What Do You Get When You Hire Someone to Build Your Website?

When you pay for a website, the deliverables are the things you actually receive: the pages, the design, the working forms, the search setup, the logins, and the training to run it. A good quote lists each one in plain words. A vague quote says “custom website” and leaves you to find out later what was left out. This guide walks through what a small business website project should hand you, which items are essential, which are optional, and how to write it all down before anyone starts work.

TL;DR

• Deliverables are the specific things you receive: named pages, a mobile-friendly design, working contact forms, basic search setup, testing, and full ownership of the finished site.
• A written scope of work (a short document listing what is and is not included) protects both sides. It should name every page, say how many rounds of changes are covered, and list what you must supply.
• For a quick, affordable site, the essentials are clear pages, a design that works on phones, a way for customers to reach you, and basic search setup. Blogs, online stores, and ad campaigns are add-ons.
• Ask for a fixed price in writing, plus who owns the site, who holds the logins, and what happens if you want changes later.

What “deliverables” means in plain English

The word sounds like agency jargon, but the idea is simple. A deliverable is something you can point at when the project ends. A page on your site is a deliverable. “Making the brand pop” is not.

When you search this topic, you will find plenty of pages about deliverables for software designers: research reports, user flow diagrams, interactive prototypes. Those matter for building an app with a big team. A plumber, a dentist, or a boutique owner does not need most of that. You need to know that, on launch day, you have a working website that looks right on a phone, tells customers what you do, and makes it easy to call or book.

Think of it like hiring a contractor to remodel a kitchen. You would not accept “we will make it nice.” You would want to know the cabinets, the countertop, the number of outlets, and who removes the old appliances. A website is the same.

What a small business website project should include

Here is the checklist we would want if we were hiring someone. Use it to compare quotes.

Planning items

• A short goals conversation. What should the site get visitors to do: call, fill out a form, book, or walk in? Every later decision follows from this.
• A list of pages. Not “up to 5 pages” but the actual names: Home, Services, About, Contact, and so on.
• A simple page map. Sometimes called a sitemap, it shows how pages connect, for example which services sit under which menu item.

Design items

• A home page design you can react to. You should see how it looks before it is fully built.
• A design that adapts to phones and tablets. Most local customers will find you on a phone, so this is not optional. Ask to see it on a real phone, not only a desktop screenshot.
• Your logo, colors, and fonts applied consistently. If you have no logo, ask whether making one is in scope or extra.

Content items

• Who writes the words. This is the most common source of delays and arguments. The scope should say whether you write the text, the designer writes it, or you split it. Our content creation service exists because many owners would rather not write their own service pages.
• Who supplies photos. Real photos of your team, shop, and work usually beat stock images. Say who takes them and who pays for stock photos if you use them.

Build items

• Working contact forms, tested so messages actually reach your inbox.
• Click-to-call phone numbers and a map or address block if customers visit you.
• Fast loading. Slow pages lose visitors. Our guide to speed-first landing pages explains what we check.
• A way for you to edit text without calling a developer, or a clear statement that changes go through the designer.

Handoff items

• Ownership of the site and domain. The domain name (your web address) should be registered in your name.
• Logins for everything: the site, hosting, domain, and analytics.
• A short walkthrough of how to make simple edits.

The stages a project moves through

Most small business websites follow the same path, whoever builds them.

1. Discovery. You explain your business, customers, and goals. The builder confirms the page list.
2. Design. You see the look of the main pages and give feedback.
3. Build. The pages are made real: text, images, forms, menus.
4. Testing. The builder checks every page, form, and link on different devices.
5. Launch. The site goes live on your domain.
6. Handoff. You get logins, a walkthrough, and answers to questions.

How long this takes depends mostly on how fast you send text, photos, and feedback. Our standard small sites are typically finished in about two weeks. Larger or more complex projects take longer, and our website design timeline guide shows what stretches a schedule.

Search engine deliverables: what to put in writing

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) means making your site easy for Google and other search engines to find and understand. It is the area where vague promises are most common, so it is worth being specific. No honest builder can guarantee where you will rank. Google’s own starter guide frames SEO as helping search engines crawl, index, and understand your content, not as a guarantee of position.

