The deposit model
A lot of designers take a deposit up front, then design and build. I understand why. Design takes time, and a deposit protects the designer from clients who vanish after the first draft. For a large, complicated project, it's a sensible way to work.
The downside sits with you. You hand over money before you've seen anything made for your business, so you're choosing on the strength of a portfolio and how the first call felt.
How a free website demo works
With a demo, the designer makes a homepage for your business first. You look at it on your laptop and your phone, show it to your business partner and sleep on it. If you don't like it, you walk away and owe nothing.
That's how I work. I design a free custom homepage demo. If you love it, we agree the scope and price in writing, you pay 50% to start and I build the rest. The other 50% is due when you approve the finished site, before it goes live.
The honest trade-offs
| Deposit first | Free demo first | |
|---|---|---|
| Your risk before seeing a design | Your deposit | None |
| How you choose | Portfolio and conversation | A design made for your business |
| Designer's risk | Low | Higher, so demos cover the homepage only |
| Suits | Large, complex projects | Small business websites |
The demo model puts the risk on me. That's why my demos cover the homepage only. It's enough to show you the direction, and for small business sites it's a risk I'm happy to take. For a big custom build, I'd understand a designer wanting a deposit first.
Protect yourself either way
Whichever model you choose, get the scope in writing. That means the pages, the features, how many rounds of changes you get and what counts as extra.
Agree when each payment is due and what triggers it. "50% when you approve the design" is clear. "Balance due on completion" can mean different things to different people.
Register your domain and hosting in your own name from the start, and ask when the final files become yours. It's normally on final payment, which is fair, but you should know.
Look closely at examples. Are they real client sites or concepts? Either is fine if it's labelled honestly. My concept designs are marked as fictional businesses.
And pay through proper invoices with a traceable method. Never send card details over email or chat, to anyone.