Hiring a Drupal development company isn’t just about getting a website built or a feature delivered. The real value often shows up after the contract is signed and the work begins. Good agencies don’t disappear once the code is written - they stick around, communicate clearly, and help your site (and your team) succeed over the long term.
Here’s what you should realistically expect from a strong Drupal agency, and how that support usually looks in practice.
What you can expect
Regular check‑ins (that actually help)
Good agencies talk to their clients. Simple as that.
You should expect regular check‑ins at a cadence that makes sense for you. Some teams like a monthly call, others prefer a quick Slack catch‑up or an email summary. A good agency will chat this through with you early on and agree a format that keeps things moving smoothly without wasting anyone’s time.
Flexibility matters too. Busy period coming up? Big campaign or Christmas sale on the horizon? A solid agency won’t insist on meetings for the sake of it; it’s completely fine to skip or reschedule when your focus needs to be elsewhere.
At ComputerMinds, we’re big believers in communication that’s useful, human, and adaptable.
Project management: what’s included (and what depends)
How much project management support you should expect often depends on what you asked for.
At a minimum, the development team should always:
- Know what’s going on
- Understand priorities
- Be working efficiently and transparently
For larger or more complex projects, dedicated project management may or may not be included by default. Sometimes the client provides that role internally; sometimes the agency does.
We’re generally very happy to step in proactively and fill any PM gaps as needed. Our experienced team are great at keeping work organised, timelines sensible, and projects running on time - even when things evolve (as they usually do).
One thing to be aware of: on per‑hour or monthly time‑allowance contracts, project management time and meetings do come out of that allowance. That’s normal across the industry, and something a good agency will be clear and upfront about.
If you hired an agency for a specific project… it should go really well
This might sound obvious, but it’s worth saying.
If you’ve engaged a Drupal agency for a clearly defined project — a rebuild, a migration, a new feature set — you should expect that project to be delivered smoothly, professionally, and with care.
That means:
- Clear scoping
- Sensible timelines
- Thoughtful implementation
- Proper testing
- A clean handover
And yes, that also includes being responsive when questions or tweaks come up along the way.
Responsive, friendly communication
You should never feel like you’re bothering your agency.
Good Drupal agencies are approachable, responsive, and genuinely pleasant to talk to. Whether it’s a support ticket, a Slack message, or a quick email, you should feel confident that you’ll get a timely and friendly response.
We’ve found that clear, human communication makes everything work better — projects move faster, misunderstandings are avoided, and relationships last longer.
Agencies that care will notice things (and tell you)
One of the biggest differences between an okay agency and a great one is whether they care.
A good agency will notice when something on your site:
- Isn’t performing well
- Looks broken or confusing
- Could be improved
- Might cause problems down the line
And they’ll take the time to let you know.
That might be a formal support ticket, a note in a report, or a quick Slack message saying, “Hey, we spotted this — worth a look.” Even if it’s outside the original brief, that kind of proactive heads‑up is hugely valuable.
Hosting management and system maintenance (if included)
If your agency is responsible for managing your hosting, you can expect them to spend time on:
- Server and system maintenance
- Monitoring
- Security updates
- Keeping things stable and performant
This work often happens quietly in the background, but it’s critical to keeping your Drupal site secure and reliable.
Keeping Drupal up to date
Drupal maintenance is an ongoing commitment, not a one‑off task. It's a bespoke piece of machinery receiving constant updates to Drupal Core and the community modules. Your agency team should be keeping on top of security updates and general updates.
Complexity varies site by site, but as a rough guide:
- Regular Drupal updates can take a few hours per month
- Twice a year, the larger Drupal core updates can take a few hours or days to apply, test, fix any issues, re‑test, and deploy safely
A good agency will plan for this, communicate clearly about what’s needed, and make sure updates don’t disrupt your site or your users.
And finally… you should enjoy working together
After all the processes, updates, meetings, and tickets, there’s one thing that really matters:
You should enjoy working with your agency.
People genuinely love working with ComputerMinds. We’re friendly, reliable, and easy to deal with — and we care deeply about doing good work for good people. In fact, some clients have even come back to us after trying out other agencies (which we take as a huge compliment).
If your Drupal agency makes your life easier, communicates well, and feels like a trusted extension of your team, you’re in exactly the right place.