What to check before you hire an agency

If you are a business owner about to hire an agency or freelancer for a website, an app, an automation or a brand, here is the version of this conversation nobody puts on a sales page. We write it as an agency; everything below is a check you should run on us too.

Where it goes wrong

Everything on this list has happened to a client who later came to us. None of it is unique to any country or price band, but a low quote makes it more tempting to ignore the warning signs.

The portfolio is not theirs. Screenshots of templates, or of work done by a previous employer, presented as the agency's own. Ask who on the current team built each item and what they did.

The quote is low and the change requests are not. A small quote quadruples through "additional pages", "revisions beyond scope" and "integration charges" that were never spelled out. The fix is a written scope with exclusions, before the deposit.

You never speak to the person doing the work. A polished account manager sells, then hands you to a rotating cast. Questions take three days because they go through two people. Ask on the first call who will build it and whether you can talk to them directly.

They own your stuff. Domain registered in their account, hosting on their reseller plan, code in their repo, Figma files in their workspace. Leaving means starting over. Insist that every account is in your name from day one.

Silence. Weeks without an update, then a rush before the deadline. This is the most common failure and the easiest to prevent: a weekly demo, on the calendar, non-negotiable.

What to check before you pay a deposit

Ten minutes of due diligence saves a bad month.

1. A live site or app you can click. Not a screenshot. Ask for two or three, and ask what the agency specifically did on each.
2. A reference you can message. One real past client on LinkedIn or email.
3. A written scope. Deliverables, exclusions, number of revision rounds, timeline, price in USD, payment schedule.
4. Ownership stated in writing. "On final payment, all code, design files and accounts transfer to the client."
5. A named point of contact you can reach directly.
6. How they handle payments. Bank transfer, Wise, Payoneer, Stripe and card are all normal. Be careful with vendors who only accept untraceable methods.
7. What happens if they miss the date. Any answer is fine; no answer is not.
8. Who does the work. In-house, contractors, or a subcontracted agency? All can be fine. Hidden subcontracting is not.
9. A written number before the deposit. A scope with the price attached leaves less room to make up a number after they have sized you up.
10. How they talk about themselves. Where they are, who is on the team, what they have and have not built. If the basics are vague, ask yourself what else is.

How to run the project so you get the good version

Hiring well is half of it. The other half is how you run the engagement, and most of it costs nothing.

Pay in instalments that match the size of the job. Small jobs are often paid in full on sign-off, before handover; mid-size ones 50% upfront and 50% before handover; larger ones a 30% deposit, then by milestones. Be suspicious of anyone who wants all of a large project paid in advance.

Have a weekly 20-minute demo. Same day, same time. The agency shows what changed on a live staging link. You give feedback in the call, not in a 40-message email thread.

Write feedback where the work is. Comments in Figma, on the staging site, or in a shared doc. "Make it pop" in WhatsApp at midnight does not count.

Approve in writing. When a stage is done, say so in an email. It protects both sides.

Keep the logins. Domain, hosting, CMS, analytics, repo, app stores. If you cannot log in to it today, ask why.

Give content on time. The single most common reason projects slip is the client's text and images arriving three weeks late. If you do not have content, buy copywriting as part of the scope.

Expect clear communication. Answers that address the question, and a reply within a working day.

Why we put this in writing

Everything above is why every Symorpha project starts with a written scope: deliverables, exclusions, timeline and the number, before a deposit changes hands. A clear scope up front removes the entire category of "bait and upsell" that gives agencies a bad name.

We expect to be judged on the work, the communication and whether you own the result at the end. If an agency you are talking to can say the same three things plainly, you are probably in good hands. If they cannot, keep looking.

---

If you want a second opinion on a quote you have received from someone else, book a call; we will tell you honestly whether it is fair.