1. Why the choice matters more than you think
A website is not a purchase you make once and forget. It is a business asset that shapes how every potential client perceives you, how Google ranks you, how much it costs you to get found, and how many of the visitors who do find you actually contact you or buy. Choosing the wrong agency does not just mean a mediocre website — it often means a slow website, an invisible website, or a website built in a way that is expensive to change when you inevitably need to.
London has hundreds of web design agencies. They range from one-person freelancers working from home to 200-person studios with enterprise retainers. Most sit somewhere in between, and many present themselves in ways that make the quality difference between them nearly invisible from the outside.
This guide is written by WebAnts — a London web design and development agency. We have a commercial interest in you choosing us. We also have 100+ completed projects and a clear-eyed view of how this industry works and where clients get burned. The questions in this guide are ones that will genuinely help you — and if we can't answer them satisfactorily, you should look elsewhere.
2. The types of web agencies in London
Understanding the agency landscape helps you understand why quotes for similar projects can vary by 5× or more.
Boutique studios (3–15 people)
Small, focused agencies where the people you meet in the sales call are the people building your site. Tend to specialise — by industry (legal, healthcare, SaaS), platform (Webflow, Shopify, Next.js), or service type (CRO, ecommerce, content sites). Pricing: £3,000–£20,000 for most projects. Higher quality control and accountability than larger agencies. The right fit for most SME and growing startup projects.
Full-service digital agencies (15–100 people)
Offer web design alongside SEO, PPC, social media, and content. Useful if you want a single supplier for all digital marketing. The risk: web design may not be their speciality, and you may be assigned to junior account managers with little access to the senior talent you met in the pitch. Pricing: £5,000–£50,000. Better suited to businesses needing ongoing multi-channel marketing support than pure web projects.
Enterprise agencies (100+ people)
Work primarily with large corporates and public sector clients. Long procurement processes, formal SOWs, and multi-month timelines. Not the right fit for SME projects — the overhead cost of their process structure means they are rarely cost-competitive for projects under £50,000. Pricing: £20,000–£500,000+.
London-facing agencies with offshore teams
A common model: a polished London website, a small London-based account management team, and a development team in Eastern Europe, South Asia, or the Philippines. Can produce good results at lower cost than fully local teams — but communication is harder, code quality varies more, and accountability when things go wrong is reduced. Prices typically 30–50% lower than equivalent local studios. Worth considering if budget is the primary constraint and the project is well-specified.
Freelancers
Individual designers or developers working independently. Often excellent value for clearly scoped projects (a landing page, a logo, a WordPress theme), but limited in capacity for complex multi-discipline projects. The risk: a freelancer who disappears mid-project or is unavailable for post-launch support. Best for: small, well-defined projects. Not ideal for your primary business website if ongoing support matters.
3. The 11 questions to ask
These are the questions we would ask if we were hiring a web design agency for our own business. They are also the questions we are happy to answer — because the answers distinguish agencies that build properly from the ones that cut corners.
Who will actually build the site — your in-house team or a subcontractor?
This is the question most clients never think to ask, and the answer is frequently surprising. Many London-facing agencies outsource development to teams in Eastern Europe, South Asia, or South America. There is nothing inherently wrong with this — but it creates communication friction, reduces accountability, and often produces code that is difficult to maintain. Ask directly: "Where is the team that will build my site based?" If the answer is evasive, that is the answer.
Why it matters: If something goes wrong mid-project, you want to be able to speak directly to the people who built it.
Do you use page builders like Elementor, Divi, or WPBakery?
Page builders allow agencies to produce WordPress sites quickly, which is why low-cost quotes often involve them. The trade-off is significant: page builder sites generate bloated HTML, load slowly, require plugin updates that can break the site, and are difficult to customise beyond the builder's limits. Run any agency's portfolio sites through Google PageSpeed Insights. A site built with a page builder typically scores 30–55 on mobile. A custom-coded site should score 70–95.
Why it matters: Performance affects user experience, conversions, and Google rankings. The cheapest build is often the most expensive in the long run.
