Working With a Houston Web Design Agency: What to Expect

A Galleria-area accounting firm called us last month after a frustrating experience. They’d paid another agency $8,000 for a website that took nine months to deliver. Communication had been sparse. Revisions took weeks. When the site finally launched, it looked nothing like what they’d envisioned.

They weren’t alone. We hear versions of this story regularly from Houston business owners who feel burned by past web design experiences. The problem usually isn’t malice—it’s misaligned expectations about how web design projects actually work.

Here’s what working with a professional Houston web design agency should look like, and how to set yourself up for success.

The Discovery Phase: More Important Than You Think

Quality agencies don’t start designing on day one. They start with questions.

What a Good Discovery Process Covers

Your business goals. A website isn’t an end in itself. What do you want it to accomplish? More leads? Online sales? Establishing credibility? Different goals require different approaches.

Your target customers. Who visits your site? What do they need to see? What objections do they have? An agency that skips this is building for themselves, not your customers.

Your competitive landscape. Who else serves your market in Houston? What are they doing well? Where are the gaps you can exploit?

Your existing assets. Do you have brand guidelines? Photography? Content? Understanding what exists shapes the project scope.

Your technical requirements. Do you need to integrate with your CRM, booking system, or inventory management? These integrations affect timeline and cost.

Red Flags in Discovery

Be wary if an agency:

Skips discovery entirely and jumps to proposals
Asks only about visual preferences, not business goals
Doesn’t want to talk to anyone besides you (for businesses with multiple stakeholders)
Seems more interested in their portfolio than your needs

Discovery typically takes one to two weeks for a small business website. It’s not wasted time—it’s what separates strategic website investments from expensive digital brochures.

Understanding Website Proposals

After discovery, you’ll receive a proposal. Here’s how to evaluate it.

What Should Be Included

Detailed scope of work. Exactly which pages will be built. What functionality is included. What’s explicitly not included.

Timeline with milestones. When will you see designs? When will development start? When is launch expected? What checkpoints exist along the way?

Revision process. How many rounds of revisions are included at each phase? What constitutes a revision versus a change order?

Deliverables. What exactly do you receive at the end? Source files? Training documentation? Post-launch support?

Payment terms. How much upfront? When are subsequent payments due? What are the conditions?

Ownership. Do you own the final website? Can you take it elsewhere if needed?

Comparing Multiple Proposals

If you’re getting quotes from multiple Houston agencies (and you should), comparing them isn’t as simple as looking at the bottom line.

A $5,000 proposal might include:

Template customization
Basic SEO setup
30 days of post-launch support

A $12,000 proposal might include:

Custom design from scratch
Content strategy and copywriting
Advanced SEO implementation
90 days of support plus ongoing maintenance options
Speed optimization
Conversion rate optimization

These aren’t the same product. Compare what’s actually included, not just the price.

The Design Phase: Your Input Matters

Once you’ve signed on, design begins. This is where many projects go wrong—either from too little client involvement or too much.

What to Expect

Mood boards or style tiles. Many agencies start with visual direction before full page designs. This establishes colors, typography, and overall feel before investing in detailed layouts.

Homepage and key page concepts. You’ll typically see 1-3 design concepts for your most important pages. These aren’t final—they’re starting points for discussion.

Feedback sessions. A good agency guides your feedback, asking specific questions rather than just “what do you think?”

How to Give Useful Feedback

The most helpful feedback is specific and tied to business goals:

Helpful: “I’m concerned the contact form isn’t prominent enough. Our goal is lead generation, and visitors might not scroll down to find it.”

Less helpful: “I don’t like it. Can you try something different?”

Helpful: “Our customers are mostly age 55+. I worry the text might be too small for comfortable reading.”

Less helpful: “Make the logo bigger.”

Trust your agency’s design expertise while being clear about your business needs. The best outcomes happen when client knowledge and design expertise collaborate.

