What should be included in a website development contract — a pre-signing checklist?

Make sure to attach a formal "Technical Specifications Document" to the contract. Page templates, form fields, filtering logic—spell out every single detail. If a feature isn't written down, you can't claim any legal right to it at delivery.

Tie the payment milestones directly to deliverables. On our 120,000 TL contract, we split it as 30% upfront, 40% upon design and prototype sign-off, and 30% after the final acceptance protocol. If you don't hold leverage until the end, agencies will not bother polishing off the final punch list.

Under the Turkish Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works, economic rights remain with the agency unless transferred explicitly in writing. Have your lawyer insert standard irrevocable transfer wording covering adaptation, reproduction, distribution, and public transmission rights.

By quote form integration, will it sync data with your internal ERP or accounting software? If so, does the contract clearly define who handles those API integrations and takes responsibility for data security?

Add these two clauses for potential delays: 1) A daily penalty clause of 0.1% of the total contract value for unjustified delays caused by the agency. 2) Automatic day-for-day delivery deadline extensions if delays are caused by your team not providing content on time.

A 3-page boilerplate agreement is written to protect the agency, not you. "The website will be delivered" is just polite corporate speak for "the minute we push it live, we take our money and wash our hands of it."

whatever you do don't let them register the hosting and domain under their name. if things go south tomorrow they wont give up the credentials and you'll be stuck. set it up yourself and just grant them access.

You're right.

We experienced almost the exact same thing last year. Weekly written progress reports are much more useful than asking for dates.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for posting.

Absolutely. If I were to add anything: If you don't write this down from the start, it leads to arguments later.

Hope this helps.

I've been down this road, let me tell you. If acceptance criteria aren't written, when the work is done is open to debate.

If code ownership isn't in the contract, you have no bargaining power when leaving. Good luck with that.

There's a common mistake people make when doing this. If code ownership isn't in the contract, you have no bargaining power when leaving.

Everyone rushing into website development contract gets stuck at the same point. If I were you, I'd go this route.

My perspective changed after experiencing that. Access credentials should be opened in the company's name, not personal accounts.

Start with a small trial; don't commit to everything at once. Hope this helps.

Absolutely. If I were to add anything: Mistakes made on the website development contract side are usually reversible but expensive.

If you post the result here, it will help others too.

My perspective changed after experiencing that. Everyone rushing into website development contract gets stuck at the same point.

Solutions that work at a small scale collapse when you grow; I learned this late. Just leaving this note, it might be useful.

i agree.

Just a heads-up. Every "well look at it later" in a meeting means unbilled work.

The answer varies greatly by industry; there is no one-size-fits-all rule. Correct me if I'm wrong.