An estimate that arrives instantly should be treated as a warning, not a service level. Any serious team will come back with questions first: about users and volumes. A provider that quotes without asking anything is simply working from a template, and that guess becomes a change request later — and you will pay for it.
Look out for a gap between the team in the pitch and the people who will code. Request specific people rather than roles in the contract, with a provision covering replacement. A provider that talks only about a pool of resources and custom aws development refuses to name people is preserving the option to staff you with whoever is free.
Insist on the source repository from day one. A team that delivers nothing between demos is inviting you to accept a black box. Regular commits and pull requests tell you who is really on the project based software development far better than a weekly report. This extends to the build and deployment setup: if it does not exist, quality claims are nothing more than words.
Vague phrasing around code ownership is not a formality. The document should state explicitly that the code, designs and documentation transfer to the client on payment. Check also the jurisdiction and the payment schedule: heavy prepayment with no milestone tied to it eliminates the only leverage you have.
Last, pay attention to how they communicate. Confirm how many hours there will be each day, which named person is expected to answer your questions and within what time. Four hours of overlap generally works; none at all stretches a five-minute question into a day of delay. Unclear written communication in the early emails will not improve once the work starts.
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