What a web design contract should promise you
When we decided to start LaunchSite, we read more than a hundred one-star reviews of Singapore’s biggest web design agencies. Not the five-star ones, but the angry ones, the ones with 20 upvotes, the ones written two years into a project that was quoted at eight weeks.
The stories repeat. Which is actually good news for you: if the failures are predictable, they’re preventable. You prevent them in the contract, before any money moves. Here are the seven clauses to look for, and why each one exists.
1. Ownership: everything in your name, from day one
The horror story: business owners locked out of their own website. Domains registered in the agency’s name. “Free hosting” that quietly becomes hostage-taking when you try to leave.
The clause to demand: domain, hosting and every login registered in your name from project start, with a written register of every account and credential. If an agency resists this, ask what, exactly, they plan to hold.
2. A fixed price, in writing, with extras quoted before the work
The horror story: “affordable packages” that balloon; five-figure invoices for template work; clients billed “for everything” after the deal is signed.
The clause: the fee is fixed at signature. Anything outside the written scope is quoted in writing and only proceeds when you accept. Bonus check: does the quote say what’s templated and what’s custom? A theme-based build at a custom-build price is the industry’s oldest markup.
3. A delivery date with consequences
The horror story: projects quoted in weeks, delivered in years. The most-upvoted negative review we found described a five-figure project dragged out for two.
The clause: the delivery date in the agreement, plus an automatic remedy if the vendor is late. Ours is 5% of the fee credited per week of delay, capped at 25%. The mechanism matters less than that it’s automatic: if a delay costs the agency nothing, the date is decorative. Fair contracts also pause the clock when the delay is yours (late content, slow approvals), but the pause should be notified in writing at the time, not claimed retrospectively in a dispute.
4. A go-live sign-off you control
The horror story: sites launched with bugs and literal “Lorem ipsum” placeholder text, and the invoice arrived anyway.
The clause: a written launch checklist (no placeholders, forms tested, mobile checked) that you sign off before the final invoice can be issued. Payment structure tells you everything: if the last payment isn’t gated on your acceptance, quality is optional.
5. Post-launch support with a deadline
The horror story: the most common failure of all. Sites down for days with no reply. Support emails into the void. The relationship ends the moment the balance clears.
The clause: a real service level written into the maintenance agreement: a maximum first-response time (ours is 4 business hours), a defined window for site-down emergencies, and named business hours, so “we’ll get back to you” means something. Without an SLA there is no plan, just a hope with a monthly fee.
6. A grown-up complaints policy
The horror story: agencies publicly accusing unhappy clients of being fake reviewers. It happens more than you’d think, and you can read the exchanges yourself on their Google listings.
The clause (or written policy): a named person to escalate to, and a commitment to respond to complaints publicly and civilly. How a company treats its angriest customer is how it will eventually treat you.
7. Reporting you can act on
The horror story: months of “SEO” retainers reported in keyword positions and jargon, while enquiries stay flat and the client can’t access their own analytics.
The clause: your analytics accounts belong to you (see clause 1), and any reporting counts the things a business runs on (enquiries, leads, sales), not vanity metrics.
Use this list on us
Every clause above is in the LaunchSite standard agreement. You can download the sample contract before you ever message us, and our prices are already on the pricing section. If another agency meets all seven, you’ve found a good one, and we mean that.
While the one-star reviews taught us that the industry’s failures are systematic, the good news is the fix is also systematic. Don’t buy promises from a homepage, buy them from a contract.
Want the short version to carry into any sales conversation? The Quote Decoder is a free one-page checklist built from this article.