The questions to ask a web designer before hiring are about ownership, process and what happens after launch, not just the portfolio. Who owns the domain, hosting and code? What does the price cover, and what does it leave out? In 2026, also ask whether ChatGPT and Google's AI answers can read the site, because if they cannot read it, they cannot recommend you.
We are a Toronto web design studio, and these are the 12 questions we would ask if we were hiring, each with what a good answer sounds like and the point at which we would walk away.
Key facts
- A freelance site typically starts around $1,500 in Canadian dollars, says a SyncSpark cost guide.
- A large agency starts around $15,000, per SyncSpark.
- "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google," says Google's hiring advice.
- A site that blocks the crawler behind ChatGPT search "will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers," per OpenAI's crawler docs.
- The review site Clutch lists 30 web design firms in the city, with ratings updated September 26, 2026.
What should you ask a web designer before hiring?
Cover past work, people, process, price, ownership, copy, speed and aftercare, then add four questions about AI search. Each question below comes with the reason it matters, a good answer and a warning sign.
Get the answers in writing.
1. Can I see live sites you built, and talk to one of those clients?
- Why it matters: screenshots hide slow pages and layouts that break on phones. A live site can't.
- Good answer: three or four live URLs close to your industry, plus a client you can call.
- Warning sign: only mockups, or "those clients are confidential" for every project.
2. Who exactly will work on my site?
- Why it matters: at many agencies the person who sells the project is not the person who builds it.
- Good answer: names and roles, and who your weekly contact is.
- Warning sign: "our team" with no names, or work handed to subcontractors you never meet.
3. What is your process, and where do I sign off?
- Why it matters: most blown timelines start with unclear approvals.
- Good answer: a short list of stages (discovery, design, build, launch) with a review point at each.
- Warning sign: "we'll figure it out as we go."
4. What does the price include, and what costs extra?
- Why it matters: copywriting, photos, extra pages and revisions are the usual add-ons.
- Good answer: a line-item quote with the number of revision rounds stated.
- Warning sign: one number with no breakdown, or hourly billing with no cap.
5. Who owns the domain, the hosting account and the code?
- Why it matters: it decides whether you can ever leave.
- Good answer: "The domain and hosting are in your name, on your card. You get the code and design files when you pay."
- Warning sign: the designer registers the domain to themselves, or you can only leave by paying an exit fee.
6. Who writes the words?
- Why it matters: without copy, a design is a template.
- Good answer: a clear yes or no, and if yes, how many pages.
- Warning sign: "just send us your content" on a project you thought was complete.
7. How fast will the site load on a phone?
- Why it matters: page experience is one of the basics Google lists for its AI answers, and speed is a large part of it.
- Good answer: they show you speed scores for a site they already launched.
- Warning sign: "speed depends on your hosting" with no further answer.
8. What happens after launch?
- Why it matters: sites break, plugins age, staff change, and the person who built it may not be around when something goes wrong.
- Good answer: a named plan with a monthly price, or a clean handover with training.
- Warning sign: no answer, or a maintenance contract you cannot cancel.
The last four questions are about search and AI, and get their own section further down.
Freelancer, studio or agency: which fits you?
A freelancer fits a small, well-defined site on a tight budget, a small studio suits a business that wants custom work and one senior contact, and a large agency makes sense for big organisations with many stakeholders. It comes down to scope. The cost row uses SyncSpark's June 2026 Canadian price bands; the other rows are our reading of how each set-up usually works, not measured data.
| | Freelancer | Small studio | Large agency | |---|---|---|---| | Typical cost (Canadian $) | $1,500 to $5,000, "quality varies widely by who you hire" | $3,000 to $10,000+ for custom design | $15,000+ | | Who you talk to | The person doing the work | Usually a founder or senior lead | An account manager | | Speed | Depends on one person's calendar | Short chain of approvals | "Heavy process, large scope, longer timelines" | | Main risk | One point of failure if they get sick or busy | Limited capacity for very large builds | Paying for layers you do not need | | Best for | Simple brochure sites | Owner-led businesses that want custom work | Enterprises with many departments |
Quoted cells are from SyncSpark's cost guide. For a fuller price breakdown, see how much a website costs in Toronto.
