Picking a development partner is mostly about reducing risk. The code matters, but so does whether the team communicates, documents, and hands over something you own. Ask these seven questions.
1. Can I see shipped work that is live right now?
Not screenshots. Not a design portfolio. Live URLs and App Store links you can open today. If a team cannot show working software, that tells you something.
2. Who owns the code and the accounts?
The answer should be you — the source code, the repositories, the hosting, the App Store and Google Play accounts. If the agency keeps these, you are renting your own product.
3. What stack do you use, and why?
You want a mainstream, well-supported answer — React, Node, Flutter, standard databases. That means you can hire someone else later if you need to. Be wary of a proprietary framework or a stack nobody else in the market knows.
4. How do you handle changes and support after launch?
Get it in writing. What is covered by a maintenance agreement, what is billed separately, and how fast do they respond when something breaks. "We'll take care of it" is not a plan.
5. Can you give a fixed scope and fixed price for phase one?
A serious team can define the first phase precisely and commit to it. Open-ended time-and-materials from the start is a risk transfer onto you.
6. How do you approach Arabic and RTL?
If your audience is Arabic-speaking, this is not a checkbox. Ask to see an Arabic-first site they built. Proper RTL — layout, typography, mixed Arabic/Latin text, printed documents — is a skill, and it is obvious when a team has it.
7. What do you do about SEO?
A beautiful site nobody can find is a poster, not a tool. Ask whether technical SEO, structured data, speed and bilingual setup are part of the build or an afterthought.
The standard
Codrex answers all seven the same way every time, and our portfolio is all live links. Hold any team to that.