7 Things to Check Before Hiring a Software House

Hiring a software house is hard to evaluate if you are not technical. Every portfolio looks good, and every vendor will say they can do it.

The seven questions below need no technical knowledge to ask, but the answers are enough to separate a vendor who will finish from one who will not.

1. Who actually does the work?#

Ask whether the person you are talking to now is the person who will write the code. If not, ask who, and whether the work gets passed to someone else.

Large teams are not the problem. The problem is when nobody can answer this clearly.

2. Who owns the code and the design files?#

This needs to be written down, not promised verbally. If you ever want to change vendor, can you take everything with you?

Some vendors hold server access or design files as leverage. You are entitled to know before signing.

3. Who maintains it afterwards?#

Sites and systems are not finished at handover. There is a server to pay for, backups that must run, and security updates to apply.

If the answer is "we will discuss that later", nobody has thought about it yet.

4. How are scope changes priced?#

Scope will change — that is normal. What is not normal is working out how to price it only after the change has happened.

Ask up front: if I ask for an addition midway, how is that calculated?

5. Can I try the result before everything is finished?#

A vendor working in stages will say yes. A vendor who disappears for three months and returns with a finished product is a large risk: if the direction was wrong, you find out at the end, when fixing it is expensive.

6. What happens if the system goes down at two in the morning?#

Any answer is acceptable — including "we only handle it in working hours". What matters is that you know rather than assume.

7. Can I speak to a previous client?#

A vendor whose work went well usually does not mind. If every client is "under NDA", that may be true, but it is worth probing.

One warning sign people miss#

A vendor who gives a firm price before knowing how you work. It sounds reassuring, but it means one of two things: they are guessing, or they already have a template you will be fitted into — rather than a system fitted to you.

An honest price comes after mapping, not before.