Hire a web designer by doing five things in order. Write a short brief, look for candidates in the right places, judge their past work and references, compare quotes line by line, and get ownership, revisions and support in writing before any money moves. This guide walks through each step for a Canadian small business, with the questions to ask and the traps to avoid.
TL;DR
- Write a one-page brief first (goals, pages, features, budget range). Quotes are only comparable when every designer answers the same brief.
- Judge designers on live work similar to yours, references you can call, and how clearly they explain their process.
- Compare quotes on what is included: copywriting, SEO setup, hosting, revisions, edits after launch, and who owns the domain.
- Ask about payment timing. Some designers charge nothing until you approve the finished site, which removes most of the risk.
- Confirm in writing that you own your domain, content and accounts, and that you can leave without penalty.
Table of Contents
- Decide what you need before you contact anyone
- Where to find a website designer
- How to judge a portfolio and references
- What to put in the brief and the contract
- What a website costs and what moves the price
- Timelines: how long should it take?
- Ownership, revisions and support after launch
- Setting the site up to be found on Google
- Our perspective: why we ask you to pay last
- Choosing between candidates
- What we offer if you are in the GTA
- FAQ
- Sources
Decide what you need before you contact anyone
Most bad web design projects start with a vague request. "We need a new website" can mean a single page that takes enquiries, or a 15-page site with booking, or an online store. Each is a different job with a different price.
Before you contact a designer, answer these in a page or less:
- What should the site do? Generate calls, take bookings, collect form enquiries, sell products, or simply prove you exist and are trustworthy.
- Who is it for? Name the customers and the towns or neighbourhoods you serve. A plumber in Oshawa and a boutique in Oakville need different pages.
- Which pages do you need? A common starting list: home, services (one page per main service), about, contact. Add a page for each location if you serve several.
- Who writes the text? This is the step that stalls the most projects. If you plan to write it yourself, say so, and set a date. If you want the designer to write it, make sure that is in the quote.
- What do you already own? Domain name, logo, photos, Google Business Profile, business email.
- What is your budget range? Giving a range is not a weakness. It lets a good designer propose the right scope instead of guessing.
If you are replacing an old site, collect three or four competitor sites you like and dislike, and note why. A teardown of your competitors' websites shows what local rivals do well and where you can beat them, and it gives a designer a much sharper target than "make it modern".
Where to find a website designer
There are four main routes, and each suits a different kind of project.
Freelance marketplaces and design contests. According to CIRA, the .ca domain registry, Canadian small businesses can find designers on freelance marketplace sites, through design services, or by word of mouth from people who have had websites built. Marketplaces give you volume and quick quotes. The work is on you: vetting, briefing and keeping a project on track across time zones if the freelancer is overseas.
Referrals. Ask business owners in your area whose site you admire. A referral tells you what the designer is like to work with, which a portfolio cannot.
Local studios and agencies. A studio in your region understands your market, can meet in person, and often covers more than design: copywriting, search visibility, ads. Look for one that publishes its prices, because that tells you how it will behave when you ask for a quote.
Specialists in your industry. If you are regulated (dental, accounting, chiropractic, car sales), a designer who already knows what your regulator allows on a website saves you rewrites. For example, we publish guidance for dental practices and accounting firms in the Toronto area.
Whichever route you choose, aim for three candidates. Two gives you no comparison, and five gives you more reading than decisions.
How to judge a portfolio and references
A portfolio shows what a designer can make. It does not show whether the project ran well. Check both.
What to look at in the work
- Open the live sites, not screenshots. Load them on your phone. Do they read well on a small screen, and do the buttons work? This is what responsive design means in practice for a local business.
- Look for similar jobs. A designer with ten restaurant sites may not be the person for your law office. You want to see a comparable size and purpose.
- Read the words. Is the copy specific to the business, or could it sit on any site? Generic text is a sign you will be writing your own.
- Check speed and clarity. Can you find the phone number and the main service within a few seconds of landing?
- Search for the business behind each example. Does it show up on Google for its own name and service? A good-looking site that nobody finds does little.
Calls to make
Ask for two references, ideally small businesses, and ask them:
- Did the project finish when you were told it would?
- Were there surprise charges?
- How quickly does the designer answer an email now, months after launch?
- Did you get your logins, domain and files?
- Would you hire them again?
The last two questions tell you the most.
A structured way to compare
The BDC publishes a website design agency selection tool that lets you rate and compare agencies on technical skills, project management and costs, including quotes, pricing and maintenance models. Fill one in per candidate and the decision stops being a gut feeling.
What to put in the brief and the contract
The brief is what you send before the quote. The contract is what you sign after. Keep them consistent.
The brief
Send every candidate the same document with:
- A short description of the business and its customers
- The goal of the site and the one action you most want visitors to take
- The page list and any features (booking, forms, online payments, a second language)
- Who supplies text, photos and logo
- Your preferred launch timeframe
- Your budget range
- Two or three example sites, with notes on what you like
The contract
Whatever form it takes, an email agreement or a formal document, it should state:
- Scope. The number of pages, features and rounds of revisions. Say what an extra page costs.
- Content. Who writes, who supplies images, and who pays for licensed photos or fonts.
- Price and payment timing. The total, any deposit, and when the final payment is due.
- Timeline. Milestones and what the designer needs from you, and by when.
- Ownership. You own the domain, the written content, the design files you paid for and every account in your name.
- Hosting and ongoing work. What is monthly, what it covers, and how to cancel.
- Exit terms. What happens if either side stops, including how you take the site with you.
A designer who resists putting any of this in writing has told you something useful.
What a website costs and what moves the price
Prices for the same page count can differ several times over, so ask what is in the number. Four things move the price most:
- Number of pages. More pages mean more design, more writing and more testing.
