Read the contract first
Before any conversation with a new provider, find out:
Notice period. Thirty days is normal. Ninety is common and expensive.
Early termination terms. Some contracts require the remaining balance.
What happens to work in progress. Pages half-built, campaigns mid-flight.
Ownership clauses. The important one. Some contracts state that work produced remains the agency's property, which can mean the website you have been paying for monthly is not yours.
If you cannot find your contract, that is itself informative.
The asset checklist
This is where the real cost hides. Before giving notice, confirm you control:
- The domain. Registrar account in your business name.
- Hosting. Same.
- The website files and database. An actual export, not a promise.
- Google Business Profile. You as primary owner, not a manager.
- Google Ads account. In your name, with the history — the campaign history is worth real money.
- Analytics property. Your account, with the historical data.
- The email list. Exported, with consent records.
- Social accounts. Admin access.
- Tracking numbers. These often cannot move, and that is worth knowing before your van livery becomes obsolete.
Check each one before giving notice. Requests for access have a way of becoming slow once a relationship is ending.
The momentum cost
A new provider needs time to understand your business, and there will be a period where less is happening than before.
This is real but usually overstated as a reason to stay. If the current work is not producing results, pausing it costs little.
The trap of staying
The most expensive version of this decision is staying another six months because switching feels disruptive, while paying for work that is not producing.
Work out what the current arrangement has produced in the last quarter — enquiries by source, cost per booked job. If nobody can tell you, that is your answer.
Doing it cleanly
- Confirm you control every asset on the list
- Export everything: site, list, analytics history, reports
- Read the notice terms and diarise the date
- Give notice in writing, politely
- Have the new provider ready to start rather than starting a search afterwards
Politeness matters. You may need cooperation on a login for weeks.
Before you decide
Bring the last three months of results and your contract. That is enough to work out what leaving actually costs.
Frequently asked questions
What should I check before leaving an agency?
That you control the domain, hosting, site files, Google Business Profile, ad account, analytics, email list, social accounts and tracking numbers. Check before giving notice — access requests slow down once a relationship is ending.
Can an agency own my website?
Some contracts say work produced remains the agency's property, which can mean the site you have paid for monthly is not yours. Read the ownership clause before anything else.
How disruptive is switching?
There is a period where less happens while a new provider learns your business. That is real, but if the current work is not producing results, pausing it costs very little.
What is the more expensive mistake?
Staying another six months because switching feels disruptive. Work out what the last quarter produced — if nobody can tell you enquiries by source and cost per booked job, that is your answer.