Before You Fire Your Web Guy: A Fair Checklist
Strange article for a web developer to write? Maybe. But half the horror stories I hear have two sides, and you deserve the fair version before you burn a bridge.
First: is it them, or the brief?
If you asked for "something modern" and hate what modern turned out to mean, that's a communication failure, not a betrayal. One direct conversation with specifics — "these three things, by this date" — resolves more than most firings.
Fireable, no debate
You don't own your own domain or hosting. Weeks of silence on paid work. "Maintenance" invoices with nothing to show. Refusing to hand over logins — that one's a hostage situation, not a service.
Probably fixable
Slow but honest. Good build, weak SEO (different skills — see what SEO really involves). Prices crept without scope talk — renegotiate before you detonate.
Leaving clean, in order
Before any goodbye: confirm you control the domain registrar, get a full site backup, inventory every account (hosting, email, analytics, forms), then transfer — then talk. The order matters; leverage evaporates after the conversation.
And vet the next one properly: read the quote like this, demand artifact-based work, and get ownership in writing. That's how I set every project up on day one — ask me to prove it: (847) 387-0244.
← All plays · Guides: costs by industry · tool matchups · AI playbooks