How to choose a web design company in Riyadh: studio, freelancer or agency

Search for a web designer in Riyadh and the results look alike: agencies, freelancers on marketplaces, small studios, each with a portfolio and a WhatsApp number. The portfolios are not what separates them. What separates them is who answers when something breaks in month four, who owns your files, and how many other projects are competing for the person building yours.

Three kinds of provider, three kinds of risk

None of the three is the right answer in general. Each is a trade, and the useful question is which risk you can afford.

• The freelancer. Often the lowest price and the most direct line to the person doing the work. The risk is dependence: one person, one inbox, no cover if they are ill, overbooked or simply stop replying.
• The agency. A larger team, with designers, developers and project managers. The risk is distance: the person who sells the project is rarely the person who builds it, and a small client can be a small priority.
• The small studio. A few people who both design and build, usually fewer clients at a time. The risk is capacity: they can only take so many projects, and there is less redundancy than in an agency.

Ask who actually does the work

The person on the sales call and the person writing the code are often different people, and in some cases the work is passed to someone you will never meet. That is not automatically a problem. It becomes one when nobody will tell you, so ask it directly and ask for names.

• Who designs it, who builds it, and who do I speak to when I have a question?
• Is any part subcontracted or outsourced, and to whom?
• How many other projects is that person working on while mine is in progress?

Ask who will own what when it is finished

This is where owners are most often caught out, because it is rarely discussed until there is a disagreement. The domain name, the hosting account, the source code and the design files can each be registered or held in the provider's name rather than yours. If the relationship ends, you can find yourself unable to move your own website.

• Is the domain registered in my name, with me as the owner on the registrar's account?
• Is the hosting account mine, or am I a guest on theirs?
• Do I receive the source code and the design files at handover, and in what form?
• Which third-party tools does the site depend on, and who pays for them?

Get the scope in writing before the deposit

Most disputes about a website are disagreements about what was included. A written scope does not need to be long, but it should say what you are getting and what happens when you want something it does not cover.

• The pages and features included, and in which languages.
• How many rounds of revisions are included, and what a further round costs.
• Who writes the content and who supplies the photography, and by when.
• The timeline, and what happens if either side misses it.
• How and when payment is split, and what you have at each stage.

Judge the Arabic, not only the English

A portfolio can look excellent in English and still be a mirrored copy in Arabic: text that wraps badly, icons pointing the wrong way, a typeface that was never chosen for Arabic letters. If your customers read Arabic first, open the Arabic version of every example on a phone and judge that one.

Ask what happens after launch

A website is not finished on launch day. Software needs updating, something eventually breaks, and the content you start with is out of date within a year. Find out whether support is included, for how long, how you reach someone, and what a fix costs once the included period ends.