• Who are the senior developers that will work on my project? Can they be named in the contract as key personnel?
• What's your turnover rate for developers on active projects?
• If a key person leaves mid-project, how do you handle the transition? Who owns the knowledge transfer?
• Have you had to wind down or restructure in the past five years? What happened to ongoing client projects?
• Who owns the company and what's the governance structure?

Red flag"We don't name people in contracts, we manage as a team." If the person you liked leaves, you get whoever is free. Push for at least the technical lead to be named.

• Walk me through your project kick-off. What gets documented and who signs off on scope?
• How do you handle scope creep? Show me a real example of a scope change request.
• What's your definition of "done"? What does hand-off look like?
• How often will we communicate and through what channels? Can I talk directly to the developers?
• What happens if we disagree on whether something is working? How do you resolve it without billing more hours?
• Have you ever missed a deadline? What happened and how did you handle it?

Red flag"We don't do formal scope changes, we just adjust as we go." This is how projects balloon. Every scope change should be documented, approved and priced.

• Show me three projects similar in scope and complexity to mine. Can I talk to those clients?
• What's your tech stack for a project like mine, and why? Do you choose based on the problem or the framework you know?
• Do you do security reviews, penetration testing or hardening as part of standard delivery? What costs extra?
• How do you handle technical debt? Is refactoring built into projects or a separate line item?
• What's your approach to testing (unit, integration, end-to-end) and what's the coverage bar?

Red flag"Our estimates are usually within 20% of the final cost." That is a $100k to $120k swing on a $100k project. Ask for a fixed price with a change-order process.

• What happens after launch? Is there a support period, how long, and what's included?
• If I need a bug fix after the project ends, what's the process and pricing?
• Will you maintain the code if I want you to? What does that look like?
• If I bring the code in-house or to another developer, will you help with the transition?

Red flag"We recommend a 30-day post-launch support period." Too short; you are still finding bugs at day 45. Push for 60–90 days with response times.

• Is the price fixed or hourly? If fixed, what happens if the scope changes? What's your change-order process?
• What's the payment schedule: upfront, milestone-based or at the end?
• If the project is delayed on your side, do I get a refund or credit? If I ask for more features, how is that billed?

Red flagVague answers on change orders and payment schedules mean delays get absorbed into your timeline or their margins, which means corner-cutting.

• Who owns the code when the project is done? Show me the exact clause.
• What does your work-made-for-hire clause actually say?
• If work-made-for-hire doesn't apply legally, is there an assignment clause that transfers ownership to me?
• Do you use open-source libraries? Will I have the source and the list of dependencies?
• If you build reusable components on my project, do I own those or do you?

Red flag"We use work-made-for-hire clauses, you own everything." Incomplete: software isn't automatically covered. You need a work-made-for-hire clause AND an assignment clause.

• What's your liability cap? (12 months of fees is typical; 3 months is tight.)
• What's covered by your errors-and-omissions insurance and what's the policy limit?
• If the app goes down, gets hacked or loses data after hand-off, who's responsible?

Red flag"The code uses our proprietary framework, you can't take it elsewhere." Lock-in by another name. Ask them to carve out their pieces and assign the rest, or walk.