- Custom versus templated design. A site built to your brand takes longer than one fitted into a template.
- Features. Online booking, forms, store checkout, a second language.
- Who writes the content. Writing is a significant share of the work. It is often left out of a quote, and then falls to you.
For reference, here are our own published prices. Every figure is a one-off fee for the build unless it says per month.
| What | Price |
|---|---|
| Landing page | $590 |
| Business website | $990 |
| Growth website | $1,900 |
| Custom build | from $3,500 |
| Online stores | from $3,500 |
| Online booking and forms | $290 |
| Extra page | $120 |
| Second language | $390 |
| Hosting and edits | $49 per month |
| Local SEO | $350 per month |
| Google and Meta ads | $399 per month |
The full list is on our pricing page. Whoever you hire, ask for a price list or quote that looks like this, with scope next to each number, so you can set quotes side by side.
Watch the monthly costs too. A site is not a one-time purchase: hosting, domain renewal, edits and any search or advertising work recur. Ask each candidate for a first-year total, not just the build fee.
Timelines: how long should it take?
A realistic timeline depends on scope, but also on you. Delays on web projects usually come from content and feedback, not from design. Ask each designer:
- How long from kickoff to a first draft you can look at?
- How many rounds of changes are included, and how fast do they turn around each?
- What do they need from you, and what happens to the schedule if it arrives late?
Get the milestones in writing. If the text is written for you, the biggest cause of delay disappears, which is one reason we write all the copy for our clients.
Ownership, revisions and support after launch
This is where small businesses get caught, because it only matters when something goes wrong. Before you sign, confirm:
- Domain. The domain should be registered in your name, with you as the owner. If the designer registers it for you, ask for the registrant details and a transfer path.
- Logins. You should have access to hosting, analytics, your Google Business Profile and any ad accounts.
- Revisions. How many rounds are included, and what a change after approval costs.
- A test version. A designer should show you the site before it goes live. A staging site is a private copy where you review everything first.
- Support. After launch, who updates your hours, adds a service, or fixes a broken form, how fast, and for what monthly fee?
- Leaving. Are there long-term contracts or exit fees? Can you move your site elsewhere?
- Business email. If your new domain will carry your email, check it is set up properly, or your messages may land in spam. We cover this in our guides to choosing business email and to SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
Setting the site up to be found on Google
A site that looks good but does not show up locally is a brochure in a drawer. Ask every candidate how they handle visibility, and listen for specifics rather than promises.
A sound setup covers:
- A clear page for each main service and each area you serve, with titles and meta descriptions written for those pages.
- A Google Business Profile that matches the website: same name, address, phone number and hours, with the right categories.
- Consistent local citations across directories.
- A fast site that works on phones.
- Tracking so you can see calls and form submissions.
If you also plan to run ads, say so in the brief. Landing pages built for ads differ from general pages, and the same designer can set up both. Ask who manages the ad accounts and whose name they sit under.
Our perspective: why we ask you to pay last
We build websites for small businesses across the Greater Toronto Area, and the same complaints come up when owners tell us about past projects: they paid a deposit and then waited, they were asked to write their own copy, or they were surprised by a bill.
So we built our process around those problems. You pay nothing until the website is built and you have approved it. We write all the text for you. Our prices are published in advance, you keep ownership of your domain, and there are no long-term contracts or exit fees. If you are not satisfied, you are not charged.
We also set up each site for SEO, so that your pages are ready to be found on Google from day one. Ongoing hosting, edits, local SEO and ad management are optional monthly services, not requirements.
When you compare designers, we suggest you give the most weight to the point where you take on risk. A designer who is confident in the finished product has reason to let you judge it before you pay.
Formory
Choosing between candidates
After the portfolio check, reference calls and quotes, put your shortlist in a simple scorecard. Score each from 1 to 5:
| Criterion | What a strong answer looks like |
|---|---|
| Relevant work | Live sites similar to yours, which load well on a phone |
| References | Owners who would hire them again |
| Price clarity | Itemised scope and a first-year total |
| Content | Writing included, or a clear plan for who does it |
| Payment terms | Low risk to you before you see the finished site |
| Ownership | Domain and accounts in your name, no exit fees |
| Visibility | A specific Google setup, not vague promises |
| Support | Named monthly fee and response time |
Total the scores, then sleep on it. If two candidates tie, pick the one who explained things most plainly. You will be working with that person for years.
What we offer if you are in the GTA
If you run a business in Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Markham, Oakville, Oshawa, Newmarket, Aurora or elsewhere in the GTA, we build custom sites from a one-page landing page at $590 to larger builds from $3,500, with the text written for you and no payment until you approve the result. Our pricing page lists every option, and our services page covers redesigns, booking and forms, and online stores.
If you want to see what a site would look like before paying anything, start on formory.ca and tell us about your business.
FAQ
Should I hire a freelancer or a studio?
A freelancer can suit a small, clearly defined project, and a studio suits a project that also needs writing, search setup and ongoing support in one place. Whichever you choose, ask the same questions about ownership, revisions and monthly costs. Judge them by their live work and by references.
How do I find a website designer near me?
Start with referrals from local business owners, then search for studios serving your area and look at their client sites. CIRA also lists marketplaces and design services as places to look. Shortlist three and send each the same brief.
What should I ask a web designer before hiring?
Ask what is included in the price, who writes the content, how many revisions you get, when payment is due, who owns the domain, and what monthly fees apply after launch. Also ask for two client references you can call.
Do I have to pay upfront for a website?
Not necessarily. Terms vary by designer, so check payment timing before you sign. With us, you pay only after the website is built and you have approved it.