ChecklistFor buyersEight-minute read
Seven questions to askbefore you sign the contract.
A plain-language checklist for the marketing, operations, or executive leader evaluating a six- or seven-figure engagement for a website, platform, or AI build. Print it, forward it, and bring it to the pitch meeting. Ask every vendor, including us.
How to use this checklist
Every vendor will say yes.Listen for who answers in specifics.
A strong answer comes with names, dates, numbers, and written commitments. A weak one comes with frameworks, values, and culture decks.
Write the answers in the margin. The vendor who responds cleanly to all seven is probably the one worth hiring. The vendor who deflects on more than two is probably the one who will be hard to work with in month six.
After each question is our own answer, so you can hold us to the same standard.
01
Who, specifically, will be working on my account in month four, six, and twelve?
Why it matters
The people in the pitch meeting and the people doing the work in month six are not always the same. Continuity of senior attention is the biggest predictor of how an engagement feels after kickoff.
How to ask it
Request an org chart for your account on day one. Ask for LinkedIn profiles and years at the firm. Tie the senior people to deliverables in the contract.
Our answer
The people who scope the work are the people who deliver it. Senior practitioners stay on the account for the life of the engagement.
02
Is any of the work subcontracted or sent offshore?
Why it matters
Subcontracting and offshore delivery are fine when they are disclosed and priced honestly. You need to know who touches your code and data, where they are, and what you are paying for.
How to ask it
Ask which teams will touch your code or data, what country they are in, and what the hourly rate difference is between the quoted and the actual team.
Our answer
US-based, in-house, senior-led. The name on the contract is the name doing the work.
03
What exactly will I own at the end, and can my team run it without you?
Why it matters
At the end of an engagement you should hold a working system, a runbook, and the ability to run it yourself. That outcome is decided in the contract, not in the pitch.
How to ask it
Ask for written acceptance criteria that include a team runbook, a training deliverable, and a codebase walkthrough. Make vendor independence an explicit exit condition.
Our answer
We ship you the system, a runbook your team can follow, and the training to run it without us. Your independence from us is an acceptance criterion, not a footnote.
04
If something breaks on a Friday night, who picks up, and how fast?
Why it matters
The incident-response path is one of the most important operational details in any delivery contract, and it is often left unwritten. A ticket queue and an accountable person are not the same thing.
How to ask it
Ask for an escalation path written into the SLA with named individuals, response-time commitments by severity, and a direct number for production-impacting incidents.
Our answer
A senior principal answers. Active clients get a direct line for production-impacting issues.
05
How do you price the work, and what stops the bill from doubling?
Why it matters
Open-ended hourly billing puts the cost of a slow project on you. Fixed-scope engagements tie the price to the outcome.
How to ask it
Ask for fixed-scope pricing with named deliverables and a change-order process that requires your written approval before any additional work starts.
Our answer
Fixed scope. Named deliverables. One invoice per phase. If scope changes, you see the new number before we touch a keyboard.
06
How will you prove it works before it goes live?
Why it matters
Launch day is the most expensive place to discover a defect. If testing is a line item at the end of the plan, it is the first thing cut when the schedule slips.
How to ask it
Ask who writes the acceptance tests, when you see them, and what evidence you receive before go-live. Make passing results a condition of the launch milestone.
Our answer
Testing has been our core practice since 1994. We agree the acceptance criteria with you up front, and you see the results before anything goes live.
07
Can I speak with three clients whose engagement with you has ended?
Why it matters
Active references are curated by design. A finished engagement tells you how the relationship wrapped, what the handoff looked like, and whether the internal team could run the system afterward.
How to ask it
Ask for two active references and one ended reference. If the vendor cannot produce the ended reference, that is the answer.
Our answer
We will introduce you to clients from finished engagements as well as active ones.
Scoring guide
What the answers tell you.
01
Clear on six or seven
A vendor you can sign with confidence. Tie the answers to contract language before signing so the spoken commitments become written ones.
02
Clear on four or five
Workable, but push on the soft answers before signing. Those are the places the engagement will strain in month six.
03
Clear on three or fewer
Walk. The vendor either does not know the answer or does not want to give it in writing. Either is a reason to choose someone else.
Second opinion
Already been pitched?Send us the scope.
Send us the SOW or the proposal. We will walk through it with you on a thirty-minute call, name the risks, and tell you honestly whether we think it is a fair price for the scope. No pitch deck. No follow-up sequence unless you ask.
Rex Black Inc. · Since 1994 · Dallas, Texasrexblack.com/resources/guides/before-you-sign
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Practices
Where this leads
- Websites & commerceWebsites and stores
Designed in the browser with 3D and motion, built by our engineers, and tested on every device before launch.
Book a call → - AI agentsAI agents
Voice and intake agents that run in production: they answer the phone, book meetings, and hand off to your team.
Book a call → - CRM, OMS & ERPCRM, OMS, and ERP
Salesforce, NetSuite, order management, and the connections between them: implemented, connected, and tested.
Book a call →