Most UK web design agency contracts are signed after one good meeting and a slick proposal. That's how projects go wrong. Seven questions before you sign that will catch most of the problems before they become yours.
1. "Can I have references to three clients you launched in the last 12 months — that I can phone?"
- Not testimonials on their website. Phone numbers. References that you actually ring.
- Good agencies have happy clients who'll take five minutes for a call.
- Bad agencies will discover a dozen reasons references aren't available.
2. "What does your post-launch handover include?"
Listen for: documented admin access, content editor training, source code in a repo you own, deployment credentials transferred.
If any of those are missing, you don't actually own your website — you're renting it.
3. "What happens if I want to leave you in two years?"
The honest answer: you should be able to take your website and host it anywhere.
The dishonest answer involves "proprietary platform" or "we host all our clients on our managed stack". The dishonest answer is a lock-in trap.
4. "Will you publish my pricing on your website like you publish everyone else's?"
- Half the agencies in the UK won't publish their pricing.
- The argument is that "every project is different".
- The reality is that hiding pricing lets them charge what they think they can get.
We publish ours. If they won't tell you a starting-from number, ask why.
5. "What's your speed and accessibility commitment?"
A 2026 professional website should hit Lighthouse Performance 80+ on mobile and Accessibility 95+.
Ask what they aim for. If they don't have numbers, they don't measure, and that means they're not optimising.
6. "Show me a project that overran on time or budget. What happened and what did you change?"
The good answer is honest and specific: "we underestimated the integration with X, here's what we changed in our scoping process".
The bad answer is "we don't really overrun" — which means they're either inexperienced or about to.
7. "Will the people in this meeting actually be the people doing the work?"
Common UK agency pattern: senior people sell, juniors deliver.
Sometimes that works, often it doesn't. Get clear before you sign on who will be your day-to-day contact and who will write the code.
What good answers look like
A good agency answers these questions easily and without defensiveness.
They have processes, references, a published price list, and they're comfortable talking about projects that didn't go perfectly. They don't oversell.
A bad agency answers in marketing-speak, deflects on specifics, won't give references, and gets uncomfortable around the pricing question.
What to do after the meeting
- Phone the references. Two specific questions: "would you hire them again?" and "what would you change next time?"
- Read the contract before signing. Look for: who owns the IP, what happens at termination, how content changes are billed.
- If you're getting price quotes from multiple agencies, share a one-page brief with all of them so the comparisons are like-for-like.
- Trust your instincts on culture fit. You'll work with these people for months or years.
A small note on UK-specific things
UK web work involves UK GDPR, Companies House registration, sector regulators, and Welsh language considerations if you're in Wales.
Any agency that doesn't know what these mean shouldn't be your first choice. Sector-specific competence (accountants, solicitors, healthcare) matters more than design awards.
A note from the Bloomorbit studio
We're a Cardiff-based studio, transparent on pricing and references, and we'd rather lose a project to a better-fit agency than win one we can't deliver well.
Want a free audit of your current site or proposal before you sign anything? We'll give you an honest read.