You know you need a website. You have probably googled “web designer Harrogate” and got back a list of names you have never heard of. Now what? Picking the wrong person is an expensive mistake. Not just in money. In time, in frustration, and in the grim experience of having to start again with someone new. I hear this story more than any other. A business owner took a chance on someone, things went wrong, and now they need rescuing.
This post is for anyone at the beginning of that decision. Here is what to actually look at before you spend a penny.
The cheapest quote is rarely the best starting point
When three designers quote you wildly different prices, it is tempting to go with the lowest. But the price is not the useful bit of information. What you want to know is what happens after the site goes live – and what happens after the site goes live.
A low quote often means a fast build with no support afterwards. You get handed a website you do not know how to use, and the designer has moved on to the next job. That is when people call me.
Fixed pricing is better than a low number. It means you know exactly what you are getting and what it will cost. I publish my prices at andrewbackhouse.design/prices. Start-up sites from £650. No surprises.
What a good portfolio actually shows you
Most people look at a portfolio and think: does this look nice? That is the wrong question.
A better question is: can this designer talk honestly about their own work? When you look at what they have built, ask them what they would do differently now. Ask what they think could be improved. A designer who can only point to their work and say “great, isn’t it?” is not someone who will push back on a bad idea or flag a problem before it becomes expensive.
You want someone who thinks critically about what they make. That is the person who will think critically about your site too.
The questions to ask before you sign anything
There is one question I wish more people asked before they hired anyone:
What happens to my website after it goes live?
WordPress websites need regular updates – the software, the plugins, the security patches. If nobody is doing that, your site will eventually break or get hacked. It is not a question of if. It is a question of when.
So ask the designer directly: do you offer a maintenance plan? What does it cover? And if I want to handle it myself, will you show me how?
I offer two maintenance plans – monthly at £45 a month, weekly at £75 a month. Both include hosting, security, updates and spam protection. I also record short video guides so clients can make changes themselves if they want to. The goal is for you to feel confident with your site, not stuck.
Why local knowledge matters
Harrogate is a specific place. It has a strong hospitality sector, a well-established third sector, a design-aware population, and a community of small businesses that mostly know each other. Working with someone who understands that is different from working with someone who treats it like any other town.
I have been in Harrogate long enough to have built relationships across most of those sectors. I co-founded Harrogate Community Radio. I have DJ’d across the town’s hospitality venues for years. I know people in the third sector, in the arts, in trades and retail. That is not something you can fake, and it is not something a distant agency has.
When a client in the hospitality trade tells me what they need, I already have a feel for the kind of person walking through their door. That matters when you are making decisions about how a site should look, what it should say, and who it is really for.
The thing people say most
When a new client comes to me after a bad experience, there is one thing I hear more than anything else.
“Oh, someone who actually answers the phone.”
That is it. Not a better design. Not a lower price. Just a person who picks up. It sounds like a low bar. It turns out it is not.
