I have spent about 20 years running service businesses. I started as a fire technician. Then I ran my own security business for 14 to 15 years, starting around 2007. After that I moved into solar.
So I know what it is like to be busy. You are on a job. You are quoting. You are answering the phone. The website is something you want handled by someone else so you can get on with the work.
That is exactly how I lost R80,000 (South African rand).
What happened
Business had picked up. I had just finished two commercial jobs. I wanted to go after more of that bigger work. So I asked my website guy to upgrade my site. I wanted more pages and a proper commercial section.
I paid him R80,000. He never delivered.
I chased him for about a year and a half. In the end I gave up waiting and taught myself how to build the site. I did it on my own.
I am not going to name him. That is not the point of this article. The point is that I handed over a lot of money with almost no protection. Most of what went wrong could have been caught with a few plain questions.
It was not the first time
Over the years, three different people built websites for me. They looked okay. But they were just websites. There was no SEO and no plan. They never ranked.
I did not know to ask for anything else. I thought a website was a website. You pay, you get a site, and customers find you.
It does not work like that. A site that looks fine but is built with no plan will sit there and do nothing for you.
What I wish I had checked
Here is the list I use now. It is general advice. It will not fit every job, but it would have saved me a lot of money and time.
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Who owns the domain? The domain is your web address. It should be registered in your name, with your email on the account. If the designer owns it, they own your business address online. Ask to see the registration before any work starts.
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Who owns the hosting and the logins? You should be able to log in to the site yourself. You should know where it is hosted and who pays for it. If the answer is “I look after all that for you”, ask for your own admin login anyway.
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Get the scope in writing. A list of pages, what goes on each one, and what is included. “Upgrade the website” is not a scope. If you cannot read it back and picture the finished site, it is too vague.
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Get dates in writing. When does the first draft arrive? When does the site go live? What happens if those dates slip? A real person who plans to deliver will not mind putting dates on paper.
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Pay in stages. Do not pay the full amount up front. Tie each payment to something you can see, like a first draft, a finished draft and a live site. The final payment should come after the site is live and working.
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Ask to see work that ranks. A good-looking site is not enough. Ask for a few sites they have built, then search for those businesses on Google yourself. See where they show up. Ask what the designer did on purpose to help them be found.
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Ask who writes the words. Someone has to write the text on every page. If you are expected to supply it, find out now. If they will write it, ask if they understand your trade and your area.
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Ask what SEO is included. SEO is how Google decides whether to show your site. If it is not in the scope, assume it is not being done. Do not accept “it is built to be SEO friendly” with nothing behind it. Ask what that means, page by page.
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Ask what happens if they disappear. This one hurts me to write. Can you get a full copy of the site and everything on it? Can another person take it over? If the whole thing lives in one person’s account, you are stuck with that person.
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Check how they respond. Before you pay, notice how fast they answer your emails and calls. If they are slow to reply when they are trying to win your money, it will not get better after they have it.
Why this matters more than the price
When I look back, the R80,000 was not the only cost. I also lost about a year and a half. In that time the site that was supposed to help me win bigger work was not doing anything.
If you run a plumbing, electrical, HVAC, roofing, cleaning or contracting business, your time is worth a lot. A website that is late or never arrives wastes the fee, and it wastes the months you spent waiting.
What changed for me
The real results came when I learned it myself. I had to learn how a website should look. I had to learn the copy, the SEO, and how the pieces fit together. There are a lot of moving parts.
I do not say that to brag. I have only been learning marketing properly for about two years. I still have a lot to learn. But understanding the pieces is what finally let me ask the right questions. Once you know what a good website needs, it is much harder for someone to sell you a pretty page and call it done.
You do not have to learn all of it like I did. But you do need to know enough to check the work. The list above is a good start.
One more thing
At AI SEO Local, we build what we call a Smart Website. We can add AI to the site you already have, or build you a new one. We never force a rebuild. You always keep your own domain and your own data. We only ask you to point your DNS to us. It is month to month, so you are not locked in.
We also offer a Follow-Up System. It texts back missed calls, answers texts and chats, sends reminders, and keeps everything in one inbox. It works with either kind of site.
If you are not sure which way to go, you can book a “Help me choose” call. Bring this list with you and ask us every question on it.