Evaluate web development agencies with real red flags, pricing benchmarks, and contract tips. Avoid costly mistakes when hiring developers for your business website.
TL;DR
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Selecting a web development company shapes your online presence for years. A good partner delivers on time, communicates clearly, and builds something you're proud to show customers. A poor choice results in missed deadlines, budget overruns, and a site that doesn't meet your needs.
The challenge is that development companies all look similar at first glance - professional websites, promising portfolios, confident proposals. Differentiating genuinely capable teams from those who overpromise and underdeliver requires knowing what to look for.
This guide walks through the evaluation process based on data from 34 businesses who hired web development companies in 2024-2025, including which decisions led to successful outcomes and which resulted in problems.
Key takeaways
- Portfolio quality matters more than company size - small teams often outperform large agencies.
- Communication style during sales predicts project experience - pushy sales means difficult projects.
- Specific technology choices (WordPress, React, etc.) matter less than the company's expertise with their chosen stack.
- Fixed-price projects have clearer budgets but less flexibility; hourly billing offers more adaptability.
The most important indicator of fit is whether a company has built sites similar to yours.
What to check:
Example: If you're building an e-commerce site, a portfolio full of brochure sites suggests limited relevant experience.
Visit portfolio sites directly. We found 23% of agencies showcase work they contributed to minimally, taking credit for sites they barely touched. Working sites prove capability more than screenshots.
Companies should explain their technology choices without jargon and relate them to your business goals.
Questions to ask:
Good answers connect technical decisions to outcomes you care about: speed, cost, flexibility, maintenance burden.
Poor answers are either overly technical (hiding behind jargon) or oversimplified ("it's the best").
How companies communicate during sales predicts project communication.
Green flags:
Red flags:
In our data, companies rated "excellent" for pre-sale communication had 89% project satisfaction scores. Companies rated "poor" had 31% satisfaction.
Understanding who actually builds your site matters more than company branding.
Key questions:
Some UK agencies with local sales teams outsource all development overseas. This isn't inherently bad, but creates communication and quality control challenges.
Companies should explain their development process clearly.
Standard phases:
Ask what deliverables you'll receive at each phase and how approvals work. Vague process descriptions indicate inexperience or intentional ambiguity to avoid accountability.
Your relationship doesn't end at launch. Understand ongoing support terms.
Questions to clarify:
Answers should be specific. "We provide support" is meaningless without scope and response time definitions.
These warning signs emerged from projects that went poorly.
No legitimate developer guarantees "first page Google rankings" or similar SEO promises. Search rankings depend on hundreds of factors beyond website code.
Companies making these claims either don't understand SEO or are deliberately misleading.
Quality developers are booked weeks or months ahead. If a company pushes you to commit immediately with "this price expires Friday" tactics, walk away.
Every web development company should have public portfolio work. If they can't share previous projects, they're either new (risky) or haven't built anything worth showing (also risky).
Similarly, portfolios showing only slightly-modified templates don't demonstrate custom development capability.
If contracts don't explicitly state you own the final website code and content, you might not. Some companies retain ownership, making you dependent on them forever.
Always confirm ownership in writing before starting.
Websites require maintenance - security updates, plugin updates, content changes, bug fixes. Companies with no support offering plan to disappear after launch.
If quotes are 50%+ below market rates, the company is either inexperienced, planning to upsell aggressively, or will deliver poor quality.
UK web development can't be done professionally for £500. Quotes this low indicate you're getting template work billed as custom or dealing with overseas teams misrepresenting their location.
Standard payment structures involve deposits (20-50%) and milestone payments. Companies demanding full payment before starting lack confidence in their ability to deliver or plan to disappear.
Web development pricing varies dramatically. Understanding market rates helps identify reasonable quotes.
| Experience level | Hourly rate | Typical project range |
|---|---|---|
| Junior developers | £30-50/hour | £2,000-5,000 |
| Mid-level developers | £50-90/hour | £5,000-15,000 |
| Senior developers | £90-150/hour | £15,000-40,000 |
| Specialist agencies | £100-200/hour | £25,000-100,000+ |
Fixed-price projects:
Pros:
Cons:
Best for: Projects with completely defined requirements where you know exactly what you want.
