Ask business owners in your own trade who have a working website they didn’t build themselves — and ask them one question: what happened after you paid in full? That single question filters better than any portfolio, rating or price comparison available to you.
The moment it happens
Who finally connected you to a developer who actually delivered is usually answered by someone unexpected. Not a directory, not a search result. Another shop owner in the same market. A supplier. Someone in the same trade association who mentioned it in passing.
There’s a structural reason referrals matter so much here. Star ratings barely discriminate — agency ratings in NCR cluster at 4.7 to 4.9 across hundreds of reviews, including firms with substantial complaint histories elsewhere. When the public signal is that compressed, private information becomes disproportionately valuable.
Who to ask, ranked
| Source | Why it’s strong or weak |
|---|---|
| Business owners in your trade with working sites | Strongest. Same needs, same budget range, and they’ve lived the whole arc |
| Your suppliers and distributors | They deal with many businesses and hear about outcomes |
| Trade association or market association members | Local, accountable, and reputation travels |
| Your CA or accountant | Sees invoices across many clients; knows who gets paid and who complains |
| Local business WhatsApp groups | Fast, though answers are mixed in quality |
| Family and friends | Weakest — the relationship makes complaints impossible |
The last row deserves saying plainly, because it’s the most common route. A relative’s referral to “their website guy” carries social obligation in both directions. You can’t chase properly, they can’t refuse politely, and if it goes wrong you have a family problem as well as a website problem. There’s a separate piece on this; the short version is that it’s the least accountable arrangement available to you.
The one question
Portfolio, price and process are all easy to present well. Ask this instead:
What happened after you paid in full?
This is where almost every failure occurs. It’s also the part nobody volunteers, because it happened after the interesting phase of the project.
Listen for: whether small changes get done, how long a reply takes now, whether they were charged per change, and whether they hold their own domain and logins.
Then three follow-ups:
- “How long did it take, against what was promised?” — tests both the estimate and the delivery.
- “Is the domain in your name?” — tells you how this vendor structures ownership, for everyone.
- “Would you use them again?” — hesitation is the answer.
How to read the recommendation
Not all positive referrals are equally useful.
Strongest: someone in your trade, with a site you can open, who paid a comparable amount, and who has needed support since launch and got it. Almost everything you need to know.
Moderate: someone in a different trade with a working site and no support experience yet. Useful but untested on the part that matters.
Weak: “my nephew’s friend does websites.” No delivery evidence at all — this is a relationship, not a referral.
Discount entirely: anyone who received the site free or at a heavy discount, or who has a commercial interest in the referral. Their experience isn’t yours.
Verify anyway
A referral shortens the list; it doesn’t remove the checks. Even with a strong recommendation:
- Open the referred site and test its contact form and WhatsApp button.
- Ask for the same terms — domain in your name, small advance, stage-linked payments, GST invoice, written scope with year-two cost.
- Get it in writing. A referral is not a substitute for scope, and “he’s good, we didn’t need paperwork” is how referral projects go wrong.
That third point is where referral hires most often fail. The trust from the introduction replaces the structure, and then there’s nothing to fall back on.
How to ask, practically
Most people never ask because it feels awkward. It isn’t:
“Your website looks good — who made it? And were they alright to deal with afterwards?”
Two sentences. The second one is the whole value. Ask five owners in your market this month and you’ll have a better shortlist than a week of searching produces.
And when someone asks you the same question later, answer it fully — including what happened after you paid. That’s how this information circulates at all.
What to do this week
- Ask five business owners in your trade who built their site.
- Ask each of them what happened after they paid in full.
- Open every referred site and test its contact form.
- Shortlist two, and ask both for the same written terms.
- Insist on written scope even with a strong referral.
If you want it done the certain way
Ask us for a client in your trade you can phone, and ask them what happened after they paid — we’ll give you the number. Domain in your name, published price, payments against stages you can open. WhatsApp us; we reply in about five minutes between 9am and 7pm.
Related reading
- When a relative recommends “their website guy”
- Where do you start when looking for a developer?
- What proof rebuilds trust after a bad developer
- How to spot a developer who might disappear
FAQ
Who is the best person to ask for a web developer recommendation?
Business owners in your own trade who have a working website they didn’t build themselves. They share your needs and budget range, and they’ve experienced the post-payment period that decides whether a vendor is good.
What should I ask someone who recommends a web developer?
“What happened after you paid in full?” — plus how long it took against what was promised, and whether the domain is in their name. Post-payment behaviour is where most failures occur and is never volunteered.
Is a family referral a safe way to hire a web developer?
It’s the least accountable arrangement. Social obligation makes chasing difficult and complaints costly, and a problem becomes a family matter as well as a business one. Insist on written scope regardless of who introduced you.
