Most website problems trace back to a question that was never asked before the contract was signed. Here are twelve worth asking any designer or agency, in the order they matter.
Ownership and control
1. Will I own the domain, and will it be registered in my name? If the answer is anything other than a plain yes, be careful. See do I own my website? for why this is the single most important question on the list.
2. Will I own the finished design and code once I've paid? Get this in writing. Under US law, a designer typically keeps ownership of what they create unless a signed agreement transfers it to you.
3. Whose account will the hosting be in? If it's the designer's account, ask what happens if you ever want to move.
Scope and price
4. Exactly which pages are included? Ask for a list by name, not a page count. "Five pages" means something different to every designer.
5. Who writes the content? If it's you, budget the time. If it's them, ask how they'll learn enough about your business to write it well.
6. Is search setup included, and what does that mean specifically? A vague "SEO included" should turn into a list: page titles, structured data, a sitemap, and basic technical setup, at minimum.
7. What happens if I need more pages or changes than we agreed on? Ask for the hourly or per-page rate now, not after a change order surprises you.
Timeline and process
8. What's the realistic timeline, and what depends on me? Industry write-ups on typical project timelines generally describe something in the range of a few weeks to two months for a small business site, but the biggest swing factor is usually how fast the client delivers content and feedback, not how fast the designer works. Ask what's expected of you and by when.
9. How many rounds of revisions are included? Two is common. Unlimited revisions sounds generous and often means the project never quite finishes.
10. Will I see the design before it's built? You want to approve a look and layout before development starts, not discover it at launch.
After launch
11. What happens after launch: is there a support period, and what does it cover? Ask specifically whether it covers fixing bugs, making text changes, or both, and for how long.
12. If I want to leave later, what do I take with me? A direct answer to this question tells you a lot about how the relationship is really structured. See what a fair ownership clause looks like.
Use the list to compare quotes fairly, not just to interrogate one designer
The real value of these questions shows up when you're comparing more than one quote. Two proposals that look close in price can be completely different in scope once you line up their answers to questions 1 through 7 side by side. A designer who owns the domain in their own name, writes no content, and includes no search setup isn't actually competing on the same terms as one who hands over full ownership, writes your pages, and sets up structured data. See how much should a small business website cost for a worked comparison of quotes that look similar but aren't.
What a good answer sounds like
A designer worth hiring will answer most of these without hesitation, because they've been asked before and the answers are already in their standard contract. Hesitation, vagueness, or "we'll figure that out later" on any of the first three questions is worth pausing over before you sign anything.
Questions
Should I ask all twelve questions before getting a quote?
You can ask the scope and timeline questions early to get a comparable quote, and save the ownership and after-launch questions for right before you sign, once you know who you're actually deciding between.
What if a designer gets defensive about these questions?
That's useful information on its own. A designer confident in their process will usually welcome the questions, since a clear answer protects them too.
Is it rude to ask about ownership directly?
No. It's a standard business question, and any experienced designer will have heard it before.