How do I check a web design agency’s hosting and maintenance plans?

Start with the client list and the written terms behind each plan. Some arrangements are signed agreements, others are habits that carry on by email. Note which are which, because a handshake plan is easy for a client to drop after the sale.

Next, trace the technical side. Who owns the hosting accounts, the domain registrations and the access credentials: the agency or the client? If the agency sits on its own account with a supplier, ask how services would move to your name. Ask whether anything is bundled in a way that would cost you more to keep running than clients pay for it.

Then test the maintenance promise. Ask to see logs of updates, backups and security checks, and the tickets for requests clients raised. If the promised work is done by one person, find out whether that person is staying. A plan that exists only on paper, or depends on one technician, is a risk to price into your decision. Ask your lawyer to review how the plans can be assigned. If some plans are priced very low, ask why they were set that way and whether the agency lost money keeping them. Ask also how often a client has cancelled and what reasons they gave.

Key takeaways

• Get a client-by-client list showing billing and written terms.
• Confirm who owns each hosting and domain account.
• Ask for proof that maintenance work was actually done.