Can I see live URLs from projects similar to mine, with their Lighthouse scores?
A portfolio on the agency's own website is a curated selection of their best work, presented at its best. A live URL that you can run through PageSpeed Insights, inspect in DevTools, and browse on your phone is a more honest signal. Ask for three to five live URLs from relevant projects. If the agency cannot provide them, either the sites have been taken down (worth asking why) or the portfolio is not representative.
Why it matters: Designed screenshots do not reveal how the site performs under real conditions.
What is explicitly excluded from this quote?
Low quotes are often low because they exclude things the client assumes are included — SEO setup, mobile testing, speed optimisation, post-launch support, copywriting, photography, and ongoing hosting or maintenance. Ask the agency to provide a written list of what is not in scope. If they can't or won't produce one, the quote is not comparable to others that include these elements. A quote of £3,500 that excludes SEO setup is not the same as a quote of £5,000 that includes it.
Why it matters: Scope omissions are how agencies win pitches on price and recover margin through add-ons.
What is the total 12-month cost — build, platform, hosting, and maintenance combined?
The build quote is one cost. The ongoing cost is often larger, particularly for platforms with monthly fees (Webflow: £31–59/month; Shopify: £25–344/month) or WordPress sites requiring active maintenance. Ask for a realistic 12-month total cost of ownership, including everything. An agency that cannot or will not answer this question is either not thinking beyond the build, or is deliberately obscuring the full cost to win the project.
Why it matters: A site that costs £5,000 to build but £400/month to maintain costs £9,800 in year one.
How do you handle SEO setup — is it included as standard?
SEO setup on a new site includes: meta titles and descriptions for every page, canonical tags, sitemap submission to Google Search Console, schema markup (Organization, LocalBusiness, FAQPage), Open Graph tags, image alt text, and a robots.txt file. This is a minimum of 2–4 hours of work and a significant portion of the value of a professionally built site. If an agency cannot confirm that all of this is included, ask what is missing and what it costs to add.
Why it matters: A visually perfect site that Google cannot properly index is not a website — it's a brochure nobody can find.
What is your revision process, and how many rounds are included?
Clearly defined revision rounds protect both parties. The agency is protected from unlimited rework. You are protected from being charged for changes that should have been caught earlier. A typical professional engagement includes two rounds of revisions on design and one round on development. "Unlimited revisions" is a red flag — either the agency is planning to deliver something so generic that few revisions will be needed, or the term is not meaningful.
Why it matters: Vague revision terms become disputes when the first difference of opinion arises.
Do you require a deposit? How are milestone payments structured?
Most agencies require a 50% deposit before starting. This protects the agency from clients who disappear — but it also removes the primary incentive to deliver on time and to your satisfaction, because the agency is already paid regardless. Milestone-based payments — where you pay as each deliverable is completed — align incentives. WebAnts works on milestones: no deposit required, and you own every piece of work the moment it is delivered.
Why it matters: Payment structure reveals how much financial risk the agency is willing to share with you.
Can I speak to a recent client — not a testimonial, an actual conversation?
Written testimonials are selected by the agency. A live reference call with a recent client is not. Ask if you can speak to two or three recent clients for 10 minutes each. Trustworthy agencies will say yes. Agencies that hesitate or say they will have to ask first should prompt a follow-up — why would a satisfied client not take a brief call? If references are unavailable, ask why projects from the past six months have no available references.
Why it matters: A portfolio shows outcome. A reference call reveals process, communication, and whether the timeline was met.
Who owns the code, designs, and all source files at the end of the project?
You should own everything the agency produces for you — the Figma source files, the codebase, the hosting environment, the domain (if registered through the agency), and any premium plugins or licences paid for as part of the project. Some agencies retain code ownership or host sites on their own servers to create dependency. The contract should explicitly state that all intellectual property transfers to you on final payment.
Why it matters: Retaining code or files is a common way agencies lock clients into ongoing retainers they may not need.
