A number produced without questions counts as a red flag rather than good service. Any serious team returns questions first: about integrations. A supplier that quotes before understanding the scope is guessing, and that guess becomes a change request later — and you will pay for it.
Look out for a gap between the team in the pitch and the developers actually assigned. Ask for the names and CVs of the actual team in the statement of work, with a provision about substitutions. A team that only offers roles and never names specific engineers is keeping the right to assign anyone it likes.
Ask for access to the repository from the start. A provider that shows nothing between demos expects you to trust a black box. Daily commits show you how many people are really working far better than any status report. This extends to the build and deployment setup: if there is no pipeline, promises about quality remain nothing more than words.
Loose phrasing around code ownership is not an oversight. The contract needs to state plainly that all deliverables become the property of the client as they are paid for. Also check the jurisdiction and the payment schedule: php portal development a large upfront payment with no milestone tied to it eliminates the only leverage you have.
Lastly, look at communication. Ask how much working-time overlap should you outsource or hire in house will share with your working day, which person answers day-to-day questions and how quickly. Four hours of overlap is usually enough; no overlap turns a five-minute question into a twenty-four hour round trip. Unclear written communication in the proposal does not improve under delivery pressure.