Buying guide · 9 min read
How to choose a web design company in Singapore
Twelve questions that reveal more than any portfolio. Written by a studio that will tell you when we are the wrong choice, because the alternative is a bad project we both regret.
In short
Judge a web design company on four things a portfolio cannot show you: who actually does the work, what happens after launch, who owns what you paid for, and how they behave when something goes wrong. Ask for the name and role of the person who will build your site, get the post-launch arrangement in writing before you sign, confirm you own the domain and hosting accounts in your own name, and ask for a reference from a project that went badly. Everything else — awards, client logos, a beautiful portfolio — is easier to acquire than any of these four.
Key points
- A portfolio proves a studio can produce good work, not that they will produce it for you.
- Ask who specifically will build your site, and whether that person is the one in the meeting.
- Domain and hosting must be registered in your company's name, not the agency's.
- Ask for a reference from a project that went wrong; how they answer matters more than the reference.
- Get the post-launch arrangement in writing before signing, not after.
- A studio that never tells you they are the wrong fit is telling you something.
Why portfolios mislead
Every agency shows you their best six projects. None shows you the one that took eleven months, or the client who left, or the site that has not been updated since handover because nobody agreed who was responsible.
This is not dishonest, it is just how portfolios work. But it means the portfolio tells you the ceiling of what a studio can do, not the floor — and you will be living with the floor.
The questions below are the ones we would ask if we were buying. Several of them are uncomfortable to answer, which is precisely what makes them useful.
Who actually does the work?
In a small studio, the person in the meeting is usually the person building the site. In a larger one, it frequently is not — you meet a director, and the work goes to whoever is free.
Neither model is wrong. But you should know which you are buying, because it determines how much of the understanding built in that first conversation survives into the build.
- Who will write the code, and will I speak to them directly?
- How many other projects will they have running at the same time?
- If they leave mid-project, what happens?
- Is any part of this subcontracted, and if so, to whom?
What happens the day after launch?
This is the question that separates a website from a liability. A site is software: it needs updates, it will break, and something will need changing in the first month.
Ask before you sign, in writing, and be specific. "We offer support" is not an answer.
| Ask | What a good answer sounds like |
|---|---|
| Who applies security updates? | A named party, on a stated schedule |
| What is the response time if the site goes down? | A number of hours, and how to reach someone |
| What does a small text change cost? | Either included, or a stated rate |
| Who holds the backups, and how do I restore one? | You do, or you can request one at any time |
| What happens if we stop working together? | You keep everything, and here is how it transfers |
Who owns what you paid for?
This is the one that causes real damage, and it usually surfaces years later at the worst moment.
Your domain name should be registered to your company, with your company's email as the registrant contact. Your hosting account should be in your company's name. If your agency registers both under their own account "to keep it simple", you do not control your own web presence — and if the relationship sours, or the agency simply becomes unresponsive, recovering it ranges from tedious to impossible.
A reputable studio will not mind this at all. We register client domains in the client's name as a matter of course, and hand over the credentials.
Check right now: search a WHOIS lookup for your own domain. If the registrant organisation is not your company, that is worth resolving this week regardless of who built your site.
Ask for a reference from a project that went badly
Every studio has a list of happy clients ready to be phoned. That list tells you nothing, because it was selected.
So ask a harder question: tell me about a project that went wrong, and what you did about it. You are not really assessing the project. You are watching whether they can describe a failure without blaming the client, and whether the fix they describe sounds like a system or an apology.
A studio that claims nothing has ever gone wrong is either very new or not being straight with you.
The questions specific to hiring offshore
If you are considering a team outside Singapore — and we are one, so read this with that in mind — there are four questions worth adding.
- What are your working hours in Singapore time, and how much do they overlap with ours?
- Which currency do you invoice in, and who absorbs the exchange movement?
- Are you a registered company, and can you provide incorporation documents?
- Who is my single point of contact, and what happens when they are on leave?
For what it is worth, ours: about two and a half hours of overlap with Singapore, invoicing in SGD, Mishus Workshop Private Limited registered in Tamil Nadu, and one senior contact rather than an account manager relaying messages.
When you should hire a Singapore agency instead
We would rather say this plainly than win a project that turns into a bad year for both sides.
Hire locally if you need people physically present — a photoshoot at your premises, workshops with a large internal team, or a stakeholder group that genuinely needs to be in a room. Hire locally if your procurement process requires a local entity, which is common in government-linked work. And hire locally if the idea of an offshore team makes you uneasy, because that unease does not fade, it just turns into friction on every call.
None of those are failures of offshore work. They are cases where proximity is part of the requirement, and no cost saving compensates for missing part of the requirement.
A shortlist you can actually compare
Once you have three candidates, give all three the same brief: the same list of templates, the same integrations, the same statement of who writes the content. Then compare what each one excludes.
Exclusions are where the differences live. Inclusions are marketing.
Questions
Frequently asked
What should I ask a web design company before hiring them?
Ask who specifically will build the site and whether you will speak to them directly; what happens the day after launch, including who applies security updates and what a small change costs; whether the domain and hosting will be registered in your company's name; and for a reference from a project that went wrong. Those four reveal more than any portfolio.
Should my domain be registered by my web agency?
No. Your domain should be registered to your company with your company's email as the registrant contact, and your hosting account should be in your name. An agency holding both means you do not control your own web presence, and recovering it if the relationship ends can be extremely difficult. A reputable studio will have no objection to this.
Is it safe to hire a web design company outside Singapore?
It can be, provided you check the same things you would check locally plus a few extra: timezone overlap, invoicing currency, whether they are a registered company that can produce incorporation documents, and who your single point of contact is. The risk is not location, it is the absence of these answers.
How many quotes should I get for a website?
Three, given the same brief. Specify the same templates, the same integrations and the same content responsibility to each, then compare what each quote excludes rather than what it includes. Quotes built from different assumptions cannot be compared at all, which is how buyers end up choosing on price alone.
When should I hire a local Singapore agency rather than an offshore team?
When physical presence is part of the requirement — on-site photography, in-person workshops, or a large stakeholder group that needs to meet in a room. When procurement requires a local entity, which is common in government-linked work. And when working with an offshore team makes you genuinely uncomfortable, because that discomfort turns into friction on every call.