Full Client Ownership: Why I Build This Way and Why You Should Care

Every client I work with owns their website when the project is done. Not “owns it” in the sense that they can see it in a browser. Owns it in the sense that they hold the admin credentials, the codebase, the database and the domain, transferred at final payment, with no strings attached to any of it.

What you receive when the project wraps

• WordPress admin credentials, with a password you set and I do not keep a copy of
• The domain registered in your name, always, whoever pays the renewal
• A full database export and every theme and custom plugin file
• Credentials for any third-party service set up on your behalf
• A written note of what is where, so none of it lives only in my head

That list is the same on every project I take on, at every price. It is not a premium tier and you do not have to ask for it.

Ownership and hosting are two different things

This is the part people mix up, and it is worth being precise about because it changes what you should actually be asking.

Owning your website means owning the files, the database, the content and the code. Hosting is just where those files happen to sit. They are not the same asset and they do not have to be held by the same person.

So you have two good options and I offer both. I can host it for you, from $24.99 a month, on an account in my name, kept patched, monitored and backed up daily, with the 2am alert coming to me instead of to you. Or I can set hosting up on an account in your own name, from $250 one time, where you pay the host directly at their price and I never mark it up.

The website is yours on both paths. Hosting with me does not touch your ownership of a single file, and it does not touch your domain, which stays registered to you either way.

Why I am comfortable holding the account

Because leaving is written down, not left to goodwill. If you are on my hosting: a complete export of your files and database is free on request, in every case, with no conditions. There is no exit fee. You can cancel any time without giving a reason, billing stops at the end of the month you have already paid for, and the site stays up for another 30 days so you can move on your own schedule. It is all in my Terms, and the whole exit is written out step by step in what leaving looks like.

I would rather have a client who stays because the work is good than one who stays because leaving is a headache. That was true when I did not host anything, and it is the reason I was willing to start.

The question actually worth asking

Before you hire any developer, the question is not “will you hold my hosting account.” Plenty of good developers do, and it is often why they can look after a site properly.

The question is: who holds what, and is it written down? Ask who the hosting account belongs to, whose name the domain is in, what an export costs, and what happens if you leave. A developer who has thought about their own exit terms will have those answers ready and in writing. One who has not will find the questions annoying, and that is worth knowing before you pay anyone.

Your website is a business asset and it should be yours. Let’s build something you actually own, and if you would like me to keep it running afterwards, here is exactly what that involves.