What should you ask before hiring a web or app development agency?

What should you agree before you hire an agency?

Agree the scope in writing before any work starts. A proposal should list what the agency will deliver, by when and for how much, and name the person who runs your project. It should also say what sits outside the scope and how you approve each stage, so neither side argues later about what was promised.

A project lead who stays with you from brief to launch remembers what was agreed in earlier calls and can answer without passing your question along.

Approving each stage, such as the sitemap, the designs and the build, before the next one begins means you catch a problem while it’s still cheap to fix.

We send a written proposal with the scope, deliverables, timeline and fees. Work starts once you accept it in writing, which can be by email, and on a fixed-fee project once you’ve also paid the deposit. One project lead takes you from brief to launch, and you sign off at the end of every stage.

Who should own the code, domain and accounts?

You should. Register the domain, hosting, code repository, CMS, analytics and any App Store or Google Play accounts in your business’s name from the first day, then give the agency access. If the agency holds an account in its own name, you need its help to move anything later.

Ownership of the work itself is a separate question. Get written confirmation that the finished deliverables, such as the design files and the code, become yours once you’ve paid. If it builds on its own tools, templates or frameworks, expect to license those parts, and check that the licence never runs out.

Fonts, stock images, plugins and other paid software come with their own licences. Where the supplier allows it, have them bought in your name.

Hosted builders such as Wix or Squarespace work differently. You can usually export your content, but the design generally stays on the platform, so moving elsewhere tends to mean a new design and build.

The accounts we set up are in your name, and we work through access you grant us.

What happens at handover?

At handover you should get admin access to every account, the code repository, the design files, documentation and any credentials the agency holds. The agency should then remove its own access. Ask for that list in writing at the start, along with what happens if you end the work before the project finishes.

Documentation is for whoever works on the site or app next, whether that’s your own team or another agency. It should cover how the code is set up, how to release a change and which third-party services it relies on.

Before you sign, find the notice period on any retainer, what you pay if you cancel a fixed-fee project halfway and whether the deposit is refundable.

Once the agency has handed over, change the passwords it knew and check that its access has gone from each account.

How should fees and change requests work?

A fixed fee gives you a known price for an agreed scope, while hourly billing charges for the time spent and suits work whose scope keeps moving. Whichever you choose, tie payments to milestones, and have any change outside the scope quoted and approved before anyone starts on it.

Under a fixed fee, the agency carries the risk of the work taking longer than planned, so the scope has to be clear before the price is set. Hourly billing leaves the total open, so ask for an estimate and a monthly cap.

We charge fixed fees in two parts, half when you accept the proposal and the balance on delivery. Retainers are billed monthly in advance. Invoices are due within 15 days, and our fees exclude GST.

Decide who on your side can approve a change request, so small requests from different colleagues don’t add up unnoticed.

If your feedback or materials arrive late, expect the dates to move by the same amount, so agree before the project starts who on your side gathers the copy and images.

What will it cost after launch?

You pay for hosting and the domain, and third-party subscriptions, such as plugins or paid apps, are billed at cost or paid by you directly. Someone also has to update the site or app, fix what breaks and keep it secure, whether that’s your own team or the agency on a monthly plan.

Our website care plan is optional. It costs ₹8,000–₹30,000 a month and covers updates, security, uptime monitoring and conversion testing. Without it, we hand the site over to your team. App maintenance is a monthly retainer of ₹20,000–₹75,000 and covers updates for new iOS and Android versions, fixes and new features.

When you compare quotes, add a year of these costs to each build price. Our guides to what a website costs in India and what app development costs in India give the build prices and what moves them.

How do you check an agency’s work?

Open sites and apps the agency has built on your own phone and use them as a customer would. Then ask who will do your work, since the people who pitch may not be the people who build. A good case study shows the problem, what was built and why it was built that way.

Portfolio images show the design. A live site shows how fast pages load, how the forms behave and whether the layout holds up on a small screen.

Meet the project lead and the people who will design and build your project, and find out whether any of the work goes to freelancers or another firm.

If you need an existing site or app rebuilt or migrated, ask the agency to show you one it has done. Our WealthChoice admin and API rebuild replaced an Express API and a separate React admin with one Nuxt 4 app serving two websites.

Our web design and development services page sets out what each build includes and how a project runs, stage by stage.