Start with proven experience, not the number of logos on the website. Ask to see a couple of projects that sit close to your domain and your stack, and then ask who actually wrote that code. An honest provider will put you on a call with the people who would work on your project. Answers that name nobody at this stage usually mean you are talking to a reseller.
The contract deserves more scrutiny than the proposal. A few clauses carry most of the weight: ownership of the code, the NDA, and notice periods and handover. Everything produced has to transfer to you once invoices are settled, together with source code, designs and infrastructure as code. Be careful with any clause that keeps reusable components in the vendor’s hands, since it is usually the part you cannot replace later.
Ask how they estimate. A serious estimate comes with a list of assumptions, a task-level breakdown and kubernetes development services a range rather than a single number. A fixed-bid deal is only reasonable when the requirements are stable and documented; in any other case the provider prices the risk in and you fund the buffer regardless. Hourly billing puts the risk on your side, so it demands a cap, regular demos and transparent reporting.
The delivery process matters more than headcount. Ask what happens when the scope changes, ai automation services who signs off on a feature and how quality assurance works. A well-run team will be able to show you running software rather than status reports. Written acceptance criteria remain the only reliable protection against an argument at delivery time.
Last, consider the handover while the relationship is still good. Ask that the code repository lives in your organisation from the first commit, and that documentation is updated as part of the work. A partner who is comfortable with this accepts it without argument; hesitation here reveals quite a lot.