Seven questions to ask a white label partner before the first project
Ask about concurrent capacity, what happens when they are full, whether an NDA is signed before files move, how many revision rounds are included, who writes the content, what the post-launch fix period is, and whether source files and access transfer to you. A partner who answers all seven in writing before being asked is usually the one who will hold the deadline.
You are about to put your agency’s name on work someone else builds. The questions below decide whether that turns out to be leverage or a liability.
1. How many projects do you run at once?
The answer people want to give is “as many as you need”. The honest answer is a number, and a small one is better than a big one.
A partner running fifteen concurrent builds is a production line. Your project is one of fifteen, your deadline competes with fourteen others, and the person who answered your email is not the person writing the code.
Ask the number. Then ask the follow-up: what happens when you are full? The right answer is “we tell you the same day”. The wrong answer is any version of “we always find a way”.
2. Is an NDA signed before the work starts?
Not after the first project, not on request. Before the first file moves.
It should cover two things: that the partner’s name appears nowhere on the work, and that your client’s identity is confidential. The second matters more than people expect. A partner who agrees not to put their logo in the footer but then lists your client on their site has told your competitor exactly who to call.
3. How many revision rounds are included?
Two is standard. Your client will want more. The question is not whether extra rounds exist — it is what they cost and when the meter starts.
Get it in writing before you quote your own client, because a fixed price on your side and an open meter on theirs is how agencies lose money on projects that looked profitable.
4. Who writes the content?
This is the single most common failure point. Most partner quotes assume content is supplied. Most clients assume content is included.
If nobody wrote it into the scope, it gets written at the last minute by whoever cares most about the deadline, which is you.
5. What happens after launch?
Fourteen to thirty days of bug fixes is the market norm. Ask what counts as a bug and what counts as a new request, because the gap between those two definitions is where the arguments live.
Also ask who responds. A partner with a named person and a response time is worth more than one with a support portal.
6. Do we get everything?
Source code, design files, hosting access, domain access, and a handover document. If anything is retained — a proprietary page builder, hosting only they can access, a component library under licence — you have not bought a website. You have rented one, and your client is renting it from you without knowing.
7. Can you show work you did under someone else’s name?
This one is a trap, and the answer tells you a lot.
A partner who immediately shows you white label projects and names the agencies is a partner who will do the same with yours. The right answer is a portfolio of their own work plus a reference call with an agency who agreed in advance to speak.
The pattern
Notice what the seven questions have in common: none of them is about price, design quality or technology stack. Those are easy to assess from a portfolio.
What a portfolio cannot show you is whether the deadline holds, whether the scope stays fixed, and whether the partner stays invisible when your client starts asking questions. Those are the things that turn a cheap rate into an expensive quarter.
Common questions
Should the partner sign an NDA?
Yes, and before the first file moves rather than after the first project. It should cover the client's identity as well as the work itself, because a partner who cannot name your client still cannot list the project in their own portfolio.
How much capacity is enough?
Enough is less than you expect. A partner running fifteen concurrent projects is a production line and your deadline is one of fifteen. Two or three at a time means yours gets attention, and it means they will tell you when they are full rather than taking the work and slipping.
What if the client wants to talk to the developer?
That should be agreed upfront. Good partners join calls under your domain and your brand, or stay off them entirely. What should never happen is the partner introducing themselves to your client, because at that point you are paying to be disintermediated.
