A print company in Missouri came to us after their previous project dragged on so long, round after round of revisions with no end in sight, that the owner finally told the other company to just launch it as-is. He ended up making his own fixes to the site after the fact because nobody else would. That’s what happens when a contract never defines the two questions that matter most: how many revisions are included, and when is the project done. Every web design contract, whether it’s one page or twelve, is really answering six questions like that one: what happens if you want changes, who owns the result, when will it be done, who’s liable if something goes wrong, how is the work checked before it ships, and what does it take to end things. Most contracts bury the answers. Here’s what to look for in each.
- Revisions. How many rounds of changes are included before extra rounds cost more? If the contract doesn’t say a number, assume the answer will surprise you later, the way it did for that print company. Ask for it in writing.
- Ownership. Does the agreement say plainly who owns the domain, the code, and the content when the project is done? Ownership and subscription models split this up differently, and the contract should say which one you’re getting, not leave you to guess.
- Timelines. Is there a real date, or just a range like “6 to 12 weeks”? A specific timeline in writing is a sign the company has a real process. A vague one is a sign they don’t.
- Liability. What happens if something breaks after launch, a plugin conflict, a security issue, a site going down? The contract should say who’s responsible for fixing it and whether that’s included or billed separately.
- Testing. Before a site goes live, is it checked across different browsers and devices, or does “testing” just mean someone looked at it once on their laptop? Ask directly what testing looks like before launch.
- Termination terms. How much notice do you need to give to cancel, is there a fee to leave, and what happens to your site, domain, and files if you do? This is the section people skip reading and regret skipping most.
A good contract isn’t there to trap you, it’s there to prevent scope creep, payment disputes, and the kind of unclear deliverables that turn a project into a fight. If a contract is vague on purpose, that vagueness usually benefits the company writing it, not you.
Here’s how Yeet Websites answers these, in plain terms. Every plan includes monthly edits as part of the price, one hour on the subscription plan, thirty minutes on the ownership plan, not billed separately. Most sites launch in three weeks or less, and you see progress along the way before anything goes live, not just a single reveal at the end. There’s no contract on either plan: cancellation takes 3 business days’ notice before your next payment date, no minimum term, no early termination fee. The domain is always yours. On the ownership plan, the code and a full backup are yours too; on the subscription plan, your domain and content transfer with you and the site itself does not.
If you’re evaluating a contract right now, whether it’s ours or someone else’s, ask for real numbers on revisions, testing, and liability before you sign. If a company can’t answer those three plainly, that tells you something too.