How to Choose a Web Developer in Nigeria: A No-Nonsense Guide

This is the general version of a question I answer constantly, across WordPress, PHP, and full stack work specifically: how do you actually pick a developer in a market with wildly inconsistent quality and pricing?

Start with proof, not promises

Ask for 2–3 live sites they've built — ones you can click through yourself, on your own phone, right now. Screenshots and portfolio mockups can be borrowed or faked; a live, functioning site under their name is much harder to fake convincingly.

Get scope in writing, even informally

A WhatsApp message summarizing exactly what's included — number of pages, specific features, revision rounds, timeline, and price — is enough. It doesn't need to be a formal legal contract for a small project, but it needs to exist somewhere both of you can reference later when memory of the original conversation gets fuzzy.

Understand the payment structure before you pay anything

A fair, common structure: 40–50% deposit to begin work, remainder on completion and before final files/access are handed over, or split into milestones for larger projects. Full payment upfront with no delivery track record is a real risk; zero deposit for a stranger is unreasonable to ask of a developer, too. Fair goes both ways.

Confirm ownership terms explicitly

You should end up owning: the domain (in your own registrar account), the hosting (in your own account), and the source code/site files. If a developer is vague or resistant about any of these three, that's the clearest red flag on this entire list.

Ask about post-launch support

Bugs surface after real users start using the site, not during development. A reasonable, common standard is a 30-day post-launch bug-fix window included in the original price, with ongoing maintenance available separately if you want it.

Watch how they communicate during the sales conversation

How someone handles questions and pushback before you've paid them anything is a reliable preview of how they'll handle problems after you have. Vague answers to direct, specific questions ("who owns the hosting?", "what happens if a plugin breaks?") tend to predict vague, unsatisfying answers later too.

Price is a signal, but not the only one

The cheapest quote and the most expensive quote can both be wrong choices for different reasons — one for cut corners, the other for markup with no better outcome. Compare quotes against clearly defined, matching scope, not just the final number.