Our own builds start at $2,500 in American dollars (details on our pricing page). Check the exchange rate before you compare that with SyncSpark's Canadian bands.
What are the red flags?
The clearest red flags are promised rankings, a domain in the designer's name, and a vague answer when you ask what the price includes. Walk away from all three.
Google's own advice on hiring search help was written for people hiring search consultants. The warning carries straight over to web designers, though, and in Google's words you should "be careful if a company is secretive or won't clearly explain what they intend to do".
- Guaranteed rankings. Nobody can promise first place. Google says so in the same guide.
- Ownership held back. Domain, hosting or code kept in the designer's name.
- A platform you cannot leave. Ask if the site can be exported, and in what form.
- No written scope. If it is not in the proposal, assume it is not included.
- Cold emails promising page one. Google warns about these too.
- Search work that is only upkeep. If the monthly search fee only covers plugin updates, read why your search agency might be a glorified webmaster.
How do you check a Toronto web designer's work and reviews?
Check three places: their live sites, their Clutch profile and their Google reviews, since each shows something the others miss.
Live sites. Open three sites they built on your phone. Do the pages load quickly, do the forms actually send, and is the copy specific to that business or could it be pasted onto any competitor's site without anyone noticing?
Clutch. Clutch's Toronto directory shows each firm's minimum project size, average hourly rate and team size. Clutch says its rankings come from client interviews and checks of delivered work, and because the minimum project size is listed up front, that one number alone rules out a lot of firms.
Google reviews. Read the text, not the star average. The useful reviews name a project, a person or a problem they sorted out. This month Search Engine Roundtable reported that some businesses started getting emails about spikes in spam reviews, so a sudden burst of short five-star reviews deserves a second look.
If you want a shortlist to start from, our guide to the best web design agencies in Toronto compares studios side by side.
Questions to ask about AI search in 2026
By AI search we mean tools like ChatGPT that answer a question and name businesses in the answer. We ask these four because AI search already sends us prospects, one of them straight from a ChatGPT answer.
9. Will ChatGPT and Google's AI be able to read the site?
- Why it matters: OpenAI says sites that block its search crawler "will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers" (OpenAI), and hosting settings can block crawlers without anyone noticing. Cloudflare, a common hosting and security layer, started blocking some AI crawlers by default on new domains on September 15, 2026, while keeping search crawlers allowed (Cloudflare).
- Good answer: they check robots.txt and your firewall settings, then show you which crawlers are allowed.
- Warning sign: "AI doesn't matter for your business" or a blank look.
10. Is the important content in text, not only in images or video?
- Why it matters: Google's guidance for its AI answers asks for "important content available in textual form" on the page, because text is what these systems read first.
- Good answer: services, prices, areas served and hours all live as real text on the page.
- Warning sign: your key details sit inside a slider graphic or a PDF.
11. Do you add structured data, and does it match the page?
- Why it matters: structured data is code that labels facts (your name, address, services) for machines. Google's AI features guidance says the markup must match the visible text and that AI features need no special markup, so a designer selling one is overselling.
- Good answer: standard types such as LocalBusiness and FAQPage, checked in a free validator. Our structured data guide explains the basics.
- Warning sign: "we'll add an AI file that guarantees ChatGPT picks you."
12. How will we know if AI search is working?
- Why it matters: otherwise nobody knows.
- Good answer: they test real customer questions in ChatGPT and other AI tools before launch and again after it, so there is a baseline to compare against when someone asks whether the work paid off. We describe one way to do this in how to measure AI search visibility.
- Warning sign: a promise with no way to check it.
What the questions don't cover
The twelve questions above will not tell you whether you will like working with someone, and for that a short paid discovery session or a phone call with a past client is the better test.
The cost bands come from SyncSpark alone. Local quotes vary widely, so treat them as a starting range. We have not audited the firms listed on Clutch ourselves either.
Moving off a site builder changes some of the questions, and our post on switching from Wix covers what to ask in that case.