Why this goes wrong so often
Almost nobody sets out to trap a client. It happens because of how the work is assembled: the developer registers the domain because it is quicker, the site is built on a licence in the agency’s name because that is the account they have, and the analytics go in whichever property was already open.
None of that is sinister. It is only a problem later, when you want to change supplier and discover that four separate things need untangling, and that the person who has to untangle them is the one losing your business.
1. The domain name
This is the one that matters most and the one most often wrong. Your domain should be registered to you — your name or your company’s — at a registrar you have the login for.
Ask: *"Is the domain registered in my name, and can I log in to the registrar myself?"* If your supplier holds it, you are not in a supplier relationship. You are a tenant.
A domain is also the one thing that is hard to recover if a relationship ends badly. Everything else can be rebuilt.
2. The code
The files that make up your site should exist somewhere you can reach, ideally in a version-control repository in your own account.
Ask: *"Where does the source code live, and do I have access to it today?"* "On our server" is not an answer. Neither is "we can export it if you leave" — you should not have to ask.
Watch for proprietary page builders and closed platforms. If the site can only be edited inside one company’s tool, you own the words on it and very little else.
3. The hosting
Two questions here: whose account is it in, and could you move it?
Reseller hosting is common and not inherently wrong, but you should know if that is what you have. Ask: *"If I wanted to move hosting next month, what would that involve?"* A short answer is a good sign. A long, uncomfortable one is a warning.
4. The content
Photography, video, illustration and copy are all licensed things, and the licence terms are rarely discussed.
Ask: *"What am I licensed to do with the photographs and the copy, and for how long?"* Stock imagery in particular often comes with a licence held by the agency rather than by you — which means it stops being yours when they do.
Original commissioned work should transfer to you outright. Stock and library material comes with a licence rather than ownership, and an honest supplier will tell you which is which without being asked.
5. The analytics and the accounts
Your Google Analytics property, your Search Console, your advertising accounts and any pixel data should sit in accounts you own, with your supplier granted access — not the other way round.
This one is quietly the most expensive to get wrong. Rebuilding a website takes weeks. Rebuilding years of historical analytics takes years, because the data simply is not recoverable.
Ask: *"Are the analytics and ad accounts in my name, with you added as a user?"*
The one question that covers all five
If you remember nothing else, ask this: "If I stopped working with you tomorrow, what would stop working?"
A good supplier answers "nothing" without hesitating, because they built it that way. An evasive answer tells you everything, and it tells you before you have signed rather than after.
In shortAsk any supplier: "If I stopped working with you tomorrow, what would stop working?" The answer should be "nothing" — and it should come quickly.
It is the standard we hand over to: code in your repository, accounts in your name, and documentation good enough for another developer to pick up cold. More about websites →