What a builder can deliver is the groundwork. Ask whether your quote includes:

• A clear title and short description on every page, written for the words your customers would actually type.
• Sensible headings and clean page addresses, so each page has one clear topic.
• A sitemap. Google describes a sitemap as a file listing the important pages on your site. It can help Google find your pages, though it does not guarantee they will be crawled or listed. Google also notes that good internal linking can be enough for many small sites, so a sitemap is helpful rather than magic.
• Google Search Console set up. This free Google tool shows whether your site is verified as yours, which pages are indexed, whether a sitemap was submitted, and what searches bring people in. Google describes these functions and treats them as something to check rather than assume. Make sure the account is in your name.
• A check that nothing blocks search engines. A leftover “do not index” setting from the building phase is a classic launch mistake. Our robots.txt launch checklist explains the file that controls this.
• Image names and descriptions, which also help people using screen readers.

For a business that serves a local area, such as Metro Detroit or Oakland County, add local items:

• Your business name, address, and phone number (often shortened to NAP) written identically on your site and on directory listings. See our guide to clean local citations.
• A page for each main service and, where it makes sense, each city you serve, written for real customers and not copied from page to page.
• Help with your Google Business Profile and Maps listing. This is separate work, covered by local SEO and Google Maps services.

For a deeper list of page-level checks, see our on-page SEO checklist. If you already have a website with traffic, ask how the builder will protect it during a redesign. That is its own deliverable, and we cover it in our website redesign SEO plan.

Testing before launch: what should be checked

Testing is the deliverable people forget to ask about. Before your site goes live, someone should have checked:

• Every page on a phone, a tablet, and a computer.
• Every form, by sending a test message and confirming it arrives where you expect.
• Every link and button, so nothing leads to an error page.
• Your phone number and address on every page where they appear.
• Page speed on a mobile connection.
• That search engines are allowed to see the site.
• Basic accessibility, such as readable text size, enough color contrast, and descriptions on images.

Accessibility deserves a sentence of context. The U.S. Small Business Administration describes accessibility as a matter of quality checks, plain language, and accessible documents. Its Section 508 rules apply directly to federal agencies, not automatically to every private business. Still, a site that is easy to read and use works better for all your customers. If accessibility is a legal concern for your business, talk with an attorney who handles these matters.

Essential versus optional: a quick table

If your goal is a fast, affordable site that brings in calls and requests, this is how we sort things.

The last three rows trip up many first-time buyers. Building the site and promoting the site are different jobs. A fair builder will tell you which is which. If you later want to bring in customers with paid ads, our guides on what Google Ads can cost a small business and how a 60 to 90 day Google Ads test works are good next reads.

The scope of work: your protection

A scope of work is a one or two page document that lists exactly what the builder will do and what they will not. It turns “I thought that was included” into something you can check. A clear written scope is what keeps everyone aligned about what is included before the work starts.

Here is what a useful scope names:

1. Goals. What the site is for, in a sentence or two.
2. Pages. Each page by name, plus any special templates, such as one layout reused for all service pages.
3. Features. Forms, maps, galleries, booking links, and anything else that must work.
4. Content. Who writes text, who supplies photos and logos, and by when.
5. Exclusions. What is not covered, such as logo design, photography, an online store, or ongoing SEO.
6. Milestones. The main steps and rough dates.
7. Revisions. How many rounds of changes are included and how long you have to respond.
8. Change process. How added requests are quoted and approved.
9. Approval. How you sign off that the work is done.
10. Ownership and payment. Who owns the finished site, and what you pay when.

Business-law commentary on web design agreements lists much the same items: deliverables, approvals, payment, intellectual property, and how changes are handled. For anything beyond a basic site, a local attorney can review the agreement.

Revisions: refining versus changing direction

This is where most disagreements start. A revision means adjusting work that already exists: a different headline, a darker blue, a swapped photo. A new feature or a complete change of direction is not a revision. It is new work, and it should be quoted separately. Agree on this up front. Also agree on a feedback deadline. A project cannot finish if every round of feedback takes three weeks.

