How to Choose a Web Agency in Bucharest: Essential Questions to Ask

Choosing a web agency in Bucharest is a decision that can cost you or earn you serious money in the long run. The market is fragmented: you’ll find freelancers working alone, agencies with 2-3 people and companies with dozens of employees, all with completely different prices and quality.

The problem isn’t that bad agencies exist. The problem is that it’s hard to identify them before you pay. This guide gives you the exact tools to evaluate any web agency before you sign anything.

Step one: check the portfolio in detail

Every serious web agency in Bucharest has a public portfolio. If it doesn’t have one or refuses to show delivered projects, that’s the first warning sign.

When you look at the portfolio, don’t stop at how the websites look. Open them on your phone and test their speed with PageSpeed Insights. A score below 50 on mobile for a simple presentation website shows that the agency doesn’t prioritize technical performance. Your website will be the same.

Also check whether the websites in the portfolio are still online and working. A portfolio with dead links or abandoned websites says something about the agency’s long-term relationship with its clients.

The questions to ask before any quote

A serious web agency doesn’t give you a price without understanding what you need. If you receive a quote 10 minutes after the first contact, without being asked a single question about your business, that quote is generic and doesn’t reflect your real project.

The questions you need to ask are just as important. Ask all of them and evaluate the quality of the answers.

Who actually works on my project? Some agencies subcontract projects to external freelancers after winning them. It isn’t necessarily a problem, but you need to know who you’re communicating with and who is responsible for the quality of the deliverables.

What does the work process look like? A structured agency can describe the stages: brief, wireframe or mockup, development, testing, launch, support. If they don’t have a clear process, they improvise.

How long does the project take and what happens if you miss the deadline? Delays happen in any project. What matters is whether the deadlines are contractually committed and what penalties exist.

What happens after launch? Post-launch support is just as important as development. Ask how long you get free support, what the price of additional hours is and how you report an urgent problem.

Who owns the domain, the hosting and the code

This is the question many companies forget to ask and regret later. There are agencies that register the client’s domain under their own contact details. When the client wants to leave or change agencies, recovering the domain becomes a complicated and sometimes costly process.

Ask explicitly: is the domain registered in my company’s name or in the agency’s name? Who has access to the domain control panel?

The same goes for hosting: is the hosting account yours or the agency’s? If the agency disappears or you want to change provider, do you have full access to the website files and the database?

The source code of the WordPress theme must be yours after delivery. Some agencies deliver the theme without source code or with usage restrictions. Explicitly ask for all the code to be included in the project handover.

How to assess seriousness through the contract

A good contract isn’t a guarantee that everything will go perfectly, but a weak contract is a clear signal that the agency isn’t used to working professionally.

The contract must specify: exactly what is delivered (number of pages, features, supported device types), the delivery deadlines, the total amount and the payment schedule in installments, who owns the rights to the design and the code, and what the warranty or post-launch support includes.

Avoid contracts that don’t specify anything concrete and rely on verbal promises. Also avoid contracts that demand full payment before work begins.

Payment in installments tied to deliverables is the correct standard: an advance when signing the contract (20-30%), an installment on delivery of the approved design, an installment on delivery of the website in the testing environment and the final payment at launch.

Talk to the agency’s existing clients

Reviews on Google or on the agency’s website are hard to verify. What you can do is ask for 2-3 contacts of existing clients and call them directly.

Ask them: did they meet the deadline? How was communication when a problem came up? Do you still turn to them for changes? Would you recommend the agency?

An agency that refuses to provide reference contacts either has no satisfied clients or has no real clients at all. Both situations are problematic.

Clear signs that an agency isn’t the right fit

A few situations that should make you decline the collaboration before it starts.

They don’t have an office or a verifiable address and can’t be found on any professional platform. In Bucharest there are hundreds of real agencies with a verifiable presence.

They promise you guaranteed results in Google: “you’ll be first on Google in 30 days” or “we guarantee position 1”. Nobody can guarantee positions in Google. Anyone who says so is lying or doesn’t understand how SEO works.

They have no questions about your business and immediately send you a generic quote. A good website is built starting from your business goals, not from a pre-made template.

The price is dramatically lower than any other competitor’s. If all the serious agencies in Bucharest ask 1,500-3,000 EUR for a type of project and one asks 300 EUR, ask yourself what’s different. Usually the answer is quality or what is actually included.

Web agency vs freelancer: which to choose

Not every project needs an agency. A serious freelancer with a verified portfolio can deliver equally good quality for simple projects, often at a lower price.

The agency’s advantage is the team: designer, developer and possibly a copywriter or SEO specialist working together. The freelancer’s advantage is direct communication and flexibility.

The freelancer’s disadvantage is availability: if you’re their only client at a given moment you’re the priority, if they have several clients you may have to wait. The agency’s disadvantage is that you may end up communicating with an account manager who knows nothing technical and simply relays messages.

Ask any provider: who do I communicate with directly and who answers when I have an urgent problem?

Frequently asked questions

How do I check whether a web agency in Bucharest is legally registered?

Ask for the company’s tax ID (CUI) and check it on listafirme.ro or on the ANAF website. A serious company has an active CUI, paid-up share capital and no debts to the state. Also check whether the registered office address is real.

How long does a website project normally take?

A simple presentation website takes 2-4 weeks from brief to launch. A mid-size website with more pages and features takes 4-8 weeks. An online store takes 6-12 weeks. Deadlines also depend on how quickly you provide feedback and content.

Is it normal to pay in advance for a website?

An advance of 20-30% when signing the contract is normal and covers the agency’s initial costs. Full payment before seeing any deliverable isn’t recommended. The correct structure is installments tied to the project stages.

What do I do if the agency disappears after I’ve paid?

If you have a contract with a registered company, you have a legal basis to take action in court. That’s why it’s important to work with companies, not with individuals without a legal form. Make sure you have all the website files and access to the hosting before the final payment.

Can I change agencies after the website is ready?

Yes, if you have full access to the hosting, the source code and the domain. Any new agency can take over an existing project. If the original agency withheld access to the domain or hosting, recovery can be complicated, which is why it’s important to clarify ownership from the start.

Conclusion

Choosing a web agency in Bucharest doesn’t have to be a lottery. With the right questions asked before signing any contract, you can quickly tell serious agencies apart from those that just want to collect the advance payment.

The best indicator of a good agency isn’t their website or the ads they run, but the clients they have and the projects they’ve delivered. Check them, call them and only then decide.

If you’re looking for a web agency in Bucharest and want a direct conversation with no sales pressure, contact us at nexium.ro/contact. We reply with questions, not with generic quotes.