Most web design companies can show you an attractive portfolio. What a portfolio cannot show is what working with them is like: who owns the site at the end, whether the price holds, and who answers when something breaks.
These seven questions bring that out. Ask them on the first call, ask for the answers in writing, and compare replies side by side. We design and build websites ourselves, so ask us too. Our own answers are at the end. If you are still deciding what kind of provider suits you, start with agency, freelancer or in-house.
Questions about ownership and cost
These decide what you are actually buying, and what it will cost you over time.
1. Who will own the domain, hosting and admin access?
Why it matters: Your domain is your address online, and your email probably runs on it. If it is registered in the designer’s name, or the site sits in their hosting account with only a limited login for you, you do not fully control your own website. Leaving later can mean a slow negotiation, or starting again.
A good answer: The domain is registered in your company’s name, hosting is in an account you own, and you receive full administrator access and every login at handover.
Red flag: “We keep everything on our server, it’s easier,” with no written plan for handing it over. Be equally wary of a proprietary platform that only that company can edit.
2. Is the quote fixed, and is it itemised?
Why it matters: A single total tells you very little. Two quotes can look similar and cover very different work, and a vague one leaves room for extra invoices once the project is under way.
A good answer: A fixed price in writing that lists the pages, features, rounds of revisions, who supplies the content, and running costs such as hosting and licences. It should also explain how any change of scope would be priced before work on it starts.
Red flag: An hourly estimate presented as a price, “unlimited revisions” with no definition, or a quote that exists only in a chat message.
Our guide to what a website costs in Thailand explains why quotes for the same brief can differ so much. To compare quotes fairly, give every provider the same website brief.
3. What does “SEO included” actually mean?
Why it matters: The phrase can mean anything from typing in page titles to a full technical set-up. Nobody can honestly promise first place on Google, but a new site should launch with the foundations in place, and a redesign should not throw away the rankings you already have.
A good answer: A specific list: titles and descriptions written for each page, a clean heading structure, fast loading on phones, Google Search Console and Analytics set up, and separate SEO for each language if the site has more than one. On a redesign, every old page address should be redirected to its new one.
Red flag: Guaranteed rankings, “page one in 30 days”, or an SEO line on the quote that nobody can explain.
Questions about the people and the process
These tell you what the project will feel like from the inside.
4. Can I see similar work and speak to past clients?
Why it matters: A portfolio shows what a company can design. Past clients can tell you what the project was like: whether the price held, how feedback was handled, and what happened when something went wrong.
A good answer: Live websites you can open on your own phone, ideally for businesses like yours, with a clear account of what the company did on each. Case studies that describe the problem and the outcome, not just screenshots, and, where a client has agreed, the chance to speak to them. Some client work is confidential, and a good company will say so and describe it without names rather than dodge the question.
Red flag: Mock-ups but no live links, results with no before-and-after context, or reluctance to explain who did what on a project.
5. Who will I talk to, and how quickly will they reply?
Why it matters: Projects rarely go wrong because of design alone. More often, questions go unanswered, feedback gets lost, and the person who sold you the project disappears once the deposit is paid.
A good answer: One main contact who knows your project, a stated reply time such as one business day, and a clear channel, whether that is email, LINE or a shared project board. You should also know who is doing the design and build, and whether any of it is subcontracted.
Red flag: Everything routed through a salesperson who cannot answer practical questions, or no commitment on reply times at all.
Questions about after launch
Launch day is the start of a website’s working life, not the end of the job.
6. Will I be able to edit the site myself?
Why it matters: Prices, photos, news and team members change. If every change means emailing a developer and waiting for an invoice, the site goes stale, and a stale site quietly loses trust.
A good answer: A mainstream platform such as WordPress, with a visual editor for everyday changes and training for whoever will do the updating. Ask to see a page being edited before you sign.
Red flag: A custom system only the builder understands, or a site where changing a photo “needs our developer”.
7. What happens after launch?
Why it matters: A website is software. WordPress, themes and plugins need regular updates, and a site nobody maintains becomes slower and easier to break into. Backups matter most on the day you need one, which is too late to start taking them.
A good answer: A written care offer covering updates, backups, security and uptime monitoring, with a stated response time and a clear monthly price. You should be free to cancel, and to move the site elsewhere, without penalty.
Red flag: No plan at all (“just call us if something breaks”), or a long contract that ties maintenance to ownership of the site.
Take this list to your first call
Tick each one off as you get a clear answer, ideally in writing.
How PORVIX answers these questions
It would be odd to publish this list without answering it ourselves. Briefly:
- Ownership. The domain is registered in your name, hosting sits in your account, and you get full admin access at handover. There is no lock-in.
- Price. After a free 30-minute consultation, you receive a written, itemised, fixed-price proposal within three business days. The price we agree is the price you pay. Starting prices are listed with our website packages and prices.
- SEO. New sites launch with the foundations in place: page titles and descriptions, an XML sitemap, and GA4 and Search Console set up. Multilingual sites get separate SEO for each language, and on redesigns we redirect every old URL.
- Similar work. Our property developer case study sets out the problem, what we changed and the results, and you can see more website projects we have built.
- Communication. We reply within one business day, and you deal with the people doing the work.
- Editing. We build on WordPress with Elementor or Breakdance, and every project ends with editor training.
- After launch. Care plans are monthly, billed quarterly, with no lock-in, from THB 1,500 a month. Response times run from two business days on Essential to same day on Growth.
You can read more about how we work. If you would like to put these questions to us directly, request a free call. Whoever you hire, get the answers in writing.