What happens if I am not happy with the result?
This is the uncomfortable question that reveals the most. A confident agency will walk you through their quality assurance process, their revision policy, and what dispute resolution looks like. An agency that becomes defensive or vague at this question is telling you something. Look for: a written statement of work that defines what 'done' means, a clear revision process, and milestone payments that stop the project before it goes further if something is wrong.
Why it matters: Knowing how problems are resolved before they arise is the most important due diligence step in any creative project.
4. How to evaluate a portfolio properly
A portfolio review is necessary but not sufficient. Here is how to go beyond looking at screenshots to evaluating what actually matters.
Get live URLs and test them
Run every live URL through PageSpeed Insights. A professional web agency should produce mobile scores of 70+ on sites they are proud to show. Any score below 50 on mobile reflects either page builder use, unoptimised images, or poor technical architecture. If the portfolio sites load slowly on your phone, the agency's standards are visible.
Browse on mobile, not just desktop
More than 60% of UK web traffic is mobile. A site that looks good on desktop and breaks on iPhone is not a finished site. Test portfolio URLs on your phone: does the navigation work on touch? Do images load at the right size? Does text remain readable without zooming? These are basic mobile quality signals.
Check if the sites rank
If the client in the portfolio has been live for 12+ months, check how they rank for their core keywords using a free tool like Google Search Console (their own data) or by searching Google for their primary services. A beautiful site that ranks on page 5 for its core keyword is a site built for aesthetics rather than outcomes.
Look for relevant industry experience
A portfolio full of restaurant sites does not mean an agency understands B2B SaaS. A portfolio full of ecommerce stores does not mean they understand medical compliance or legal practice management. Relevant industry experience matters most for regulated industries (healthcare, legal, financial services) where content and design choices have specific constraints.
5. Understanding quotes and proposals
Web design proposals range from a one-paragraph email with a number to a 40-page document with timelines, wireframes, and payment schedules. Neither format is inherently better — what matters is whether the quote answers the right questions.
What a good quote includes
- ✓A clear scope of work — what is included, page by page if relevant
- ✓Explicit inclusions for SEO setup, mobile optimisation, and browser testing
- ✓Stated revision rounds — how many, at what stage
- ✓Milestone payment schedule, not a single upfront figure
- ✓Timeline with named milestones, not just a delivery date
- ✓What is explicitly out of scope (so you can compare apples with apples)
- ✓Ongoing costs — hosting, platform fees, maintenance — estimated for 12 months
- ✓IP and ownership terms — clear statement that you own everything at the end
When comparing quotes, resist the temptation to compare headline figures directly. A £4,500 quote that excludes SEO setup, copywriting, and post-launch support is not the same as a £6,500 quote that includes all of these. Build a comparison table: list each item that matters to you and check which quotes include it. The cheapest quote after proper normalisation is often not the cheapest option in practice.
6. Red flags and deal-breakers
These are not reasons to walk away automatically — they are reasons to ask harder questions. But if you ask and the answers are unsatisfying, they become deal-breakers.
Guaranteed first-page rankings
Nobody can guarantee specific Google rankings. Anyone who does is either lying or using techniques that will get your site penalised.
Large upfront deposit (50–100%)
Removes the agency's incentive to deliver well. Milestone payments protect you without disadvantaging a trustworthy agency.
Can't tell you who builds the site
Evasiveness about the development team location is a signal that the answer is something they've found clients dislike.
No mention of SEO in the quote
A site built without SEO setup is a site that Google cannot properly rank. This is a scope omission, not a cost saving.
Portfolio sites that load slowly
An agency's portfolio reflects their standards. If their best showcase work scores below 50 on PageSpeed, expect the same for your site.
Unlimited revisions promise
Either not meaningful (they'll stop responding), or a signal that scope is so vague it will become a dispute.
No written contract or SOW
Without a written statement of work, what "done" means is ambiguous, and disputes become unresolvable.
Reference clients unavailable
Trustworthy agencies with satisfied clients have no reason to avoid providing references.