You’ve decided your website needs ongoing care instead of firefighting. Good. But choosing a maintenance company is itself a decision worth slowing down for - the wrong choice costs you more than the monthly fee.
1. Ask who does the work
A lot of “maintenance” is resold or farmed out. Ask directly: who will actually work on my website, and where are they based? You want the person you talk to to be the person who can fix the problem, or at least to be able to reach them without a ticket queue.
2. Look for a written scope
A vague “we’ll keep things running” means nothing. A good provider can list what they do, how often, and what’s not included:
- Software and security updates (and how conflicts are handled)
- Backups, and whether they’re actually tested
- Uptime and SSL monitoring
- What counts as a “fix hour” vs. an included change
3. Check how they report
You should not have to guess what happened last month. Ask for a sample report: it should say what changed, what broke, what was fixed, and what’s coming. Monthly reporting is the minimum, weekly or per-project reporting is better.
4. Test their emergency response
Ask what happens if your site goes down at 9 PM on a Saturday. The difference between “our support hours are Monday–Friday, 9–5” and “we monitor around the clock and a human responds” is exactly the difference you’re paying for.
5. Read the contract for exits
Can you cancel monthly? Do you own everything (accounts, code, documentation)? Is there a minimum contract? A provider who’s confident in the work won’t lock you in for a year.
6. Red flags to walk away from
- No written report, ever
- No backups, or backups that were never restored
- Vague answers about who does the work
- They won’t talk to you, only “the system”
- Guarantees that sound too good (nobody can guarantee 100% uptime)
The short version
Pick a provider you could email tonight and get a real reply from tomorrow. Scope in writing, reports you can read, tested backups, and honest answers to the five questions above will get you 90% of the way.
Not sure what “good maintenance” should include? Read our maintenance plan checklist first, it doubles as a checklist you can bring to any provider.