10 Questions to Ask Before Signing With a Development Agency
Most companies pick a development agency the same way they pick a restaurant - they look at reviews, check prices, and go with their gut. The problem is that a bad restaurant costs you $200 and an evening. A bad development partner costs you $50,000-500,000 and 6-18 months you cannot get back.
After working on over 150 client projects and hearing the stories of dozens more that went wrong with other agencies, we have identified 10 questions that consistently separate strong partners from weak ones. The questions themselves matter less than the answers you get - and what those answers reveal about how the company actually operates.
Question 1: Who Exactly Will Work on My Project?
This is the most important question and the one most buyers forget to ask. During the sales process, you talk to senior people - founders, directors, seasoned architects. But once you sign, your project might be handed to junior developers you have never met.
Good answer: They name specific people, share their LinkedIn profiles or resumes, explain their experience level, and commit to those individuals in the contract. Great agencies will let you interview the team before signing.
Bad answer: "We will assign the best available team." This means you have zero control over who builds your product. It also means the people you evaluated during the sales process are not the people doing the work.
Question 2: Walk Me Through Your Development Process From Kickoff to Launch
You are looking for a specific, repeatable process - not a generic description of agile. A strong agency should be able to tell you exactly what happens in week 1, how sprints are structured, when you review work, how decisions are made, and what the path to production looks like.
Good answer: "We start with a 1-week discovery sprint where we map user stories and finalize the technical architecture. Then we move into 2-week development sprints. You get a demo every Friday. We deploy to a staging environment after each sprint so you can test. We aim for production-ready code by sprint 4."
Bad answer: "We are agile, so we are flexible." Flexibility without structure is chaos. Every agency that has told a client "we are flexible" has also missed deadlines because nobody defined what was being built or when.
Question 3: How Do You Handle Scope Changes Mid-Project?
Scope changes are inevitable. What matters is whether the agency has a system for handling them or whether every change turns into a budget fight.
Good answer: "We maintain a prioritized backlog. When a new request comes in, we estimate it, show you what it displaces from the current plan, and let you decide. If the total scope grows beyond the original estimate, we flag it immediately with a revised timeline and cost."
Bad answer: "We will figure it out as we go" or "that will require a change order" with no further explanation. The first means there is no process. The second suggests every conversation about scope becomes a billing event.
Question 4: What Happens If a Key Developer Leaves Mid-Project?
Developer turnover is a real risk, especially in agencies where people work on multiple projects. If the lead developer on your project quits, what happens to your timeline?
Good answer: "We document everything - architecture decisions, code standards, deployment processes. Any new developer can pick up where the last one left off within a week. We also pair program regularly, so at least two people understand every part of the system."
Bad answer: Silence, or "that has never happened." It has happened. If they do not have a plan, your project is one resignation away from a three-month delay.
Question 5: Can I See a Real Project Repository?
This question is a filter. Agencies that write clean, well-documented code will happily show you a repository (with client permission or from an internal project). Agencies that produce messy, undocumented code will make excuses.
Good answer: They open a repository and walk you through the folder structure, show you test coverage, explain their branching strategy, and point out documentation. You do not need to be technical to see whether a codebase is organized.
Bad answer: "Our code is proprietary" or "we can show you screenshots." Screenshots of code are worthless. If they cannot show you a real repository, assume the code quality is something they do not want you to see.
Question 6: How Do You Test Software Before Delivery?
Testing is the most common area where agencies cut corners. Manual testing alone is not enough for any project over $20,000. You want to hear about automated testing, code reviews, and staging environments.
Good answer: "We write unit tests for business logic, integration tests for APIs, and end-to-end tests for critical user flows. Every pull request requires a code review from at least one other developer. We deploy to a staging environment that mirrors production."
Bad answer: "Our QA team tests everything before delivery." Manual QA is part of the process, but it is not a substitute for automated testing. If they rely only on manual testing, bugs will surface in production - guaranteed.
Question 7: Who Owns the Code?
This should be a simple question with a simple answer: you do. But some agencies retain partial or full ownership of the codebase, the architecture, or specific components they built. Others use proprietary frameworks that lock you into their services.
Good answer: "You own 100% of the code from day one. It lives in your repository, and you have full access throughout the project."
Bad answer: Anything other than full ownership. If they talk about licensing, shared IP, or proprietary frameworks, you will pay for that dependency every year you use the software.
Question 8: What Does Post-Launch Support Look Like?
The first 90 days after launch are when most critical bugs surface. You need to know what happens when something breaks at 2 AM on a Saturday.
Good answer: "We include 30-60 days of bug-fix support in the project cost. After that, we offer maintenance retainers starting at X hours per month. For critical issues, our response time is under 4 hours. We also provide a handoff document covering deployment, monitoring, and common troubleshooting steps."
Bad answer: "We can discuss that after the project." If they do not plan for post-launch support before the project starts, they will not be available when you need them most.
Question 9: What Is Your Typical Communication Cadence?
You need to know what to expect before you sign. How often will you get updates? What tools do they use? Who is your main point of contact?
Good answer: "You will have a dedicated project manager who sends written updates every Tuesday and Thursday. We do a live demo every two weeks. You will have access to our project management tool to track progress in real time. For urgent issues, you can reach us on Slack with a 2-hour response time during business hours."
Bad answer: "We will keep you in the loop." This means nothing. Without a defined cadence, communication will be inconsistent - heavy at the start, sparse in the middle, and frantic at the end.
Question 10: Can You Show Me a Project That Did Not Go Well and Tell Me What Happened?
Every agency has had projects go sideways. The ones worth hiring are honest about it and can explain what they learned. This question also tests whether the person you are talking to is willing to be genuine or is stuck in sales mode.
Good answer: They describe a specific situation, what went wrong, how they handled it, and what they changed as a result. "We had a project in 2023 where the client changed the core requirements three times. We did not have a clear change management process, so the budget overran by 40%. We now require written approval for any scope change over 8 hours."
Bad answer: "All our projects go well" or they blame the client entirely. No agency has a perfect track record. If they claim otherwise, they are either lying or they have not done enough work to encounter real problems.
How to Use These Questions
Send these questions in writing before your first call. Give the agency a few days to prepare thoughtful answers. If they respond with a generic PDF or a marketing deck instead of addressing your specific questions, remove them from your shortlist.
Compare the answers side by side across your 2-3 finalist agencies. The differences will be obvious. The agency that gives you the most specific, honest, and structured answers is almost always the right choice - even if they are not the cheapest.
Remember: you are not just evaluating their technical skills. You are evaluating whether they can communicate clearly, plan honestly, and handle problems like adults. Those traits will determine your project's success far more than which JavaScript framework they prefer.
