You have signed the contract, paid the deposit, and you are ready for your new website to be built. You assume the developer will now disappear into a dark room for three weeks and emerge with a finished product.
That is not how this works.
The projects that finish on time are the ones where the client hands over a complete folder of business assets on day one. A developer cannot build a page until they know what goes on it. If you make them wait for text and images, you are the one delaying your own project.
If you want to look prepared and ensure your project moves at maximum speed, here is the exact handover checklist you need to prepare before development begins.
1. High-resolution logo files
What they need: A vector file (.svg, .eps, or .ai) or a very high-resolution .png file with a transparent background.
What you should NOT send: A blurry .jpg downloaded from your Facebook page, or a logo pasted inside a Microsoft Word document.
Why they need it: Your logo dictates the entire visual hierarchy of the website. If the developer has a transparent vector file, they can place it smoothly over different backgrounds, shrink it for mobile screens without losing quality, and extract the exact colour codes for your brand.
2. Brand colours and typography
What they need: The specific hex codes (e.g., #FF5733) of your brand colours, and the names of your official company fonts if you have them.
What you should NOT send: "Make it a nice dark blue."
Why they need it: "Dark blue" means fifty different things. If you have an existing brand identity, the developer needs the exact mathematical codes so your website matches your business cards and your office signage perfectly.
3. Copywriting for every single page
What they need: A structured document containing the final, approved text for your Homepage, About Us page, Services page, and Contact page. What you should NOT send: "Just use the text from our old website, we'll update it later."
Why they need it: Design follows content. A developer cannot design a pricing table if they do not know how many pricing tiers you have. They cannot design an "Our Team" section if they do not know whether you have three employees or thirty. If you cannot write the copy yourself, agree to pay the agency to write it for you before the project starts.
4. High-quality photography and video
What they need: Professional photographs of your team, your office, your products, or your past projects. What you should NOT send: Photos taken on a cracked phone camera in a dark room.
Why they need it: Nothing ruins a premium, custom-coded website faster than terrible photography. If you are a logistics company in Port Harcourt, a real photo of your trucks at Onne Port builds a hundred times more trust than a generic stock photo of an American highway. If you do not have good photos, tell the developer early so they can source high-quality premium stock images.
5. Product data (for e-commerce)
What they need: A spreadsheet (Excel or CSV) listing every product, its price, its SKU, its weight (for shipping calculations), and a folder of corresponding product images. What you should NOT send: A WhatsApp message saying, "We sell shoes and bags, prices range from ₦10,000 to ₦50,000."
Why they need it: If your site requires a database of products, the developer needs to import that data. Manually typing in 500 products because you refused to put them in a spreadsheet will cost you a fortune in hourly development fees.
6. Domain and hosting access (if you already own them)
What they need: The login credentials to your domain registrar (e.g., Whogohost, GoDaddy) and your current hosting provider. What you should NOT send: The login to your personal email account.
Why they need it: If you already own yourbusiness.com.ng, the developer will need to point that address to the new server when it is time to launch. They cannot do this without access to the DNS settings.
7. One designated decision-maker
What they need: One person in your organisation who has the final say on all approvals. What you should NOT send: A committee of five different managers who all have conflicting opinions.
Why they need it: Design by committee is the fastest way to kill a software project. If the developer sends a mockup and the CEO likes it, but the Marketing Manager wants to change the layout, the project stalls. Appoint one person to gather internal feedback and deliver a single, consolidated list of revisions to the developer.
How we manage the handover
At TideRelay, we do not leave you guessing about what to send us.
When you hire us, our project process begins with a structured onboarding phase. We provide you with secure folders and exact templates for your copy, product data, and images. We do not start the clock on the build until we have everything we need to succeed.
If you are ready to build a website with a team that respects your time and operates with professional discipline, check our pricing to see our tiers, or contact us today to start your project the right way.
Have a project in mind?
Get a fixed quote from a Port Harcourt team.