How to choose a web designer (and the red flags to avoid)

Hiring someone to build your website is a leap of faith, especially if it's your first time. The work is invisible until it's done, the prices are all over the place, and the horror stories — deposits taken then silence, sites you can't edit, designers who vanish — are real. Here's how to pick well, in plain language, with the questions that separate a safe choice from an expensive mistake.

What actually matters

Ignore the buzzwords and the awards wall. For a small business, four things decide whether you'll be happy a year from now: can you trust the work, do you understand the full price, will you be looked after after launch, and do you own what you paid for. Everything below comes back to those four.

The 7 questions to ask before you hire

1. Can I see real sites you've built — and contact those clients?

Anyone can show pretty pictures. Ask for live sites you can actually visit, ideally for businesses like yours, and ask whether you can speak to a past client. A confident builder will happily connect you. Hesitation here is telling.

2. Will I own everything — domain, content and files?

This is the big one. You should own your domain, your content and your site files outright. Get it in writing. Some providers register the domain in their own name or keep the accounts, which quietly traps you — leaving later means losing your site or paying to be released.

3. What's the all-in price, and what's not included?

Ask for a fixed, itemised quote and the exact list of what's excluded. Hosting, the domain, edits, extra pages and SEO are common "surprise later" items. A clear scope up front is the single best protection against a creeping bill.

4. What happens after launch — and what does support cost?

A website isn't "done" at launch; it needs hosting, updates and the odd change. Ask who handles that, how you reach them, and what it costs. Vague answers here often mean you'll be on your own the first time something breaks.

5. How do I get changes made, and how fast?

You'll want to tweak hours, prices or a photo eventually. Find out the process and the turnaround. "Email me and it's usually same-day" is a very different life to a ticketing system and a week's wait — or a per-change fee.

6. Is it fast, mobile-first and built to be found on Google?

Most of your visitors are on a phone, and page speed is a confirmed Google ranking factor. Ask how they handle performance, mobile and basic local SEO. A beautiful site that loads slowly or can't be found is a liability, not an asset.

7. Who actually does the work — and what if you're unavailable?

With a solo freelancer you get a direct relationship, which is great, but a one-person operator is also a single point of failure. Ask what happens if they're sick or away. With a studio, ask who you'll actually deal with day to day.

Red flags to walk away from

• A quote that's too cheap to be real with no clear scope of work — the gap usually reappears as add-ons, delays, or a rushed, templated result.
• Vague or hourly-only pricing with no fixed total — open-ended scope is where budgets quietly blow out.
• Won't share references or live examples of real work.
• Keeps your domain or accounts in their name, or won't put ownership in writing.
• Locks you into a platform you can't take elsewhere, so you're stuck if the relationship sours.
• Disappears between emails during the sales stage — if communication is patchy now, it won't improve after they've banked your deposit.

The most expensive mistakes aren't the headline price. They're vague scope and being locked in. Fix those two in writing and you've avoided 90% of the horror stories.

Freelancer, studio or agency?

Each suits a different need and budget. A solo freelancer or small studio is usually the best value for a local business; a larger agency makes sense for complex or large projects. We compare the real costs in our guide to what a website should cost in Australia, and weigh the build options in Wix vs Squarespace vs custom.

For what it's worth, this is exactly how FISAL Studio is set up: one fixed price, the domain registered in your name, full ownership and handover whenever you want it, and the person who built your site answering when you call. That's not a sales line — it's the standard every business should hold a web designer to.

Written by

Marcus B. Cho

Founder of FISAL Studio. A former high school teacher (VCE & QCE) and founder of the EdTech venture FISAL Education, Marcus now designs, builds and looks after websites for small businesses across Melbourne and Australia.