In the post on what a website costs I explained why two quotes for "the same" website can be so far apart. The next step is comparing quotes properly and knowing what you are signing. The questions below need no technical knowledge. A serious developer answers them easily, and the answers should be in writing, even in an email, before you pay a deposit.
What exactly you are buying
1. What does the price include, and what not? How many pages, how many languages, with or without VAT. Who writes the text and who provides the photos. If stock photos are used, under what licence. Anything not written in the quote will usually be charged later as extra.
2. Is it designed for you, or a ready-made theme? Both are fine, and a theme costs less. But you should know which one you are paying for. Ask too how many rounds of changes are included, so you are not billed for every colour adjustment.
3. Can I see your previous work, live? Not just images in a portfolio, but websites that are running today. Open them on your phone. If you can, ask one of their clients what working together was like after the launch.
Who owns what
4. In whose name will the domain be registered, and who will hold the logins? The domain (your .gr or .com) should be registered to you or your business, not the developer. The same goes for the hosting, the admin panel, your Google Business Profile and Google Search Console: ask for access to all of them. If you ever want to change developer, you should not need their permission to take what is yours.
5. What happens if I change developer? Can you take the files and text and move the website elsewhere? Some platforms do not allow moving at all. Put in the agreement who owns the design, the code, the text and the photos once you have paid in full. For the details of a large contract, a lawyer is the right adviser.
After the launch
6. Who handles updates and backups, and at what cost? A website needs upkeep. On WordPress, for example, 11,334 new security vulnerabilities were found in 2025, 91% of them in plugins, and 46% had no fix when they were made public. That does not make WordPress a bad choice. It means someone has to keep it updated. Ask also where backups are kept, how often they are made, and whether restoring one has ever been tested.
7. Can I change text, prices and photos myself? If yes, ask for a short training session. If not, ask what each change costs and how quickly it is done. For a hotel that changes prices every season, the answer matters.
The technical things you cannot see
8. How fast will it be on a phone? You can check this yourself. Put the address of one of the developer's previous sites into Google's free PageSpeed Insights and look at the mobile results. Google considers it good when the main content of a page appears within 2.5 seconds. If their previous sites are slow, yours probably will be too.
9. What about cookies and personal data? If the site uses cookies that are not needed for it to work, such as analytics or advertising, it needs consent. Under the Greek Data Protection Authority's recommendations, visitors must be able to refuse with the same number of clicks as they accept, and pre-ticked boxes do not count as consent. If the site has a contact or booking form, it also needs a privacy policy. Ask who will prepare these.
10. Will it be ready for Google? Titles and descriptions for every page, a sitemap, and connection to Search Console and your Google Business Profile. These are not an extra service; they are part of building a website properly. More in why your website doesn't show up on Google.
The deposit and the schedule
A deposit at the start is reasonable: the developer is reserving time for you. The rest is best tied to specific stages, for example approval of the design and the launch, rather than to dates. That way you pay for work you have seen.
Ask for an invoice or receipt for every payment, and a schedule with a date for each stage. Agree too on what is needed from you and when: many delays come from text and photos that arrive late, not from the developer.
The takeaway
Before you pay a deposit, you should know three things: exactly what you get for the price, that the domain and logins are in your name, and who looks after the website after launch. If a quote does not answer these, ask for it to be completed before you decide.
If you would like a quote from me, send these questions with your request and I will answer them in writing.