[cianosheehan]

This isn't my line of business, I'm more on the receiving end, but I've had to put up with enough crap to be able to say a thing or two.

If you are getting any web-design job done, make sure you set some things straight before going ahead with whatever developer you are dealing with.

Firstly if you value any kind of confidentiallity get an NDA (Non disclosure agreement) signed between you. Make it as extensive as you wish. If they have a problem with any of the content they will let you know.

Your designer will give you an estimated build time. In my experience the speed of completion is ALWAYS overestimated. E.g if they say 2 months, expect it in 4 months. You have to make it clear to them at the start that you are aware of the delays that can come up during development and that you want absolute assurance that they do their best to deliver when they say they do. You may try figure some kind of deal to protect yourself from this, such as reduced fee if completed x amount of days over deadline. Although finding a company who would agree to this may be hard.

Most developers will give you a quote for the whole build which reflects their standard $$$/hour, and other associated costs. This quote doesn't change throughout the build. Since they know they will be getting their money either way, it doesn't really matter to them when the job is finished, because they are getting their money for hours put in either way.

If the development company is busy and working on multiple projects at once, they may have so much going on that coordinating a build and delivering it when promised becomes impossible.

Another thing, if you want X solution built, to combine with Y and resolve problem Z, developers may be aware that X+Y wont resolve Z, but they will build X and charge you for it anyway. Then you find out that Z isn't resolved, but hey, it's not their fault because you only asked them to build X. So, interrogate and confirm and explain the full scope of your problem, and make sure what you want done is what's needed to be done.

If you are going to hire a company, I'd recommend going through their portfolios and contacting anyone who they have worked for before, and making sure they are not a bunch of cowboys.

As I'm saying this, I just want to say that there are great and honest web developers out there. But there are definately those who will mess you around and not really care about the true resolve of your solution.

-Cian