By Mehdi HassanMost founders discover handover problems months after launch, when the agency has moved on and someone needs to renew a domain, edit a form or check last year's traffic. By then the account is in a former freelancer's name and the recovery email goes nowhere. This checklist covers what you should own and how to verify it before the final invoice. It's part of our guide to website design and development for startups.
What is a website handover checklist?
A website handover checklist is the list of accounts, files and documents a client should receive and verify at the end of a website project. Its purpose is simple: after handover, you can run, change or move the site without the people who built it.
Handover covers three kinds of things. Accounts are the services the site runs on, like domain registrar, hosting, CMS and analytics. Files are what was created, like design source, code and brand assets. Knowledge is how it all fits together: documentation, training and a list of where everything lives. Missing any of the three leaves you dependent on the agency, whether they intended that or not.
Which website deliverables should you own at handover?
You should own every account the site depends on and every source file that was created for it. The table below lists the items, who should own them and how to check.
Item | Who should own it | How to verify |
|---|---|---|
Domain registrar | Your company account | Log in yourself and see the domain listed |
DNS | Your company account | You can view and edit the records |
Hosting | Your company account, billed to you | You receive the invoice |
CMS | Your company as owner, with seats for your team | You can invite and remove users |
Code repository | Your company's organization | You can see the full commit history |
Figma files | Your company's team or project | You can open, duplicate and edit them |
Analytics and tag manager | Your company as admin | You can add users and see all data |
Forms, email and CRM links | Your company accounts | A test submission reaches your inbox or CRM |
The rule is consistent: the agency gets access to your accounts during the project and loses it afterwards. Not the other way round. Our website ownership checklist goes deeper on domain, hosting and code ownership specifically.
How do you run a website project handover step by step?
Run the handover as a short, scheduled session before the final payment, with a written list the agency signs off. Then verify every item yourself afterwards.
Agree the list at kickoff
Put the handover list in the scope so it isn't a surprise at the end. Most good agencies already have one; compare it to the table above.
Transfer accounts, don't share them
Ownership moves to your company's accounts. Shared logins to the agency's account don't count.
Move credentials into a vault
Every password goes into a shared password manager your company controls, with at least two admins.
Receive the source files
Figma files moved into your team, code in your repository, and brand assets in a shared drive. For logos, use our list of logo files every designer should hand over.
Get the documentation
A short guide to how the site is built, how to edit each content type, and where integrations connect.
Hold the training session
Record a walkthrough of the CMS so new hires can watch it later.
Verify every item yourself
Log in to each account, run a test form submission, open the Figma file and check the analytics data. Then pay the final invoice.
What should you get from a web designer besides the live site?
Besides the live site, you should get the design source files, a component library, brand assets and the decisions behind them. Without these, the next designer starts from screenshots.
- Figma files with pages, components and styles organized and named, not just a flat export.
- A component library showing every block used on the site, so new pages reuse it.
- Brand assets: logo files in every format, colors, fonts with licenses, icons and illustrations. Our brand identity checklist lists what a branding project should include.
- Copy source: the final copy doc, so edits start from the approved words.
- Font and image licenses in your company's name, especially for paid fonts and stock photos.
If the brand was created alongside the site, ask how it was applied to the web, which we cover in translating a brand identity into web design.
What happens to tracking and analytics at handover?
Tracking and analytics should already be in your company's accounts, with the agency as a removable user. If the agency created them in its own account, your historical data is at risk when they leave.
Ask for a written tracking plan too: which events are tracked, what they're named, and where they're sent. Without one, the next person to touch the site may break conversion tracking without realizing it. Our website tracking plan template gives a format you can adopt. Confirm that consent settings are working before handover, because misconfigured consent can quietly drop conversion data.
Hypothetical example: what a missed handover costs later
For example, suppose a startup's first site was built by a freelancer who registered the domain in their own registrar account. Two years later, the startup wants a redesign. The freelancer is unreachable, the domain is set to auto-renew on an expired card, and the analytics property is in their personal account.
The new project now starts with a recovery effort: proving ownership to the registrar, recreating analytics with no history, and rebuilding the design from screenshots. None of it is difficult if handled at the original handover. All of it is slow and stressful when handled two years later.
What should happen after the handover?
After the handover, assign an internal owner for the site and set a simple maintenance routine. The handover gives you control; someone still has to use it.
Remove the agency's access from any account they no longer need, update the recovery email and phone on the domain registrar, and calendar the domain renewal date. Then follow a routine like our website maintenance checklist. When it's time for a bigger change, a clean handover makes the next project start faster, as our website redesign checklist shows. If you're still choosing an agency, ask to see their handover document upfront, and if they quote a fixed-price project, check that it comes with a written scope you can hold them to.
