What Questions Should I Ask a Redesign Vendor?

1. “What does this cost — out the door?”

Real answer: a number or a tight range ($3,500-$5,500), based on a 15-minute scoping conversation. Not “depends on scope.” Not “let’s set up a discovery workshop.” If a vendor needs three calls to give you a number, they’re qualifying you for a number that fits your budget, not pricing the work.

2. “What’s included in that number, and what’s an add-on?”

Real answer: a clear breakdown. Custom theme included. Up to X pages included. Copy refresh included or extra. Photography extra. WooCommerce extra. Hosting first-year often included, second-year your responsibility. If the breakdown comes back vague, the proposal will come back inflated.

3. “How long will it take?”

Real answer: a number of business days (10, 14, 21) — not “8-12 weeks” or “depends on your responsiveness.” See how long does a website redesign take. Long timelines usually mean bloated process or low priority.

4. “Show me a redirect map from a previous project.”

Real answer: an actual CSV (client name redacted). If the vendor can’t produce one within 24 hours, they don’t do redirect work seriously. This is the #1 single tell on a redesign vendor.

5. “What’s your plan to preserve my SEO traffic?”

Real answer: a specific four-step process — crawl current site, identify ranking pages, map URLs, monitor post-launch. Vague answers (“we follow SEO best practices”) mean they don’t have a real process. See will I lose traffic when I redesign my website.

6. “Will I own the site at the end?”

Real answer: “Yes, hosted on your account, all code released to you, no platform lock-in.” If they host on their proprietary system or charge extra for “source code release,” that’s a hostage situation in slow motion.

7. “What CMS will you build on, and why?”

Real answer: WordPress (for service businesses and content-driven sites) or WooCommerce (for service businesses adding a product line). Reasons should include: open source, owner-editable, SEO control, no platform lock-in. If they push Wix, Squarespace, or proprietary builders for a $1M+ Tampa business, that’s a flag. See what CMS options do I have for a Tampa redesign.

8. “What does the post-launch support window cover?”

Real answer: a defined 30-day window with bug fixes, reasonable copy edits, weekly Search Console reviews, and crawl error monitoring included. 14 days is light. Under 14 days is a red flag.

9. “What if I want to make changes myself?”

Real answer: WordPress with Gutenberg or a clean page builder, plus a 30-45 minute training video, plus a basic admin guide. You should be able to update copy and swap images without calling anyone. If the answer is “we’ll handle that for you” with no path to self-service, that’s a retainer trap.

10. “Can I see three Tampa case studies with real metrics?”

Real answer: “Yes, here are three with before/after traffic, conversion, and ranking data.” Not just screenshots. If the case studies are aesthetic-only (“looks great!”) with no metrics, the vendor optimizes for portfolio, not outcomes.

11. “What happens if rankings drop 30% after launch?”

Real answer: “Logged within 48 hours, root-caused within a week, remediation included in base scope if it’s a redirect or schema error.” A great vendor builds this into the contract. A weak vendor charges hourly to fix what they broke.

12. “Who actually does the work — and will I talk to them?”

Real answer: a small team of 1-4 people, and yes you talk to them directly. If you’re handed off from a salesperson to an account manager to a project manager to a designer, the work gets diluted at every handoff. Tampa SMB redesigns work best with small teams and direct communication.

For each of the 12 questions, give the vendor a score:

• 2 points — clear, confident, specific answer in under 60 seconds
• 1 point — answer with some hedging or “depends” qualifier
• 0 points — deflects, says they need to check, or gives marketing-speak

Out of 24 total points:

• 20-24 — strong vendor, worth a serious quote
• 15-19 — borderline, ask for proof on the items they hedged
• Below 15 — keep shopping

If you hear any of these, walk away:

• “We typically work on retainer, not project-based” (for a $3K-$8K redesign — this means they want monthly revenue, not delivery)
• “We don’t do SEO, that’s a separate team” (modern redesigns can’t separate the two)
• “We use [proprietary platform] — it’s much better than WordPress” (lock-in tell)
• “We’ll send you a custom proposal in 5-7 business days” (you’re being qualified for a price, not quoted for a project)
• “We need to schedule a kickoff workshop before we can quote” (a $3K project doesn’t need a workshop)

Most owners try to compare redesign vendors on price. That’s almost always wrong. Price is a single variable. The 12 questions above test the variables that actually determine whether the redesign delivers — process, transparency, SEO competence, ownership terms, support.

Run a 30-minute call with each shortlisted vendor. Take notes. Score honestly. The vendor with the highest score at competitive price is your answer — not necessarily the cheapest, and rarely the most expensive.

The deliverable side of this conversation is in what deliverables should I get from a redesign. Combine the two checklists and you’ve covered 95% of what goes wrong in Tampa redesigns.

Every Tampa redesign inquiry gets a 20-minute scoping call where we answer all 12 questions live. We send our written response (with sample redirect map, case studies with metrics, and pricing breakdown) the next business day. If we’re not the right fit, we’ll tell you that on the call — and refer you to a vendor we trust for your specific need. The Tampa market is small enough that pretending to be a fit when we’re not is bad for everyone.