12 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Web Designer

We rebuild a lot of websites that other people built first. Almost every time, the owner tells us the same thing: the problems were visible from day one, they just didn't know what to look for. So here it is, the list of questions to ask before hiring a web designer, whether that designer is us, a freelancer in Pokhara, or an agency your cousin recommended. Ask all twelve. Write the answers down. The answers matter less than whether you get answers at all.

Questions About Money

1. Is this price fixed, or an estimate? An estimate of NPR 40,000 has a habit of becoming NPR 70,000 by launch. Ask for a fixed number in writing. If they can't commit to a price, they haven't understood your project yet, which is its own warning.

2. What exactly does the price include? Get specifics: number of pages, domain, hosting, SSL, contact forms, mobile layout. "A complete website" means nothing. Five pages plus a one-year .com domain plus hosting means something.

3. What will I pay next year? This is the question Nepali business owners skip most often. Renewal of domain, hosting, and any maintenance fee should be quoted now, not discovered in an invoice twelve months later.

Questions About Ownership

4. Whose name goes on the domain registration? Yours. Only yours. If the designer registers it under their own account "to make things easy", you don't own your web address, they do. We've watched businesses lose domains they'd printed on ten thousand brochures.

5. Do I get the hosting login? Not "access through us". The actual cPanel or panel login, in your email, tested by you.

6. Who owns the design and code after final payment? The correct answer is a fast, unhesitating "you do". A pause here tells you everything.

Questions About Process

7. When exactly will it launch? A date, not a mood. "Around two or three weeks, depending" becomes two months more often than not. At WebsNP we quote a fixed delivery date because we've scoped the work before promising it; anyone who has done the scoping can do the same.

8. How many revision rounds do I get? Unlimited sounds generous but even limited is fine, as long as the number is stated before you pay. Surprise revision charges are where budgets die.

9. Can I see three sites you built, live, with the owner's phone number? Screenshots can be stolen from anywhere. A live site plus a real client who'll answer a Viber call is proof.

Questions About Life After Launch

10. What support do I get after launch, and for how long? Fifteen days? Six months? Whatever it is, get the window and what it covers in writing. "We're always here for you" is a sentiment, not a support policy.

11. Will you teach me to update it myself? Changing a price or a photo shouldn't cost you NPR 1,500 and a three-day wait. A short training session or a recorded video is standard practice for any designer who isn't trying to keep you dependent.

12. What happens if I'm not satisfied? Listen carefully to this one. A confident designer talks about revisions, milestones, or a money-back guarantee. A defensive one changes the subject.

How to Read the Answers

You're not looking for perfect answers. You're looking for speed and specificity. Someone who has run dozens of projects answers question 3 in one sentence because they've been asked before. Someone winging it hesitates, generalises, or gets mildly offended that you asked.

One more thing: ask these questions over email or messenger at least once, even if you've discussed everything on a call. Written answers have a wonderful way of keeping everyone honest six weeks later. If a designer won't put their answers in writing, that's your thirteenth answer, free of charge.

Good designers, and there are plenty in Nepal, will respect you more for asking. The ones who bristle were never going to be good partners anyway.