Hiring a software development firm: questions worth asking
Choosing a development partner is mostly a due-diligence problem. These are the questions that actually separate firms, from a firm that answers them for a living.
We are a software development firm in Vancouver, so treat this with appropriate suspicion. It is still the list we would use if we were buying instead of selling.
Who writes the code?
The single highest-value question. Many firms staff the pitch with principals and deliver with whoever is available.
Ask to meet the actual engineers. Ask how many projects they are on simultaneously. Ask what happens if one leaves mid-engagement.
What do I own, and when?
Code should live in your repositories and infrastructure in your cloud accounts, from the first week - not delivered as a handover at the end.
If a firm hosts your product on their account, or the contract is vague about IP, that is leverage over you later. It is also entirely normal to insist otherwise.
What happens if we stop after discovery?
A good discovery produces something valuable on its own: a written plan, a technical assessment, an estimate you could hand to another firm.
If discovery only makes sense as a lead-in to their build, it is a sales process with a fee attached.
How do you use AI, and what are your rules?
In 2026 every firm uses it. The revealing part is whether they have thought about it. Ask who reviews generated code, whether an engineer has to be able to explain what merges, and what happens if your policy forbids source leaving your environment.
"We don't" and "everything, unsupervised" are both answers to worry about.
Can I talk to a client whose project went badly?
Every firm has one. The reference that matters is not the success story - it is how they behaved when a project went sideways.
A firm that cannot name a difficult engagement has either not done many, or is not being straight with you.
Does local matter?
For most web, mobile and cloud work, no - competence beats proximity, and Pacific time overlaps the continent comfortably.
It matters for physical work. Connected hardware, kiosks and installations benefit enormously from someone able to be in the room with the device. If your project has hardware in it, a local partner is worth real money.