First and most importantly, this is not an anti- web developers article. No hating, just sharing my experience.

Many people out there have been burnt by massive sales promises from web developers and then the old trick of under delivering. Certainly not something isolated to the IT industry. Some people having paid in excess of $10k for a basic website, but delivered unfinished.

This isn’t a witch hunt on the web development industry. I have many friends who are great web developers, but unfortunately there are bad web developers and companies out there that make it hard for the ones doing to great work.

We have all been ripped off at some time in our lives. I certainly know I have and it can be a draining and emotional experience.

For many people building a new website for their business is an emotional journey. It demonstrates you are moving forward and doing something beneficial for your future. Not only for you, but for your family, partner, friends, employees, colleagues, etc. Ultimately you are putting yourself out there in the busy global economy. Not something to be taken lightly.

To be honest what are web development companies really delivering on?

The answer is a quality website that works and an uplifting emotional outcome for you personally. Upon completion of the website you want to immediately say:

“Hello world here I come…..I am ready to do business with you!”

Very difficult to say this if half the world’s browsers and devices cannot view your website due to software failure or general lack of testing.

Today I will show you how to reduce your exposure to the risk of a failed website delivery. The best approach is to deal with these issues during the engagement process with a potential web development company, especially before any money has exchanged hands. This is in the form of a “binding contract” or “Statement of work”.

(Please note: The below are high level guiding principles that should go into a contract or statement of work. They don’t consist of the entire contract between both parties)

The contract process doesn’t have to be a novel, but needs to address key deliverables and milestones.

Here is a checklist of what to address in the contract:

Establish specific milestones of how and when specific parts of the overall invoice will be paid. This can be in the form of:

Overview: Website objective(s), what is the development approach, schedule for completion.



Milestone one: Dummy screenshots of how your website will look and feel. Functional descriptions of how the website will operate.



Milestone two: Development & unit testing



Milestone three: Responsive/functional test planning. This can include identifying the top 3 popular devices, operations systems and web browsers on the market at the time. (View the link http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/default.asp to assist with identifying that scope)



Milestone four: Responsive/functional testing cycle. This includes a report of all screenshots for passed and failed tests. (If integrating with a third party website, make sure to include this in this test cycle and the next milestone)



Milestone five: Retest cycle of failed tests from milestone four along with confirming nothing else is failing in the website.



Milestone six: Simulate future customer volumes on your website.



Milestone seven: Beta testing with a live user group.



Milestone eight: Contingency testing cycle if required along with final fixes before completing the entire contract.



Milestone nine: Deployment to live site which includes testing if it was deployed correctly.



Milestone ten: Warranty period in case any immediate issues or defects occur in the live environment.

As there are ten milestones. Payment can be allocated as 10% to each milestone.

Only you can authorise exiting from one milestone and starting the next one.

Ensure you are using a test or simulated live environment that is not accessible by the public.

Who will be responsible for managing your project?

Specify if the development or testing resources are local or offshore.

Specify that the contract can be cancelled upon the completion of any milestone. No questions asked.

Outline who will host the test and live website. The test and live hosts must reflect the same setup.

Outline security and penetration expectations of your site.

Call out any ongoing maintenance costs. Example being testing that requires the introduction of new web browsers or devices into the market.

Where required some milestones may require a summary report to confirm what was undertaken in each milestone.

This contract is there to assist with fixing all critical and major defects prior to go going live. Most importantly, reduce the likelihood of hidden costs.

Many companies will not like or work under this type arrangement. If the case this is a positive, because you are avoiding a potentially low quality web developer or company experience.

This contract also requires allocating specific time commitment from your side. Make sure you are available to review tests, reports and gates surrounding closure of milestones. This is also a win/win partnership for both parties.

Use this blog as interview questions for qualifying web developers/companies. It will provide you with the knowledge to assess if they are the real deal and really care about what you are trying to achieve. Overall it will save you time and narrow your search criteria to find the best web development engagement for you.

I would love to hear your opinions, questions or subjects you wish for me to cover.

Please post your feedback to me via the discussion boards below or visit my website at www.mikehamilton.com.au.