We have rebuilt a lot of websites for Metro Vancouver businesses that hired the wrong designer the first time. The patterns are consistent enough that we can almost predict what went wrong before the owner tells us. Here is a practical guide to picking a web designer or agency without ending up in the same spot.
Ask to See Sites They Built That Are Live Today
Not screenshots. Not PDFs. Live URLs you can open in a browser. If they cannot give you that, walk away. A real portfolio is the easiest, fastest signal of what kind of work you will actually get. Look at the sites on your phone. Are they fast? Do the buttons work? Is the contact info easy to find? If their portfolio sites are clunky, yours will be too.
Ask Who Owns the Site When the Project Is Done
You should own the domain, the hosting account, and the source files. If the answer is anything else, you are renting your own website. Some agencies build sites on proprietary platforms that you cannot move off without a full rebuild. That is a trap. Anything you pay for, you should be able to take with you.
Ask for a Flat Written Price Before You Commit
Hourly billing for website work is how small projects turn into big invoices. A real designer should give you a flat written quote based on the scope before anything starts. If they cannot scope your project well enough to price it, that is a sign their process is not mature.
Ask How They Handle Mobile
Most local searches in Metro Vancouver happen on a phone. If the answer to "how do you handle mobile" is "we make sure it works on phones too", that is the wrong answer. The right answer is "we design for mobile first and then expand to desktop". Mobile is not an afterthought. It is the default.
Ask About Speed
Ask what their last project scored on PageSpeed Insights for mobile. A good designer will know the number. A bad one will mumble or pivot. Sites built on heavy page builders or stuffed with stock features tend to score in the low 50s. Sites built properly score 85 or higher. The number matters because it directly affects your Google rankings and your conversion rate.
Ask How Long the Project Takes and What Could Make It Slip
A clear answer here is a great signal. Three to five weeks for a typical small business site, with timelines tied to how quickly you provide content and feedback, is realistic. "It will be done when it is done" or "as soon as possible" is a signal of poor project management. You should know what you are committing to and what depends on you.
Ask If They Write the Copy
For a small business site, the copy is half the battle. If the designer expects you to hand them finished page copy, they are pushing the hardest part of the job back to you. A real local agency should be able to interview you, write the copy themselves, and have you review and refine it.
Be Wary of Anyone Who Promises Page One in 30 Days
Anyone selling guaranteed page-one rankings on a fast timeline in a competitive Metro Vancouver search is either lying or selling you a search nobody actually does. Real local SEO timelines are 60 to 120 days for Maps Pack movement and longer for organic results. Honest is the answer you want, even when it is slower than the pitch.
Trust the Conversation, Not the Pitch
The best signal is the discovery call itself. Did they ask about your business, your customers, your real goals? Or did they jump straight into a pitch deck? A designer who is genuinely interested in your business will build you a better site than one who treats you as a checkbox in a pipeline.
We do free discovery calls for trades and service businesses across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. No pressure, no deck, just a real conversation about what would actually work for your business.