Take this to anyone

Twelve questions to ask before you hire anybody to build your website.

Including me. Each one is here because getting a vague answer to it is what turns a $900 website into a $2,400 one, or leaves you unable to move a site you paid for. Under every question is what it is really testing, what a bad answer sounds like, and my own answer — so you can hold me to the same standard as everyone else you ask.

Ask me all twelve Compare the four options

What is the fixed price, in writing, before any work starts?

What it tests

Whether you are buying a website or opening a tab. "From $X" is not a price, it is an invitation to a conversation about how much more you will pay.

A bad answer sounds like

"It depends on scope, we'll firm it up as we go." Scope is exactly what a quote is supposed to fix.

My answer

You get a fixed price in writing before I start, with the hours itemised, and it does not move afterwards. If the work takes me longer than I estimated, that is my problem. The only thing that changes a price is you adding something new to the brief — and then we agree the new number before I build it, never after.

Do I get the source code?

What it tests

Whether hiring this person is reversible. If you never hold the files, leaving means rebuilding from nothing, and both of you know it.

A bad answer sounds like

"You don't need it, we handle all that." Or a yes that turns out to mean a PDF of the design and a login.

My answer

Yes, always, on every project, without being asked and at no extra cost. It goes out with the handover. Any developer can pick it up and keep going.

This is the single question that separates the options more than price does. A website builder cannot answer yes at all — there is no code to give you.

Whose name is the domain in, and whose account is the hosting?

What it tests

Who can switch your website off. A domain in someone else's account is the most common way a small business ends up hostage to a supplier it has stopped liking.

A bad answer sounds like

"We manage all of that for you." Convenient right up to the day you want to leave.

My answer

The domain is registered in your name wherever possible, so the web address stays yours whatever else changes. On the care plan the hosting sits with me because that is what the plan pays for; off it, the hosting account is yours from day one. Either way you can move.

What happens to my site if I stop paying you?

What it tests

Whether they will tell you an uncomfortable truth before you sign, which is the best available evidence about what they will do later.

A bad answer sounds like

"Nothing, it's all yours" — when the hosting is on their account. Or a long pause.

My answer

It goes offline, because the care plan is what pays for the hosting. I am not going to pretend otherwise.

What you keep is the source code, your content and your domain, with no exit fee — so putting it back online is an afternoon's work for any developer, not a rebuild. And you can skip the plan entirely, host it yourself from the start, and owe nothing monthly at all. Say so and I will price the build alone.

Who actually does the work?

What it tests

Whether the portfolio you were shown was made by the person who will make yours. Plenty of shops sell one team's work and subcontract the build.

A bad answer sounds like

"Our team handles it" without a name attached, or a designer who cannot tell you who writes the code.

My answer

Me. Sean Swanson, at my own desk in Brainerd. I do the discovery, the design, the code, the launch and the support, and nothing is outsourced to anybody. That is also the honest limitation: I am one person, so a team with cover for holidays and illness is something an agency can offer and I cannot.

Are you a registered business, and can I verify it?

What it tests

Whether there is anything behind the person. It does not make anyone good at the work — but it means there is an entity to hold to an agreement, and it takes thirty seconds to check.

A bad answer sounds like

Deflection. A trading name with no entity behind it is legal and common; being cagey about it is the part worth noticing.

My answer

SwansonX LLC, a Minnesota limited liability company, file number 1663839400022. Look it up on the Minnesota Secretary of State business search — the record is public and I would rather you checked than took my word for it.

How fast do you reply, and on what?

What it tests

The thing you will actually live with. The build takes a week; the relationship takes years, and a slow reply is the most common complaint about every option on the comparison page.

A bad answer sounds like

A ticket system, a help centre, or "we aim to respond within 3–5 business days".

My answer

Within 24 hours, to email, a text or a phone call, from me rather than a queue. (218) 818-1023 takes both calls and texts, and sean@swansonx.com reaches me directly. There is no portal to log into and no ticket number.

Is the site hand-written, or assembled from a page builder?

What it tests

Whether "custom" means custom. A lot of custom-priced work is a WordPress theme, a visual builder and a stack of plugins — which works, but is slow, needs updating forever, and is assembly rather than design.

A bad answer sounds like

Vagueness about the platform, or "we use industry-standard tools" without naming one.

My answer

Hand-written HTML, CSS and JavaScript. No theme, no page builder, no plugin pile, so there is nothing in the file you did not ask for and nothing to keep patching.

