The most common call we get is not "build us a website". It is "our website is finished but we cannot log in, the agency has the domain, and Google cannot find us". A website is not delivered when it looks finished. It is delivered when you could fire the agency tomorrow and lose nothing. Here is the checklist.
Accounts in your name
Domain registrar, hosting, DNS, analytics, Search Console, any payment gateway or WhatsApp Business account. Registered to your company email, with you as owner and the agency as a collaborator you can remove. If the agency "handles it for you" in their account, you do not own your website.
Source code you can take away
A repository you own, with instructions to run and deploy it. It does not matter whether you will ever read it — it matters that the next developer can.
An admin panel and the training to use it
Text, images, listings, offers, team members — you should change these yourself, and a recorded training session should exist so the next person can learn without a call.
The search foundations
Every page with a proper title and description. A sitemap submitted to Google. Structured data where it applies. Redirects from every old URL so rankings are not thrown away. Speed measured, not assumed.
Analytics and lead tracking that already work
You should know, from day one, how many people visited and how many enquired — and from which source. If the first report arrives a month later, it was set up a month late.
Forms and WhatsApp that reach a human
Every form tested to the inbox or CRM it lands in. WhatsApp buttons opening the right number with a prefilled message. This is where leads are lost silently.
SSL, backups, monitoring
HTTPS on every page, automatic backups you know how to restore, and something that alerts someone when the site goes down at 2 a.m.
A written warranty and a written way to get changes made
What is fixed free and for how long, what a change costs, how fast someone replies, and where to send the request.
Delivered means: everything is yours, documented, and working — not just visible.
This is exactly the checklist our delivery page commits to, and our terms put it in writing. Use it on any agency, including us.
