Website Design in Irving, TX: Hiring Guide

Define the job before comparing designers

Write down the action you want a visitor to complete and the information they need beforehand. For an appointment business, specify services, availability, booking rules, and confirmations. For a supplier seeking business customers, specify product information, qualification questions, and who receives inquiries. Ask each candidate to quote against that same brief.

List the pages and content you intend to keep, replace, or create. Assign an owner to copy, photographs, product details, translations, and approvals. Ask the designer to identify what you must provide before work starts and how missing material affects the schedule. Request milestones for content approval, design review, testing, and launch.

For a redesign, ask the candidate to inventory existing page addresses and propose redirects for pages that will move. Include your email setup in the launch discussion. Require a backup and rollback plan before anyone changes hosting or domain settings.

Compare the full cost and Texas tax treatment

Request written quotes for your page list and features; compare build costs, recurring charges, support, and tax. Ask each provider to identify hosting, software subscriptions, maintenance, and content-update charges. Include revision limits, charges for additional work, renewal terms, and cancellation arrangements. Compare the total you would pay through the first year using each provider’s quoted charges.

The Texas Comptroller lists website creation, maintenance, and web hosting as data-processing services and exempts 20 percent of data-processing charges from tax. Ask the provider to show the applicable tax treatment and whether quoted totals include tax. Treat the exemption as a share of the charge when reviewing the calculation. [3]

In its April 2024 summary of a private letter ruling, the Comptroller distinguished standalone website blueprinting from development. The described blueprinting covered goals, site mapping, usability consulting, and architecture planning without creating a website. The Comptroller treated that standalone service as nontaxable and development as taxable. Ask how your provider classifies your actual deliverables; the summary addresses the services described in that ruling. [4]

Check relevant work, access, and data handling

Review live sites with tasks similar to yours. Try the contact form on a phone, inspect the booking or buying steps, and ask the candidate which parts they built. Request a demonstration of how your staff would change opening hours or add a service. Put training, written instructions, and account handover in the agreement.

Keep the domain registration and essential accounts under your business’s control. Ask the designer to name any licensed themes, fonts, images, or software and explain who pays renewals. Specify what you receive when the relationship ends, including content, files, credentials, and any limits on moving the site.

Before adding forms, analytics, or customer accounts, list the information you intend to collect and who will receive it. The Texas Attorney General says SBA-defined small businesses are generally exempt from the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act, with an exception requiring consent before selling consumers’ sensitive data. For covered businesses, the Act includes privacy-notice and data-security duties. Confirm applicability with your legal adviser before assigning implementation work. [5]

Agree on acceptance before launch

Write acceptance checks into the scope. Ask the designer to demonstrate phone and desktop layouts, keyboard navigation, readable text, labeled forms, and error messages. Test inquiries from submission through receipt by the right staff member. For online sales, include checkout, confirmation messages, shipping settings, and a refund test.

Name the person who authorizes launch and agree on how you will report defects. Separate correction of agreed deliverables from later feature requests. Define who handles backups, software updates, form failures, and urgent outages after handover, along with response expectations and charges.

Texas data-processing charge: exempt and taxable portions

Choose a scope to discuss with candidates

Your hiring checklist

1. Prepare a page list, customer task, budget, and target launch date.
2. Assign responsibility for copy, images, translations, and approvals.
3. Request itemized build costs, recurring charges, tax treatment, and change fees.
4. Review live examples and ask the candidate to demonstrate relevant features.
5. Confirm domain control, administrator access, licenses, and handover rights.
6. Document migration, email continuity, backups, and rollback responsibilities.
7. Agree on acceptance tests, staff training, and support after launch.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much should I budget?

Set a spending ceiling. Request written quotes for your page list and features; compare build costs, recurring charges, support, and tax. Ask providers to identify optional work and explain what you would receive within your budget.

Does Texas tax website design?

The Comptroller includes website creation, maintenance, and hosting in taxable data processing, with 20 percent of the charge exempt. Its April 2024 ruling summary distinguishes standalone planning that does not create a site. Ask your provider to explain the classification of your package. [3] [4]

Does my small business need a privacy-law implementation package?

Confirm applicability before purchasing one. The Texas Attorney General says SBA-defined small businesses are generally exempt from the Act, except for consent requirements when selling sensitive consumer data. Describe your forms, tracking, and data sharing to your adviser, then give the designer specific implementation instructions. [5]

How should I set a launch deadline?

Ask the designer to work backward from your deadline and identify content, approvals, integrations, and testing dependencies. Put your own delivery dates in the schedule. Agree on what you can defer if you need a smaller initial launch.