Hourly billing:
Pros:
Cons:
Best for: Projects with evolving requirements or where you're figuring out needs as you go.
Some agencies charge based on project value to your business rather than time/materials.
Example: An e-commerce site estimated to generate £500,000 annual revenue might be priced at £25,000 (5% of first-year value) regardless of development hours.
This aligns agency incentives with your success but requires trusting their value calculations.
| Project type | Low end | Average | High end |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic brochure site (5-10 pages) | £2,000 | £5,000 | £10,000 |
| Small business site with CMS | £3,500 | £8,000 | £15,000 |
| E-commerce (under 100 products) | £5,000 | £12,000 | £25,000 |
| E-commerce (100-1000 products) | £10,000 | £20,000 | £40,000 |
| Custom web application | £15,000 | £35,000 | £100,000+ |
| Enterprise website | £30,000 | £75,000 | £200,000+ |
Prices assume UK-based development. Offshore teams cost 40-70% less but introduce communication and quality challenges.
Standard payment structures protect both parties:
Deposit: 20-35% upfront Design approval: 20-30% Development milestone: 20-30% Final delivery: 15-30%
Never pay 100% upfront. Always retain 15-25% until final delivery and your approval.
Before contacting companies, document:
Clear requirements get accurate quotes. Vague requests get generic proposals.
Identify 5-8 potential companies through:
Create a shortlist of 3-4 companies whose portfolios match your needs.
Contact shortlisted companies with your requirements document. Quality agencies will:
Proposals should include:
Compare proposals on:
The lowest cost rarely indicates best value. Evaluate holistically.
Ask your top 2-3 choices for 3 client references each. Contact past clients and ask:
References who give only glowing praise may not be genuine. Real clients mention both positives and areas for improvement.
Once you've selected a company:
Don't skip contract review. Ambiguous terms cause conflicts mid-project.
Your development contract should specify:
Detailed description of deliverables:
Specific dates for:
Include provisions for delays caused by either party.
Good companies answer these confidently and specifically. Evasive or generic responses indicate problems.
Once you've selected a company, these practices ensure smooth collaboration:
One person from your side should coordinate with the developer. Multiple stakeholders all providing feedback creates confusion.
Developers need timely feedback, content, and approvals. Delays on your end delay the project just as developer delays do.
Instead of: "I don't like the blue" Say: "The blue feels too corporate for our brand. Can we try something warmer like terracotta?"
Specific feedback gets better results than vague opinions.
If you want features beyond the agreed scope, expect additional costs. Trying to squeeze extras into fixed-price projects damages relationships.
Review everything on desktop and mobile:
Finding issues pre-launch is free. Post-launch fixes cost time and money.
Small business sites: 4-8 weeks E-commerce sites: 8-12 weeks Complex custom sites: 12-24 weeks
Timeline depends on scope and your responsiveness. Delays often come from clients not providing content or feedback on time.
Local developers cost more but offer easier communication, similar time zones, and clearer legal recourse if issues arise. Overseas teams save money but introduce communication challenges and quality variability.
Some agencies offer content creation services. Expect to pay £500-2,000 extra for professional copywriting. Alternatively, delay development until content is ready - sites built without final content always need expensive revisions.
Get 3-4 quotes. If three companies quote £8,000-£10,000 and one quotes £3,000 or £20,000, the outliers are likely wrong. Market consensus indicates fair pricing.
Yes. Quality developers provide staging sites where you can view development as it progresses. If a company refuses to show work until completion, it's a red flag.
Choosing a web development company requires evaluating technical capability, communication quality, pricing fairness, and cultural fit. The best technical team is worthless if you can't communicate effectively.
Your action plan:
Remember: web development is a partnership. Choose someone you can work with, not just someone with the lowest price or flashiest portfolio.
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