A change of agency is not a reason to start again
The reasons for changing agencies are usually about the working relationship. Quotes arrive late, small changes turn into projects, or the business has grown beyond the support the agency can offer. None of that says much about the state of the website.
The content is in place, integrations are working and your team knows the CMS. Rebuilding all of that needs a specific reason. That reason should come from reviewing the site, not simply from changing the people who look after it.
We start by discussing what is not working today: the support, the technology or the pace of development. That tells us whether a handover is enough or whether the site needs more substantial work.
What the new agency is actually taking over
From the outside, a website can look straightforward: a few pages, a contact form, perhaps a login area. Behind it, the form feeds a CRM, the newsletter relies on an external service and product data arrives through an overnight import.
If the new team does not know about those connections, the first deployment can look perfectly fine while enquiries stop arriving or data stops updating. It can take days for anyone to notice.
We look beyond the CMS at custom extensions, connected services, scheduled jobs and the process for getting changes onto the live server. We first set up the project in a separate test environment. That shows whether it runs with the files and configuration provided, and which dependencies are still missing. The public website is left untouched.
You then get an assessment you can use to make a decision. It sets out what we can take over straight away, what needs urgent attention and what can wait. It also identifies anything we need to investigate before giving you a reliable price.
A CMS password is not a complete handover
A familiar situation: your team can edit the pages, but the domain is registered to the outgoing agency, the hosting runs through its account and your company cannot access the source-code repository. Those details need to be settled before the current support arrangement ends, not afterwards.
The incoming team gets its own accounts rather than shared logins. We review existing permissions and adjust them after the handover. First, we check which automated processes depend on a particular account. Otherwise, closing the old agency login can also shut down the nightly data import.
The handover needs to cover the following.
- Domain and hosting
- Who holds the contracts, who has administrative access and who receives important notices?
- Source code and data
- Where is the current project, which databases and files does it need, and is there usable documentation?
- Licences and external services
- Which extensions, image services, form tools and integrations does the site need, and whose accounts do they run under?
- Backups and recovery
- What is backed up, where are the backups kept and has a restore ever been tested?
- Search and analytics
- Does your company have its own access to Search Console, website analytics and other relevant accounts?
- Outstanding work
- Which bugs, updates and previously commissioned changes are still open?
The website still has a job to do
Your editors keep publishing, enquiries keep coming in and the next campaign is already scheduled. An agency handover that requires the business to stop is a badly planned handover.
The transition needs a timetable with actual dates: when the outgoing agency's support ends, when ours begins and who responds if something fails in between. We also agree which changes will continue and which can wait a few days.
Before the handover date, we test the functions your business relies on. Depending on the site, that includes forms, email delivery, logins, search, data imports and publishing. We also check that the site can actually be restored from its backup. An untested backup gives you little confidence when you need it.
Hosting, domain, CMS and design do not all have to change at once. If the hosting is suitable, it stays for now. Fewer changes on the same date make it easier to find the cause when something goes wrong.
When rebuilding is the better investment
Some websites are no longer worth maintaining. Key components may be unsupported, each change may break something elsewhere, or new requirements may take a disproportionate amount of work. In those cases, rebuilding is often cheaper than continuing to patch the existing site.
That recommendation needs a clear explanation: which problems the rebuild solves, how its cost compares with ongoing maintenance, what content and functionality can be kept, and whether the work can be delivered in stages.
“We would build it differently today” is not enough. An agency's preferred CMS is its own preference, not a reason to write off your investment.
What should improve after the move
You find out whether the move worked in the months after the handover, not at the first deployment. That is why we agree the practical details at the start: who answers your questions, how work is prioritised and who keeps track of updates and security alerts. We also spell out what ongoing support includes, what is quoted separately and how you can see what has been done.
Where your internal IT team, hosting provider or other partners are involved, we agree responsibilities with them. When something goes wrong, you should know who to call.
You should also remain free to choose. You contract directly with hosting and platform providers. We help with selection, setup and operations within the agreed scope. You retain access and the project knowledge, so a future move is not another struggle, even if it means moving away from us.
Changing agencies does not have to mean rebuilding your website. It takes a clear assessment of the existing site, accounts under your company's control and a dated handover plan that keeps the business running.
Let's talk about the website you already have
You do not need a rebuild brief or answers to every technical question. Tell us why you want to move, what works well on your website and where you need support.
We will explain which documents and accounts we need for an initial review. That review establishes what taking over would involve and which work should come first. It might mean a small tidy-up or a more substantial overhaul.