Note
Twelve questions to ask before hiring a web developer
The questions that separate a good quote from an expensive one, what a solid answer sounds like, and the answers that should end the conversation.
- Author
- Bing Wen
- Published
- Reading
- 5 min
- Topics
- Working with developers · Hiring · Singapore
Most people hiring a developer have no way to assess the technical answers, so they fall back on assessing the person. That is not a bad instinct, but it is beatable by anyone personable, and it is how a lot of bad projects start.
These twelve questions are chosen because you do not need technical knowledge to judge the answer. In each case a good answer is specific and a poor one is a category of reassurance. You are listening for the difference.
Before you shortlist
1. Is your business registered, and under what name?
You can check any Singapore entity yourself through ACRA's BizFile portal. This is not about doubting anyone. It is about knowing who your contract is with, whether the invoice will match, and who you would actually be chasing if the work stopped.
| A good answer | A poor answer |
|---|---|
| A registered name and UEN you can look up | "I operate under my own name, it is simpler" with no further detail |
| A clear statement if they are not registered, and why | Vagueness about which entity is invoicing you |
Working with an unregistered individual is legal and common. Not knowing which is which is the problem.
2. Can I see three sites you built that are live right now?
Live and current, not screenshots from a case study. Open them on your phone. Check whether they still load, whether the content is from this decade, and whether the client is still using them.
3. Which of those did you write the code for, and what did other people do?
Portfolios blur this constantly. A designer's portfolio and a developer's portfolio can show the identical project. Neither is lying, and you still need to know which half you are hiring. A developer who works with designers should be able to describe the split on each project without hesitating.
About the build
4. What is explicitly not included in this price?
The single highest value question on this list. The gap between two quotes usually lives entirely in the answer. Copywriting, photography, content entry, stock imagery, revisions past a certain count, and anything after launch are the six that most commonly turn out to be extra.
5. Who writes the copy, and when do you need it?
Content is the most common reason a project runs late, and it is almost always the client's side that stalls. A developer who has a plan for this (a deadline, a template, a writer they work with, or a clear statement that it is yours to supply by a given date) has run real projects. One who has not raised it will raise it in week three.
6. How will this perform on a phone on mobile data, and how will we check?
Google is explicit that page experience, including loading performance, is part of how it ranks pages. You want to hear a measurement, not an adjective. A number from a named tool, run on a real device, on a page comparable to yours.
| A good answer | A poor answer |
|---|---|
| "Here is a Lighthouse or PageSpeed score for a site I built" | "It will be fully optimised" |
| A stated target and how they will hold it | "It will be responsive" (a different thing entirely) |
7. What happens when I want to change the text on a page?
Ask them to describe the exact steps. If the answer is that you email them, price that. Small edits at a minimum billing increment become the largest line in year two, and it is the reason so many business sites have a copyright notice three years out of date.
8. Will the site collect personal data, and how are you handling PDPA?
If there is a contact form, the answer is yes, it collects personal data. Under the Personal Data Protection Act the obligation sits with you as the organisation, not with your developer, which is exactly why you want to know what they have built. Where enquiries are stored, who can read them, how long they are kept, and whether there is a privacy policy that describes what the site truly does.
About ownership and handover
9. Whose name will the domain, hosting and analytics accounts be in on day one?
The only correct answer is yours, with the developer given access rather than ownership. This is the item that costs the most to fix later and the one buyers least often think to ask. It has its own article, because there are four separate accounts and people usually own two of them.
10. If I stop working with you, what do I take with me?
Listen for whether the answer includes the source code and whether the site can run somewhere other than their preferred host. A site built on a proprietary platform is not portable, which is a legitimate trade with a real cost. You want to be making that trade knowingly.
| A good answer | A poor answer |
|---|---|
| "The repository, the accounts, and here is how to deploy it elsewhere" | "You will not want to leave" |
| A named platform, with its lock-in stated plainly | Silence on where the code lives |
11. What does the handover consist of?
A date, a list, and preferably a recording or a document. "I will walk you through it" is fine as an addition and thin on its own, because the walkthrough happens once, to whoever is available that afternoon, and that person may leave.
About after launch
12. What does year two cost, and what do I get for it?
Every site has a running cost. Hosting, the domain renewal, certificates, and whatever the platform charges. Ask for the number in writing, separately from the build price. Then ask what happens if something breaks at 9pm on a Saturday, and whether that is included, hourly, or not offered.
A developer who says support is not offered has told you something useful. One who implies unlimited availability and has not put it in writing has told you something too.
What the answers are for
You are not scoring these out of twelve. You are looking for a pattern. Specific answers, comfort with saying what is not included, and a plain statement of a limit are what a person with real project history sounds like. Reassurance in place of detail, on any of the twelve, tends to be the same throughout.
If you are weighing an individual against a firm rather than choosing between two individuals, the structural differences are set out in freelancer or agency for a Singapore website.
Sources
- 01BizFile, the ACRA business filing and search portalAccounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority · Checked 2 Sept 2026
- 02Personal Data Protection Act overviewPersonal Data Protection Commission Singapore · Checked 2 Sept 2026
- 03Understanding page experience in Google Search resultsGoogle Search Central · Checked 2 Sept 2026