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.