How to order a website? We prepare recommendations for customers

Good evening, dear habrasoobschestvo.

We want to invite to the discussion all the representatives of web studios and Internet agencies, freelancers, as well as representatives of customers and people who are not indifferent to discuss the next topic.

At the moment we are collecting abstracts for a series of publications of the Delovoy Peterburg newspaper about how and when to book a site better, what important points you should pay attention to, and also how to avoid critical mistakes when choosing a contractor.
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In the internal discussion, opinions on some points differed greatly. On some points I would like to receive confirmation. We decided to try to bring the grated topic up for discussion in a competent community.

The topic is not new, but also not losing its relevance, as the level of awareness and literacy, as our practice shows, is often still relatively low among well-known customers, and there are quite a lot of performers who use this intentionally or unintentionally. Both sides suffer from this.

The task is to formulate the facts, and also, by discussion and further voting, determine their significance when ordering a site.

All participants in the discussion will be further commented and mentioned, unless they wish to do the opposite.

And so first some controversial facts:
1. Do not / should work with a company that uses the services of freelancers.
Not only small studios, but also rather large ones, we will not call them, use the services of freelancing. On the one hand, this should lead to a reduction in cost for the customer, and on the other hand introduces instability and additional risks. Here our opinions are very divided.

2. Do not / should order a site on an unknown / known CMS.
On the one hand, it is good to take the promoted CMS, which is used by many developers. This will allow to change the developers without any serious consequences, if necessary, and guarantees the stability of the project. On the other hand, the project on Bitrix CMS is likely to be more expensive and less flexible for non-standard upgrades.

3. Better hard or flexible contract (TK including as part of the contract)?
With a hard contract, the customer has a fixed number of layout options, and if more is needed, you will have to pay extra. This applies to all phases. On the other hand, a flexible contract, TZ will allow you to better adjust the work on the project in the course of the emergence of an intermediate result. But he is likely to be more expensive.

4. Does the software that the studio uses? Means license paid / unlicensed / open source?

There are facts that we would like to write down as indisputable, unless the contrary is proved, but I would like to receive comments on them, determine their significance and add to this list:

1. It is best to order the site in advance , and not a month before the exhibition :-) at the beginning of the year, when it is possible to do it at the best price due to the relative lack of orders on the studios. Using the moment, you should be ready to bargain.

2. The studio should have a good office in which people work, and not an office in the basement, where a couple of managers sit, and all the developers, for example, in Uzbekistan.

3. It is good if the studio uses any CRM in order not to forget or miss anything, and even better is software for automating and formalizing relations with the customer during the work on the project.

4. The presence in the company of adequate serious guidance with which you may also have to interact closely, most likely not with favorable developments.

And quite captain-like facts:
5. The presence of a good portfolio of the studio, and even better the availability of work on similar topics.

6. Availability of additional services - hosting, support, promotion in search engines. Their high level and development in the company.

7. Serious age of the studio (from 3-4 years of work in the market).

8. Having a manager with big tits with whom it will besides all comfortably communicate.

I repeat once more that I want to discuss the voiced theses and expand their list. If the topic turns out to be really interesting for the habrasoobshchestvo and there are a lot of facts, then we will organize a vote. Let's help customers together! :-)

upd: we have already noticed that in corporate blogs, at first, a couple of minuses appear immediately from the authors of neighboring topics (IMHO and observation), but still we would be grateful for simple comments on the topic to be sure that we didn’t go to this big question. from that side.