Hosting is Vercel and, if the site needs to store anything, the database is Supabase — both ordinary, widely used services, not anything homemade. The full stack is written out on the main site, including what it costs me, because keeping it vague is how leaving is made to feel risky.

How fast will it load, and will it work for someone who can't use a mouse?

What it tests

Whether they measure anything. Speed and accessibility are both testable in a couple of minutes with free tools, and most small-business sites quietly fail one or both. These are not extras — they decide whether the site loads on a phone in a driveway and whether Google trusts it.

A bad answer sounds like

"It'll be fast, don't worry." No number, no tool named.

My answer

Every site I build gets checked with Google's own PageSpeed tools and an automated accessibility scan at phone and desktop widths before it goes live, and I will show you the results. Keyboard navigation, labelled forms, real colour contrast and animation that switches itself off if the visitor's device asks for that are all part of the build, not a line item.

You can run the same check on my own site, or on your current one, with the free audit.

What is included after launch, and what costs extra?

What it tests

Where the boundary is. Almost every unpleasant surprise in this industry lives in the gap between "we'll look after it" and the first invoice for looking after it.

A bad answer sounds like

"We'll sort you out" with no hours, no rate, and no cancellation terms.

My answer

The $79 a month care plan covers hosting, the domain and SSL, backups, security updates, uptime monitoring, priority support, and three hours of edits a month made by me. Anything past three hours is $40 an hour, the same rate as the build, always agreed before I do it.

Cancel any time; you keep the site's files either way. Unused hours do not roll over — the quiet months are what pay for the busy ones. The arithmetic is on the pricing page.

Can I see something you built end to end — and is it real client work?

What it tests

Whether the portfolio is theirs. Screenshots prove nothing; a live URL you can click through, on a phone, proves quite a lot. And a demo built with no client waiting is a legitimate thing to show — as long as it is labelled as one.

A bad answer sounds like

Mockups with no links, stock imagery in every example, or client work that turns out to be a template someone else set up.

My answer

Six live builds, all clickable, at swansonx.com/work. Three are real client work and three are concept pieces I built so I could show a whole site without a client waiting on it — and each of those is labelled as a concept on the page itself, not quietly presented as a client.

I have one client testimonial, from Kelly M. at Be Bold Balloons. I would rather show you one real one than forty invented ones.

When would you tell me to hire someone else?

What it tests

The best question on the list. Anyone who cannot name a situation where they are the wrong choice is either inexperienced or selling, and both cost you the same amount.

A bad answer sounds like

"We can do anything." Nobody can do anything.

My answer

A real online store with dozens of products and tax to handle — that is a different build and often Shopify is simply the right answer. Anything where you want to redesign it yourself every few weeks, because you will be happier on a builder. Anything needing ongoing ad-campaign management, which I do not offer. Anything above roughly $5,000 where you want a team with cover rather than one person — talk to a Twin Cities agency, and I will say so on the call.

And if the cheapest possible number is the entire decision, Fiverr will beat me. The whole list is on the comparison page, written out rather than buried.

For the record

Who you are actually hiring

Everything a stranger would reasonably want to check before sending money to somebody they found on the internet, in one place.

Legal entity: SwansonX LLC, a Minnesota limited liability company"SwansonX" is the trading name; the LLC is what appears on an agreement.
MN file number: 1663839400022Public record. Verify it on the Minnesota Secretary of State business search.
Who does the work: Sean Swanson, personallyDesign, code, launch and support. No subcontractors.
Where the work happens: Brainerd, MinnesotaA service-area business with no storefront — the work runs over email, phone and video, so clients outside Minnesota pay the same price on the same timeline.
Phone: (218) 818-1023Calls and texts both reach me.
Email: sean@swansonx.comReplies within 24 hours.
Rate: $40 an hour, turned into a fixed priceTypically $250 for a landing page, $350 for one page, $800 for five. The hours are itemised.
What you own afterwards: The source code, your content, and your domainNo exit fee, and no permission needed to take it to another developer.
Terms and privacy: Terms · PrivacyPlain-language documents on the main site, covering both.

Ask me the twelve.

Every answer above is the one you will get on the phone, and I would rather you put the same list to whoever else you are considering. A reply comes back within 24 hours — including "hire someone else, here is who", if that is the honest answer.

Get my free quote Text (218) 818-1023