What should you receive at a construction website handover?

Start with the responsibilities in your proposal. Will someone in your office edit the site, or will you send changes to an agency? Which tasks are included in ongoing support, and which need a separate quote?

Both arrangements can work. What matters is that the people involved understand the process. If your office manager will add projects, ask them to attend the handover and try the task. If your agency will publish updates, agree what you need to send, who approves it and how you will check it afterwards.

For work that is still being commissioned, our guide to assessing a construction website quote covers the questions to settle before appointing a supplier. At handover, use that agreed scope to check what has been delivered and record anything still outstanding.

Ask for a short list covering the domain registration, website hosting, editing system, enquiry service and any connected reporting tools. Some websites combine several of these in one service; others use separate providers.

For each one, record the provider, the person responsible in your business, the supplier's role, who handles renewals and how an authorised colleague can recover access. Keep passwords in your business password manager and recovery codes in secure storage, separate from the handover notes.

Check that the agreed business representative can sign in using their own access. Being able to view a report does not necessarily mean being able to manage its users. Google Search Console, for example, distinguishes owners, full users and restricted users with different permissions. Its permissions guide explains those roles. Ask your supplier to identify the access your business needs and demonstrate that it works.

Account security belongs in this conversation too. The NCSC recommends passkeys where available, or strong unique passwords with two-step verification for accounts that use passwords. Follow its guidance on securing important online accounts, and establish a recovery arrangement that does not depend on one person's phone.

Choose a completed project that your business has permission to share. Use a draft or preview to practise adding its title, your scope of work, approved photographs, captions and a relevant service link. If an agency handles publishing, walk through the same exercise using its update process.

Check the result on a phone as well as a larger screen. Do images remain in the right order? Are captions readable? Does the page make your contribution clear? Can a visitor move from the project to the relevant service and enquiry route?

Our guide to writing a construction project case study helps prepare the underlying material. The handover exercise checks that your team can turn approved material into a usable page without losing credits or introducing unchecked claims.

Here is a hypothetical example. A fit-out contractor wants its office team to add completed projects, while a director approves the facts. During handover, the office lead prepares a project draft and sends the preview for approval. The director spots a caption that attributes another contractor's work to their own team. They correct it before publication and record who will check captions next time. That exercise establishes a practical workflow; it is not a Crafters client result.

Agree one clearly labelled test with the people receiving enquiries. Start on a relevant service or project page, use the contact route and check the confirmation shown to the visitor. Then confirm that the intended recipient has received the enquiry in the agreed destination.

A thank-you screen alone does not tell the team whether the message reached the right inbox or system. Check who receives notifications, who responds during an absence and how a failed delivery would be noticed. Where telephone or email links are offered, check that the displayed details and link destinations match.

Record the test date, route, recipient role and outcome without copying personal message contents into a general handover document. Mark the test clearly in any lead records so it is not counted as a genuine opportunity. Visits, contact clicks, delivered enquiries and won work describe different stages.

For a replacement website, ask the supplier to show which important old page addresses still work and what happens where an address has changed. Include useful project pages and downloadable documents, not just the homepage.

Google's site-move guidance describes mapping old URLs to their relevant replacements and monitoring the move. Ask for the agreed mapping and a check of representative addresses. Sending an old service link to an unrelated homepage leaves the reader to find the information again.

Also identify who will review search visibility after launch. A new design being live does not prove that Google has indexed every page or that rankings will improve. Keep the launch date and the changes made with your reporting notes so later comparisons have context.

Ask which approved copy, images, design assets and website exports are included in the handover, where they are stored and what your business can do with them. Keep image permissions and required credits with the files. Check any restrictions or ongoing licences before assuming every asset can be reused elsewhere.

The available export and editing options depend on the platform and agreed scope. Ask what another supplier would need if you later changed support arrangements, and which services would need to continue. Record the answer while the original supplier is available to explain it.

For backups, ask what is covered, who checks them and who can restore the website. A folder of photographs is not a complete copy of every website system. The NCSC's backup guidance recommends knowing how to restore a backup and checking that it contains the important data. Ask for a recovery demonstration or documented check appropriate to your platform, without interrupting the live site.

You do not need a long technical manual for every small website. You do need answers that the next responsible person can find. Use these headings for a shared record:

• Accounts: providers, business contacts, access roles, renewals and the secure recovery process.
• Updates: what your team can change, how to preview it and who approves publication.
• Content: where approved text, images, credits and agreed exports are stored.
• Enquiries: delivery destination, response responsibility and the dated test result.
• Existing links: the agreed URL changes and where their checks are recorded.
• Support: who handles faults, what is included and how additional work is agreed.
• Recovery: what is backed up, who restores it and the last recorded check.
• Outstanding items: the issue, the person responsible and the agreed completion date.

Keep unresolved items on the list until the agreed checks are complete. Agree a follow-up after your team has used the update and enquiry processes. That gives you a chance to resolve practical questions while the work is still familiar.

Tell us who will manage the site, what your team needs to update and what you already use for enquiries. Crafters' website design service includes agreeing the scope and handover arrangements before the build. Send your website brief, and we can discuss the responsibilities alongside the pages, content and launch work.