Do I own my website if an agency builds it?
Websites — answered straight, by an operator who builds these systems rather than an agency selling them.
Only if your contract says so. Many agencies retain the domain, the code, or both — and a common local-marketing model licenses you a site that disappears when you stop paying. Get ownership of the domain, the source code, and the content in writing before work starts.
The longer version
The domain is the piece that hurts most to lose, because it carries your ranking history, your email, and your printed marketing. It should be registered in your name, on your account, with your credit card. An agency having admin access is fine; an agency being the registrant is not.
Two other traps: content written for you should be assigned to you, not licensed, and reviews should live on Google rather than only on an agency-controlled widget. Ask directly — "if I leave tomorrow, what do I keep?" — and get the answer in the contract, not the sales call.
More on websites
Other questions
Let's build something real.
Want this done for your business instead of explained? Email bannisterderik@gmail.com or call/text 530-736-7085 — you get a straight answer from me, not a sales sequence.
Tell me what you need.
Name and a phone number is enough. You get me — not a form that disappears into an agency inbox.
A 250+ page site for your business. $500 if you check out now.
Every service you offer and every town you serve gets its own page — built on your logo, your colors, your license number. Schema, sitemap, and llms.txt so search engines and AI assistants both read you correctly. Delivered in 7 business days. You own all of it, source code included.