Website Development Contract: What It Must Say Before You Sign

A website development contract should guarantee five things: you own the finished code, design, and content once you have paid; the domain and hosting accounts are in your business's name, not the developer's; payments are tied to deliverables you can check; there is a warranty window for defects; and if the relationship ends early, you leave with everything built so far. Most painful stories we hear from business owners trace back to one of those five being missing.

This post is for owners and operations leads reading an agreement an agency sent over. It is not legal advice, and we are not lawyers; have a US attorney review the final document. What we offer is the engineer's view of which clauses matter in practice and what plain English to expect in each.

Who owns the code, the design, and the content?

You should, on full payment, and the contract has to say so explicitly.

It cannot be assumed. Under US copyright law, whoever creates a work owns it unless it is a "work made for hire" or the rights are assigned in writing. The US Copyright Office's Circular 30 explains that for an independent contractor (which your agency is), work made for hire only covers nine specific categories agreed in a signed document, and website code and design are not among them. A clause that only says "work for hire" may not do what you think. The fix is an assignment: the developer assigns to you all right, title, and interest in the deliverables, including copyright, effective on final payment.

Then separate three things that are usually mixed together:

• Custom code and design created for your project: assigned to you.
• The developer's pre-existing tools and libraries: stay theirs, with a perpetual, royalty-free license for you to use them inside your site. Reasonable, and you should expect it.
• Third-party and open-source components (plugins, themes, fonts, stock photos): governed by their own licenses. The contract should list them and say which are purchased in your name.

Content the agency writes for you should be assigned like code. Stock imagery bought on the agency's account is a common trap: when the relationship ends, the license often ends with it. Insist that stock licenses sit on your account.

Last, ask where the code lives. The cleanest arrangement is a repository under your company's GitHub account with the developer as a collaborator, so ownership on paper and in practice match from day one.

Should the domain and hosting be in my name?

Yes, both, with no exceptions for convenience.

The domain is the one asset you cannot rebuild. If your agency registers it under their account, you depend on their goodwill and continued existence to keep your web address. ICANN's Registration Data Policy, in effect since 21 August 2025, makes this concrete: when a Registrant Organization is listed, that organization is considered the Registered Name Holder. Your company's legal name belongs in that field, with a contact email you control. The contract should state that the domain is registered to the client, that registrant details never change without your written approval, and that credentials are handed over at launch.

Hosting is the same logic. Open the hosting, DNS, email, and analytics accounts in your name and grant the developer access. If the agency bundles hosting as a service, the contract should still say the account can be transferred to you on request within a stated number of days, with no exit fee beyond the pro-rated balance.

A short test: if this agency vanished tomorrow, could you log in to every account that runs your website? Each "no" is a clause to add.

How should payment terms work?

Tie payments to deliverables, not dates, and write down what happens when either side is late.

A common structure for a site in the range our post on how much a website costs describes: a deposit of 25% to 40% on signing, a payment on design approval, a payment when development is complete in staging, and the balance on launch. Each trigger should point to an acceptance clause: what you check, how many business days you have, and whether silence counts as approval.

Net-15 or net-30 terms are normal for US agencies, and so is a clause that pauses work after a stated number of days of non-payment. Expect a W-9 exchange, and ask whether sales tax applies to web design services in your state, because it varies.

Two things to watch: "balance due on completion" with no definition of completion, and ownership that transfers only after "all amounts due," which can be read to include future maintenance invoices. Tie the IP assignment to final payment for the build.

What should the warranty cover?

A defined window, a defined defect, and a defined response.

The window is usually 30 to 90 days after launch, during which the developer fixes defects at no charge. The contract needs to define "defect" (the site does not do what the signed scope says, on the listed browsers and devices) versus "change" (you want something different). Without that line, every request becomes an argument about which bucket it falls in.

A warranty with no timeline is a wish. Ask for a stated response time for site-down issues (hours) and ordinary defects (business days).

What about maintenance after launch?

Keep it separate and priced on its own.

Websites are not finished at launch. Plugins need updates, forms break when a third party changes its API, and the business wants new pages. A maintenance clause, or a separate short agreement, should state what is included each month, the hourly rate beyond that, and how to cancel (30 days' notice is normal). If you decline maintenance, the contract should still say who is responsible for updates and security from launch onward. Usually that is you.

Should the contract mention ADA accessibility?

It should say who is responsible for it, and to what standard.

Website accessibility lawsuits under the ADA are a real cost in the US, and New York leads in state-level filings. UsableNet's midyear 2025 report counted 2,019 digital accessibility lawsuits in the first half of 2025, 69% of them against ecommerce sites, and the year closed with more than 5,000 filings per the year-end report discussed in a January 2026 Fox Rothschild webinar.

Most agency contracts say nothing about this, so the risk is yours by default. Ask for a clause naming the standard (WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 Level AA is the usual target), how conformance is checked before launch, and who fixes issues found afterward. The legal detail is in our post on ADA website compliance in New York. An accessibility clause is cheap to add and expensive to wish you had.

How should termination and handover work?

Either side should be able to exit with notice, settle up for work done, and leave you holding everything built.

The clause should state the notice period (14 to 30 days is typical), that you pay for accepted milestones plus work in progress at the stated hourly rate, and that the developer hands over, within a stated number of days, all code to date, design files, credentials, documentation, and a transition call with any successor. The IP assignment should cover partial work you have paid for.

We see the cost of weak handover language whenever we take over a project from another developer: missing credentials, code on the old agency's laptop, a domain renewal notice going to an inbox nobody checks.

What US specifics should be in a web design agreement?

• Governing law and venue. The contract names a state. If the agency is elsewhere, you may be agreeing to resolve disputes there. Ask for your own.
• Independent contractor status. Standard language confirming the agency handles its own taxes and provides a W-9.
• Limitation of liability. Most agencies cap liability at fees paid. That is market standard; make sure the cap does not also excuse the IP assignment.
• Subcontractors. If the agency uses freelancers or offshore developers, it should be responsible for their work and for obtaining IP assignments from them.

We put every one of these points into our own agreements, domain and hosting in the client's name included, because we measure work in hours returned to a business, and nothing wastes an owner's hours like fighting for access to their own website.

Quick answers

Do I own my website if I paid for it?

Not automatically. Under US copyright law the creator owns the work unless it is assigned in writing or qualifies as a work made for hire, and website code generally does not fit the work-for-hire categories for contractors. Get an explicit assignment clause.

Who should the domain name be registered to?

Your business, in the Registrant Organization field, with a contact email you control. ICANN's 2025 Registration Data Policy treats the listed organization as the Registered Name Holder. Give the developer DNS access; never let them hold the registration.

How long should the warranty on a new website be?

Thirty to ninety days after launch is common. The contract should define a defect, list the browsers and devices covered, and give response times. After that, fixes move to maintenance.

Can I cancel a website development contract midway?

You should be able to, with notice (usually 14 to 30 days), payment for work completed, and handover of all code, designs, and credentials to date. If the contract does not allow this, ask before signing.

Next step

If an agency has sent you an agreement and something in it feels off, bring it to a free call with us. We will read it with you from the engineer's side, flag the ownership, access, and handover gaps, and send you a short written recommendation, whether you build with Premier Logic or with the agency that wrote it. Set up the call here.