How to hire a web designer without getting burned

Before you contact anyone

Write down what the website has to do. One commenter who has been building sites since 1997 split them into three kinds: a simple "here's who we are, call us" site; a site that captures leads, takes bookings or sells; and a site that is part of how the business runs, with customer portals and integrations. Do not buy the third kind when you need the first.

Then decide the one result you want. A plumber who wants calls from within 20 miles has a different website problem than a company shipping products nationwide. An owner in another thread said the first and only thing they ask a designer about is results: sales or leads.

Register your domain now, in your own name, at a registrar like Cloudflare, Porkbun or Namecheap. The designer gets added as a user later. Our domain and hosting guide explains how.

Where to find a designer

Referrals from other local business owners are still the most reliable source, because you can see the site and ask the owner how it went. Freelance marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr work if you hire through the platform: there is an order ID and a payment record. One commenter's warning about anyone who insists on a WhatsApp chat and a friends-and-family payment instead is worth taking seriously.

Be wary of cold calls. New business owners on r/smallbusiness describe getting daily calls and emails claiming a website has already been built for them. Commenters explained that sellers pull new registrations from public state records and generate a quick template with AI. Do not give anyone who calls you access to your domain, Google profile, email or payment details. If you are interested, ask for a link and a written proposal, and choose a provider on your own terms.

The questions to ask before you pay

These come from designers answering an owner who asked what they wish they had asked. Get the answers in writing.

A few more worth adding: how many people work on the project and whether any of it is outsourced, how long it will take, whether you will be able to edit the site yourself, and what they do about a privacy policy and accessibility. One owner mentioned having to tell their designer how much AI they were comfortable with, so raise that early if it matters to you.

How to judge the answers

Watch how they start. Owners who were happy with their designer said the good ones asked about the business, the customers and the goal before talking about design, and explained their decisions instead of just showing a portfolio.

Watch whether they push back. A designer in one thread put it well: if you ask for a big video header and they say "sure, no problem", that is an order taker. A good one tells you it will cost you calls on mobile, then builds it anyway if you still want it.

Ask about results, not screenshots. Pretty screenshots are easy to fake. Ask what one past site was supposed to do, whether it did it, and whether you can talk to that client. A designer who is proud of their work agrees quickly.

Red flags

• They want to register the domain for you, in their name.
• They want 100% up front, or will not write down the page list and revision count before you pay.
• The yearly costs are vague, or hosting is billed separately on a Wix or Squarespace site where hosting is already included.
• The site is "licensed" to you and disappears if you stop paying their monthly fee.
• They cannot show a live site they built, only mockups.
• Payment outside a contract or platform, or any request to send money on to a third party. A designer on r/smallbusiness described an overpayment scam where a polished "client" signed an agreement and then asked for a consultant fee to be passed along through the payment. Keep every payment between you and the designer, for the agreed amount.

Reading the quote

Expect a wide range. For a five-page small business site, the most upvoted answer in an r/web_design pricing thread put a reasonable custom freelance price at $3,000 to $6,000. Owners in r/smallbusiness reported paying $1,400, $3,500, and under $1,000 for sites with booking built in. Some designers charge nothing up front and a monthly fee instead; one owner paying $0 up front and $60 a month for hosting, updates and fixes was told that was a good deal. Our website cost guide has the full breakdown.

Common payment terms from designers in those threads are a deposit to start (often 50%, or a third), a payment at launch, and sometimes a final payment shortly after. One commenter suggested a safer way to test a new designer: pay for one page that actually loads on a domain you already own, and treat it like a job interview.

At handover

• Admin logins for the website, plus confirmation that the domain, hosting, email, analytics and Google Business Profile are in accounts under your business email.
• A test of every form and booking, from a phone, with you watching where the messages arrive.
• A list of every plugin, theme or tool with a licence or subscription, and its renewal date.
• A backup of the finished site stored somewhere you control.
• Written instructions, or a short video, for the edits you will make yourself, like hours, prices and photos.

We do our own handovers this way. If you want a five-page WordPress site built with no design fee and everything in your name, see how our free website works.