The person you speak to during the sales process isn’t always the person who’ll design or build your website. This isn’t always an immediate problem, but you should at least know who’s working for you. Always ask: Who will build the site? Who will i speak with during the build? Will i have direct access to them? Is any of the work outsourced?
The fewer layers between you and the person building the website, the easier it usually is to explain ideas, solve problems and make decisions quickly. At Develoroo, web development projects are founder-led, which means clients deal directly with the person responsible for actually delivering the work.
2. What exactly is included in the price?
A £2,000 website and a £6,000 website aren’t necessarily comparable. One may include strategy, UX planning, copy support, SEO foundations, analytics, performance optimisation, forms, tracking, training, launch support etc. Whilst the other may simply be a 5 page template. Compare scope before pricing.
If the quote is vague, ask for clarity before signing. If the website is being offered for FREE, there’s legitimate cause for concern regarding ownership, hidden recurring fees, ongoing maintenance lock-ins, or low-quality templated code that will cost more to fix than to build properly from scratch. A “free” website is rarely free. Agencies and platforms usually recoup their costs through overpriced mandatory hosting, high monthly retainer contracts, hidden domain transfer fees, or by holding your site and data hostage if you ever decide to leave.
We covered this in more depth in our guide to how much a website costs in the UK, because price only makes sense when you understand what’s actually included.
3. What happens if i change my mind on a few things?
Website projects evolve, both with design and functionality. You might realise you need extra pages, an additional form or an integrated payment system. Or maybe you’ll see a funky design idea that you’d like to implement on your site. Always ask your developer whether small changes are included or additional work is charged hourly or at a fixed price.
4. Will i own the website when it’s complete?
This is important. Your core business asset should remain under your control and be owned by you. You should always understand who owns:
- Your domain
- The hosting account
- Your website files
- Your analytics accounts
- Your design assets
- Your content
Some businesses discover far too late that everything is sitting inside accounts controlled by their developer. You shouldn’t feel trapped with a supplier simply because moving away would be difficult.
5. Is the website built with SEO as a priority?
SEO shouldn’t be something added six months after launch. A website’s foundations influence how easily Google can understand it. That includes things like page structures, URL’s, headings, internal linking, metadata, mobile usability, page speed, image optimisation and schema.
Important – nobody can guarantee you page one on Google. But a professional website should at least be built in a way that gives search engines a clear understanding of the business, services and pages. If organic search matters to your business, ask how SEO is incorporated during development, not just whether an SEO plugin gets installed.
Our own approach is to build SEO structure into the site from the beginning rather than treating it as an optional extra later.
6. How do you approach conversion, not just design?
A website can look beautiful and still perform terribly. The point isn’t just to impress people. It needs to help visitors understand who you are, what you offer, why they should trust you, what they should do next.
Ask your developer how they think about user journeys and conversion. If the entire conversation revolves around colours, animations and how modern everything will look, that’s worth noticing. Design matters. But commercial websites also need to work.
7. What platform are you recommending, and why?
WordPress. Shopify. WooCommerce. Webflow. Bespoke development. There isn’t one correct platform for every project. There is, however, usually a sensible platform for your particular business. Ask why the developer recommends their chosen technology.
For many service businesses, WordPress can make excellent sense because it’s flexible, well established and easy to manage. For ecommerce, Shopify or WooCommerce may be appropriate depending on the business model. More unusual requirements may justify custom development.
The technology should follow the project. Not the other way around.
8. Can i see examples of your work?
You should be seeing what type of work your developer does. Look beyond screenshots. Visit websites, download apps, try the navigation. Read the background behind the projects, if they’ve explained the context. A good case study should also explain why decisions were made, rather than simply showing an attractive final screen.
We regularly update our project showcase page with some of the latest things we’ve worked on, where the focus isn’t just on uploading screenshots – but also information on how it was structured and built.
9. How will communication work during the project?
Poor communication ruins otherwise good projects. Ask how often you’ll receive updates and how feedback is handled. Will there be scheduled checkpoints? Will you see the site during development? Who approves decisions? What happens if you have questions? There’s no need for endless meetings, but it’s nice to know what’s going on, when it’s happening and how to communicate anything important.
This is especially important if the project lasts several weeks or months.
10. What happens if there’s a problem after?
Launching the website isn’t the end of the story. Browsers update. Plugins change. Software gets updated. Forms need testing. Occasionally things break.
Ask what post-launch support is included. Some developers hand the website over and disappear. Others include a guarantee period or ongoing maintenance.
At Develoroo, our development projects include a 12-month guarantee against issues relating to the original build. Ongoing maintenance is separate, because maintaining a site indefinitely is different from standing behind the work that was originally delivered.
If you’re unsure what ongoing support typically involves, our guide to website maintenance costs explains the difference.
11. What ongoing costs should I expect?
Depending on your website, you’ll need hosting and domain renewal. You may also need things such as software licenses, maintenance, email services, payment processing fees and third party software. These aren’t necessarily red flags, but the red flag is discovering them after you’re committed.
12. What happens if I want to move to another developer later?
Nobody asks this, but they should. A healthy relationship shouldn’t want to make it difficult for you to leave. Ask if another developer can take over the site, whether you’ll get administrator access, if the site hosting can be moved elsewhere or whether there will be proprietary systems that only the original developer can maintain.
Your website is a business asset, a powerful growth tool. You should know how portable it is and how “yours” it actually is.
Red Flags Worth Investigating
Be cautious if a developer:
- Won’t clearly explain what’s included in the cost
- Guarantees Google ranking (nobody can guarantee what Google decides)
- Won’t promise you full ownership of the website
- Promises a fast turnaround without getting a feel for your requirements
- Doesn’t have their own clean, functional website
None of these mean someone is immediately incapable, but they are good cause for further questions.
Choose the Correct Developer To Build Your Website
The right fit depends on the complexity of the website, your budget and how you prefer to work. What matters is understanding what you’re actually buying before the project begins.
If you’re currently comparing developers and want another opinion on your project, you can book a free project clarity call with Develoroo. We’ll talk through what you need to achieve, what we’d recommend and what the project is realistically going to involve. If we’re a good fit, great. If we’re not, you’ll at least leave with a clearer idea of the landscape in general.