Your part of the job

A website is a joint project. Your side usually includes sending text and photos, answering questions, giving feedback on time, and approving the final result. Put these in the scope too. If you will not have time to write content, say so at the start and plan for it.

Our perspective: what we think owners should demand

We have built websites for Michigan businesses since 2011, and the same frustrations come up again and again. Owners tell us they were quoted a low price, then billed for extras. Or they were locked into a contract for a site they did not control. Or they received a pretty design that nobody could find, because search basics were skipped.

So we run our projects the other way around. We give a fixed-price quote, which means the number you approve is the number you pay. We do not ask you to sign a long contract. The site includes the essential features at launch, so you are not hit with upsells to get a working contact form or a mobile layout. And we describe what we do, not what it will achieve, because nobody can honestly promise rankings or revenue.

Our advice for any owner, whether you hire us or someone else: ask for the page list in writing, ask who owns everything at the end, and ask what is not included. A builder who answers those three questions plainly is usually one you can work with.

— Eric

What it costs with us

We publish our prices because deliverables mean little without a number beside them. A three-page website is $899. An eight-page website is $1,999. If you need something larger, we give you a fixed quote before work begins. You can see what each package covers on our website design pricing page.

We are Blue Lake Web Design, based in Novi, Michigan, owner operated by Eric Plotts, serving Metro Detroit and Oakland County. If you would like us to list the exact deliverables for your business, call (248) 800-1855 or start on our Michigan web design page.

Want to see our style first? Browse our web design portfolio or read more in our web design and SEO articles.

How to choose who builds your site

Price matters, but these questions tell you more.

• Can they show finished work? Look at live sites they built, and open them on your phone.
• Is the quote fixed? Ask what could change the price, and who decides.
• Is there a contract, and for how long? Month-to-month or no contract gives you room to leave.
• Who owns the site, the domain, and the logins? The answer should be you.
• What happens after launch? Ask what support is included and what a small change costs.
• Do they talk about results they cannot control? Be careful with anyone promising a number-one spot on Google.
• Do they explain things in plain words? If you do not understand the quote, the problem is the quote.

Get two or three quotes and compare them line by line against the checklist above. The cheapest quote with the shortest list is rarely the cheapest outcome.

FAQ

What are the deliverables in a website design project?

For a small business, they are the named pages, the design for desktop and mobile, working forms, basic search setup, testing, and the logins and ownership handed to you at launch. Content writing, photography, and online stores are sometimes included and sometimes extra, so confirm them in the scope.

What are the factors involved in designing a website?

The main ones are your goal for the site, your customers, the pages you need, how it looks on a phone, how fast it loads, who writes the content, and how people will find it. Budget and timeline shape how many of these you can cover in the first version.

How long does a website design project take?

It depends on the size of the site and how quickly you send content and feedback. Our standard small business sites are typically finished in about two weeks. Bigger projects take longer, and the written scope should show the main milestones.

Is SEO included when I buy a website?

Basic search setup should be, such as page titles, descriptions, a sitemap, and a check that search engines can see the site. Ongoing SEO is a separate monthly service. No one can promise a particular ranking, so be wary of anyone who does.

Do I need a scope of work for a small website?

Yes, even a short one. A page or two that lists pages, features, who supplies content, how many revisions are included, and what is excluded prevents most misunderstandings.

Sources

• SEO Starter Guide: The Basics, Google Search Central
• What Is a Sitemap, Google Search Central
• How To Use Search Console, Google Search Central
• About the SBA.gov website, U.S. Small Business Administration
• Web Design Contracts for US Creative Agencies, Sprintlaw US
• The Scope of Work AI Builds Need Before Day One, The AI Orchestrators

Recommended

• How to Hire a Web Design Agency | Think about THIS before hiring a web designer!
• Should You Design Your Website? Here’s the Pros and Cons
• Website Design Timeline: 8 to 14 Weeks for Small Business Sites
• Website Design Pricing in Michigan