You should own the domain, the hosting account, and the website files when your new site is finished; we can manage access for you, but the accounts and assets should be in your business’s name.
In practice, that means your company is the registrant at the domain registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Google Domains migration providers, etc.), your billing email is yours, and you control renewals, DNS, and transfers. That setup protects you if a vendor relationship changes, a staff member leaves, or you ever need to switch platforms. When we build a site through our web design services, we push for client-owned accounts from day one because the domain is your digital deed.
Hosting can work two ways: (1) you open the hosting account and we get admin access, or (2) we host and manage it for you while you still own the domain and can take the site with you. For many Orlando service businesses, managed hosting is a good fit because updates, security, and backups become a routine, not another task on your plate. If you want us to run that side, our WordPress hosting service covers maintenance and support while keeping your ownership clean.
| Item | Who should own it? | What “ownership” means in plain English | What you should have in hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain | You | Your business is the registrant and can move the domain anywhere | Registrar login, registrant email you control, 2FA, renewal access |
| Hosting | You (or you control the contract if we host) | You can access the server/account and export the site at any time | Hosting login (or a written offboarding path), backup access, billing contact |
| Website files | You (after final payment) | The site’s code, database, and content are yours to keep and reuse | Full site backup, CMS admin login, and any design/source files agreed in scope |
For website files, think bigger than “pages.” A modern site usually includes the CMS (like WordPress), a database, theme/templates, plugins, media uploads, tracking snippets, and configuration. After launch, you should be able to download a full backup (files + database) and have admin access to the CMS. If we built custom components, those are part of the deliverables too once the project is paid for.
The only common exception is third-party licenses. Premium themes, plugins, fonts, and stock photos can come with license terms that attach to the purchaser. If you want long-term independence, we recommend buying those licenses under your company whenever possible. If we supplied a license during development, we’ll tell you what it is, what it costs to renew, and whether it can be transferred so you are not surprised later.
What to confirm at handoff
Whether you host with us or elsewhere, you should be able to answer “yes” to each of these before the project is considered fully handed off:
- You can log into your domain registrar and see your business listed as the registrant contact.
- You can log into hosting (or you have a documented export and offboarding process if we host).
- You have a CMS admin login that is not tied to a personal email you might lose access to.
- You have a recent full backup (files + database) stored somewhere you control.
- You have a list of any paid plugins/themes and who pays for renewals.
This matters a lot in Florida when hurricanes, outages, and vendor disruptions happen, because the fastest recovery comes from having the credentials and backups in one place your team can reach.
If you want a simple way to set expectations before a build starts, our FAQ on what website design services include helps you spot what should be part of the deliverables versus ongoing maintenance.
And if you’re building on WordPress, our quick explainer on what WordPress is and why businesses use it is useful for understanding what “files” and “admin access” actually look like day to day.
If you tell us where your domain is registered and who’s hosting today, we can map the cleanest ownership setup in a few minutes and point out any red flags like a registrar login tied to a former employee or an agency-owned domain.
