Hiring a web developer is one of the most impactful decisions a small business owner makes — and one of the hardest to evaluate. You are paying for expertise you cannot fully verify, trusting someone to build an asset that will either generate or kill revenue for years.

Most business owners only discover they hired the wrong web developer after the project ends: the site runs over budget, breaks six months later, or they end up locked out of their own domain and have to start again. A 2023 survey found that 68% of small business owners who went with the cheapest option had to rebuild their website within 18 months.

The warning signs are almost always present before you sign anything. You just need to know what to look for.

1. They Skip Discovery and Want to Start Building Immediately

A developer who jumps straight to timelines and technology — without spending real time understanding your business — is not solving your problem. They are executing a template they have sold before.

Before a line of code is written, a good developer should ask: Who are your customers? What action do you need them to take on the site? What does success look like in three months? What has been tried before and not worked?

If the first conversation skips straight to "we can have it live in four weeks using WordPress," walk away. Discovery is not a formality. It is where strategy is set. Skip it and you get a website built on assumptions, not on your actual goals.

2. Their Portfolio Has Beautiful Screenshots but No Live Links

Design mockups are easy to make look impressive. What matters is whether those designs hold up as real, functioning websites in front of real users.

Always click through to live sites in a portfolio. Load them on mobile. Check them on a slow connection. Look at the details — the error states, the form behaviour, what happens when you scroll past the fold. If a developer cannot point you to live work, or the live sites are slow and broken, that tells you everything about the gap between their presentation and their actual output.

3. They Quote a Price Without Understanding Your Goals

A developer who sends a flat quote after a 15-minute call — without understanding your goals, your audience, or what "done" actually means — is not pricing your project. They are guessing. Or they have a standard package they sell to everyone regardless of fit.

Proper scoping takes time. It involves asking uncomfortable questions about budget, existing infrastructure, timeline constraints, and what has failed before. A number without that conversation is not a quote. It is a placeholder that will almost certainly change once work begins.

4. The Contract Is Vague About Deliverables and Timelines

Vague contracts protect the developer, not you. Watch for language like "website design and development" with no further detail. What pages exactly? How many revision rounds? Who owns the code at the end? What happens if a deadline is missed? What are payment milestones tied to?

Every deliverable should be named. Every milestone should have a date. Payment should be tied to the completion of specific items, not to arbitrary time periods. According to the Project Management Institute, 70% of IT projects experience scope creep — and the warning signs are almost always visible in the contract before coding starts. If a developer resists specificity in writing, that is the single biggest red flag on this list.

5. They Never Mention Post-Launch Support

Your website does not stop needing attention the day it goes live. Hosting needs managing, platforms need updating, content needs changing, and things break — sometimes immediately. A developer who does not proactively discuss what happens after launch is either planning to disappear or has simply not thought beyond delivery.

Before signing, ask directly: What does the handover include? Will I have full access to the hosting, domain, and codebase? What is the process if something breaks in the first 30 days? The answers reveal whether you are entering a long-term working relationship or a one-off transaction.

6. Communication Feels Slow and Reactive Before You Have Even Started

The way a developer communicates during the sales process is the best available preview of how they will behave during the project. If they take days to answer an initial enquiry, send short replies to detailed questions, or require you to chase them for basic information, that pattern does not improve once they have your deposit.

Research consistently shows that 67% of project delays trace back to miscommunication between developers and clients, not technical problems. The code is almost never what sends a project sideways. The relationship is.

7. They Never Ask Who Your Customers Are

A developer's job is not just to build something that looks good. It is to build something that works for the specific people who will use it. That means understanding your audience before making any design or technology decision.

If a developer does not ask about your customers — their typical age range, what device they are on, what they are trying to accomplish, what would make them trust you — they are building for themselves, not for your business. The result is a website that performs well in a portfolio screenshot and underperforms in real traffic.

This connects directly to the UX and design mistakes that quietly cost businesses. Many of the most common ones stem from developers who skip this question entirely.

How to Protect Yourself Before Signing Anything

Hiring the right developer does not require you to become technical. It requires asking the right questions and paying attention to how they are answered.

A few non-negotiables before any contract is signed:

Speak to two or three past clients directly — not just read testimonials. A quick call reveals things a reference letter never will.
Check live site performance — run at least two portfolio sites through Google PageSpeed Insights and look at the mobile score.
Clarify ownership upfront — confirm in writing that you will leave with full access to the domain, hosting, and all code.
Review milestone payment terms — you should pay for delivery, not for time passing.

The right developer will not just tolerate these questions — they will expect them. Due diligence signals a serious client, and serious developers prefer working with serious clients.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much should I expect to pay for a professional website?

A professionally built custom website for a small business typically ranges from £2,000 to £10,000 depending on scope, complexity, and the developer's experience. Simpler projects (e.g. a landing page) can naturally range from £600 to £800. Anything significantly below that range for a custom build is almost always cutting corners somewhere — and you will usually pay for it in rework within 18 months.

What questions should I ask before hiring a web developer?

Ask about their discovery process, who your point of contact will be throughout the project, what post-launch support looks like, and for the names of two or three recent clients you can call directly. Also ask to see the PageSpeed score of a live site they have built recently.

What should a web development contract include?

At minimum: a list of specific deliverables, milestone-based payment terms, a timeline with review dates, clarity on who owns the code and assets, a revision policy, and terms for post-launch support. If any of these are missing or vague, request them before signing.

Freelancer vs. agency — which is better for a small business?

Neither is universally better. Freelancers often offer better value for focused projects and more direct communication. Agencies offer more resources for complex builds but come with higher overhead and sometimes less senior attention on your specific project. The quality of the individual or team matters far more than the label.

If you want to talk through your project and understand what working together would look like — without pressure or jargon — reach out here. I am happy to answer questions even if you are not ready to start yet.