Montreal has one of the deepest web design markets in Canada — hundreds of agencies and freelancers, from boutique studios in Mile End to full-service firms downtown. That depth is good for buyers, but it makes screening the real challenge. Here's the process we'd use. Start with the non-negotiables for Montreal specifically: - Bilingual capability. If you serve Quebec customers, your site needs French — and under Quebec's language requirements (Bill 96), French-language commercial presentation isn't optional for most businesses operating in the province. An agency that can't discuss a French-first or properly bilingual build fluently should be off the list. - Local market understanding. A Montreal audience behaves differently from a Toronto one: search behaviour splits across French and English queries, and directories, review platforms, and media that matter for visibility differ. Agencies who work the market know this. Then screen like you would anywhere, but with teeth: 1. Judge portfolios on results, not aesthetics. Anyone can show pretty screenshots. Ask: what happened to leads, sales, or search traffic after launch? A design agency that can't discuss a single measurable outcome builds art, not business tools. 2. Check who actually does the work. Many agencies sell locally and outsource production overseas. That isn't automatically bad, but you should know, because it affects revision speed, communication, and quality control. Ask to meet the person who will design and the person who will build. 3. Verify ownership in writing. You should own your domain, your hosting account, your content, and your code. Some agencies build on proprietary platforms and effectively hold sites hostage — leaving means rebuilding from zero. This is the single most expensive mistake we see businesses make. 4. Ask how SEO is handled. A beautiful site that Google can't crawl properly is a billboard in a basement. Minimum bar: clean semantic HTML, fast Core Web Vitals, proper title/meta structure, a crawlable architecture, and redirects mapped if you're replacing an existing site (skipping redirect mapping is how businesses lose years of accumulated rankings overnight). 5. Compare quotes on scope, not totals. A $4,000 quote and a $15,000 quote are usually not for the same thing. Get each agency to itemize: number of unique page designs, content creation (who writes it?), rounds of revisions, mobile design, post-launch support, and what happens when something breaks in month seven. Realistic Montreal pricing in 2026: template-based sites from freelancers run $2,000-$5,000; custom small-business sites from established agencies $6,000-$15,000; larger custom builds with e-commerce or bilingual content $15,000-$40,000+. Below $2,000, you're almost certainly getting a lightly-edited template with no strategy. Red flags that end the conversation: no contract, full payment up front, "we'll handle everything, don't worry about the details," refusal to give references, and guaranteed Google rankings bundled into the design pitch. Take two weeks, interview three to five firms, and weight responsiveness during the sales process heavily — an agency that's slow to reply while trying to win your money will be slower once they have it.