Revision Expectations

Most proposals include 2-3 rounds of revisions per design phase. A round means one consolidated set of feedback—not multiple back-and-forth emails.

Gather all stakeholder feedback before submitting. “My wife/partner/friend saw it and had some thoughts” after you’ve already approved something creates delays and frustration.

The Development Phase: Patience Required

Once designs are approved, development begins. This is where your beautiful mockups become a functioning website.

What Happens During Development

Content integration. Your text, images, and media get placed into the designed layouts.

Functionality building. Contact forms, galleries, interactive elements, integrations—everything that makes the site actually work.

Responsive development. Ensuring the site works beautifully on phones, tablets, and desktops.

Testing. Cross-browser testing, mobile testing, form testing, speed testing.

Your Role During Development

Development requires less client involvement than design, but you’re not off the hook.

Provide content. If you’re responsible for text and images, delays on your end delay the project. Have content ready when development starts.

Stay available for questions. Developers encounter decisions that need client input. Responding promptly keeps things moving.

Review staging sites. You’ll get access to a staging site (a private preview of your site in development). Review it thoroughly and consolidate feedback.

Development for a typical Houston small business website takes 4-8 weeks after design approval, depending on complexity.

Launch and Beyond

Pre-Launch Checklist

Before going live, your agency should verify:

All pages are complete with final content
Forms work and send to correct email addresses
Site loads quickly (under 3 seconds)
Mobile experience is smooth
Basic SEO elements are in place
Analytics tracking is installed
SSL certificate is active (HTTPS)

What Happens at Launch

Launch typically involves:

Pointing your domain to the new website
301 redirects from old URLs to new ones
Submitting the new sitemap to Google
Testing everything one more time

A good agency monitors closely after launch to catch any issues that appear with real traffic.

Post-Launch Support

The relationship shouldn’t end at launch. Understand what support is included:

How long does post-launch support last?
What’s covered versus billed separately?
How do you reach them when issues arise?
What’s the expected response time?

Many agencies offer ongoing maintenance packages for security updates, backups, and regular improvements. These are worth considering—websites need ongoing care.

Typical Timeline for a Houston Small Business Website

Here’s a realistic timeline for a professional small business website:

Week 1-2: Discovery and planning Week 3-4: Design concepts and revisions Week 5-6: Design refinement and approval Week 7-10: Development Week 11-12: Testing and launch preparation Week 12+: Launch and post-launch support

Total: 10-14 weeks from kickoff to launch.

Anyone promising a quality custom website in 2-3 weeks is either using templates with minimal customization or cutting critical corners. For simple template-based sites, faster timelines are possible—just understand what you’re getting.

Questions to Ask Before Signing

Can you show me similar projects for Houston businesses? Look for relevant experience, not just pretty work.
Who will I be working with? Will it be the same people throughout, or will you be passed around?
What happens if the project goes over budget? Change orders happen. Understand how they’re handled.
What do you need from me? Know your responsibilities before committing.
What’s not included? Assumptions cause conflict. Get everything explicit.
How do you handle disagreements? A collaborative approach suggests a healthy working relationship.
What happens after launch? The handoff matters as much as the build.

Finding the Right Fit

The right agency isn’t just about capability—it’s about fit. You’ll work closely for months. You want an agency that:

Communicates clearly and responds promptly
Understands Houston’s business landscape
Has experience with businesses similar to yours
Treats you as a partner, not just a client
Is honest about what’s realistic

The best indicator? How they make you feel during the sales process. If you’re already frustrated before signing, it won’t improve.

Ready to Start the Conversation?

If you’re considering a new website for your Houston business, we’re happy to walk through what the process would look like for your specific situation.

Contact us for a straightforward conversation about your website needs—no pressure, no hard sell. We’ll tell you honestly whether we’re the right fit, and if we’re not, we’ll point you in a better direction.

Learn more about our web development approach, or explore how we integrate SEO and digital marketing into effective business websites.