What to prepare before you hire a web developer

Most of what makes a web project expensive, slow, or disappointing is decided before anyone writes a line of code. The good news is that the preparation is not technical. It is six decisions you can make yourself in an afternoon, and making them will change the quotes you get.

1. Write down what the site has to fix

Not what it should have. What it has to fix.

"I want a website" produces a quote for a generic website. "I lose about four bookings a month because messages get buried, and people call to ask my prices ten times a day" produces a quote for something that solves that, and gives you a way to tell afterwards whether it worked.

One paragraph is enough. Be specific about the pain and how often it happens.

2. Decide who the site is for

A site aimed at everyone reads as aimed at nobody. Pick the one customer you most want more of: new patients, walk-in clients, corporate accounts, parents booking for a child. Whoever builds it needs to know whose questions the page is answering.

3. Sort out your text and photos

This is where projects stall. Before you hire anyone, collect:

Your list of services, with what each one includes.
Your prices, or the ranges you are willing to publish.
Your hours, address, and the ways you want to be contacted.
Photos of your actual place and your actual work.

Real photos of your shop beat stock photography by a wide margin, and a phone camera in good daylight is enough. If you do not have text and photos, you are either paying someone to produce them or your project is waiting on you. Both are fine, but decide which, because published copywriting rates in the Philippines can run from ₱40,000 to ₱120,000 and that belongs in your budget rather than in a surprise.

4. Set a real budget range

You do not need a precise number, but you need a band, and you should say it. A developer who knows you have ₱40,000 can tell you what is possible for ₱40,000. A developer who does not know will either quote for something you cannot afford or ask you a lot of questions to find out anyway.

For context, published 2026 rates from Philippine studios put basic business sites roughly in the ₱40,000 to ₱120,000 band, with simpler one-page work available below that. Withholding your budget does not get you a better price; it gets you a slower conversation.

5. Decide what happens after launch

Ask yourself who changes your prices next year. If the answer is "the developer," that is a monthly or per-change cost, and it should be in the quote. If the answer is "me," you need something you can actually edit, and that is a design decision to make now rather than a complaint to make later.

6. Know what you must own

This is the one people skip, and it is the one that hurts.

Your domain name should be registered in your business name, with an account you control. Your hosting should be in your name, or you should know exactly what happens if you and the developer part ways. You should be told where the code lives and whether you have a copy.

None of this is an accusation against your developer. It is the same reason you keep your own business permits.

Questions worth asking whoever you hire

What exactly is included, in pages and features, written down?
Who writes the text, me or you?
Whose name is the domain registered in, and whose is the hosting account?
What is the ongoing cost after launch, and what does it cover?
How long will this take, and what happens if it slips?
What do I get if we stop working together?
Can I see something you built for a business roughly like mine?

Any developer worth hiring will answer all seven without hesitating. A vague answer on ownership or ongoing cost is the strongest signal you will get, and it is worth more than a portfolio.

The thing nobody will tell you

A good developer should be willing to tell you that you do not need what you asked for. If you come in asking for a six-page site with a booking system and what you actually need is one page with your prices on it, the person who says so is saving you money and probably earning less by doing it.

If you get through a whole conversation without anyone questioning your scope, you were not being advised. You were being quoted.