What to ask a website designer in Redhill before you hire them

Published 10 October 2026 · by Redhill Web Design

Quick answer: Ask a website designer in Redhill for the page list, who writes it, what you will own, and what the phone screen looks like. Rankings cannot be sold in advance.

Hiring is a different search from “I need a website”. “Website designer in Redhill” usually means you want a person you can question, not a package page. These are the questions that matter, and the ones that waste a meeting. We are one of the people you might ask. The same questions should be put to anyone else you speak to.

What the designer should actually do

A designer for a small business is not only choosing colours. They should turn your services into a set of pages, make those pages readable on a phone, put the enquiry path where it can be used, and launch the site on an address you control. If all you receive is a picture of a homepage, the design has not started.

They should also refuse work that would embarrass you: fake reviews, a page for every village with the same paragraph, hidden text, or a promise that you will be first in Google. A useful designer will say when a smaller site is enough. The scope we work to is described in what a Redhill project includes. How the build is handed over is in website development after the design is agreed.

The questions to ask

What pages are in the price, by name? Who writes the first draft? Can I see the mobile layout before launch, on a real phone? Where do form messages go, and can we send a test? Whose name is on the domain and the hosting? What happens to my current URLs? What do I pay in year two, and to whom? How do I change a phone number myself if you are away?

Then ask what they will not do. A clear “we will not build doorway pages, and we will not invent a ranking” is a better sign than a slide of logos. Ask how they treat Redhill, Merstham and Reigate: as places you either serve or do not, not as a keyword list. There is a longer buying checklist in how to choose web design without a long contract and in what to prepare beforehand.

What you should bring

Bring the services you want enquiries for, not a brainstorm of everything the business has ever done. Bring the towns you cover this month. Bring the logo if it exists, and any colours you are tired of being talked out of. Bring access to the current site, the domain registrar, and the Google profile if you have one, so the name and phone can match.

Photographs can come later, but say what you have. Real jobs beat stock. If you have no pictures, say that too, so the design does not depend on a shoot that never gets booked. A few sites you find easy to use are more helpful than a mood board you do not care about.

After you say yes

You should see the page list in writing before the visual work runs away. You should have a chance to correct facts: the phone number, the spelling of the business, the towns. You should click the form yourself. You should receive logins and a short note on how to edit the words you are likely to change, such as prices and hours.

Pay a fixed price for that build. Our small-business sites start at £150, with higher bands when there are more pages. The figures are public in the cost guide. A monthly fee is only for maintenance you asked for, through website maintenance, not a condition of having a site.

How to tell it is a fit

You understand the page list. The price matches that list. Nobody has promised a position in Google. You will own the result. The person talking to you can explain the mobile screen without hiding behind jargon. If those are true, the rest is taste, and taste can be settled with one or two reference sites.

If you want to put the questions to us directly, send them with your page list. If you are still shaping the list, look at small-business websites and the web design service first, then write. A short, specific email gets a clearer reply than “how much is a website?”.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a designer who lives in Redhill?

You need someone who will write the site for Redhill and the towns you cover, and who will hand you the logins. A local conversation helps. A local postcode on its own does not.

Should the designer write the words?

Agree this at the start. If you will write them, set a date. If they will write them, the price should include that time. Empty pages are not a finished design.

What do I own at the end?

The domain, the content, and the ability to move or edit the site. You should not be stuck because the only login sits with someone else.