How to Hire a Framer Expert (and What to Ask First)

If you want a Framer site built well, hire someone who can show you live Framer sites, a clean CMS setup and a handover that lets you edit the site yourself. A good portfolio matters, but how the expert structures and hands over the project matters more.

I’m Sanna Granqvist, a web designer based in Sweden, listed as a Framer Pro Studio. I’ve worked in Framer since 2023, building client sites, customising templates and publishing my own templates, components and plugins on the Framer Marketplace. This is what I’d look for if I were hiring someone like me.

When do you need a Framer expert instead of a template?

A template is often the right start. If your site is a handful of pages, your content is ready and the template’s structure already fits, you can get far on your own.

You need an expert when the gap between the template and what you need is larger than it looks. In my experience that usually means one of these:

• Your content doesn’t fit the template’s page structure or CMS fields.

• You need a design that reflects your brand, not a recoloured version of someone else’s.

• Several people will edit the site, so the setup has to be clear and hard to break.

• You need custom behaviour a template doesn’t include.

• You don’t have time to learn Framer properly, and a half-finished site costs you more than help would.

A middle path also works: buy or download a template and hire an expert to customise it. I do a lot of this. It keeps the cost of the base design low and puts the effort where your site is different.

What is a Framer expert?

A Framer expert is a designer or developer who builds websites in Framer professionally. They design the pages, set up the CMS, make the layout work across breakpoints, configure SEO settings and publish the site. Framer lists experts and studios in its official Experts directory, where you can compare portfolios and starting budgets.

What should a good Framer expert show you?

Ask to see real work, not only screenshots. A Framer site is a live thing, and most of what matters only shows up when you use it.

Live Framer sites

Open the sites on your phone and on a laptop. Check that the pages load without layout jumps, that text stays readable on small screens and that links and forms work. Mockups in a portfolio say little about how a site behaves once it’s published.

A clear CMS setup

Ask how they structure CMS collections. A good answer covers which content repeats, which fields each item needs and how collection pages connect to the rest of the site. When I set up a CMS, I name fields the way the client talks about their content, not the way a designer would. If you want to see how I structure collections, my free Bronn template is built on eight of them.

Responsive breakpoints

Every Framer site needs to work on desktop, tablet and phone. Ask how they handle each breakpoint. An expert should adjust the layout for each size on purpose, instead of letting everything stack and hoping it holds.

SEO settings

Framer gives you page titles, meta descriptions, social images and settings for CMS pages. Ask whether the expert fills these in as part of the build or leaves them to you. I treat them as part of the work, because a site that’s never been set up for search is not finished.

A handover so you can edit yourself

This is the one I’d weigh most. Ask what you get at the end. A good handover means you can change text, swap images and publish new CMS items without calling anyone. On client sites I walk through the editing flow with the people who will actually use it.

What questions should you ask before hiring a Framer expert?

These questions tell you a lot in a short call:

1. Can you show me two or three live Framer sites you built?

2. Which parts of those sites did you design, and which did you build?

3. How will you structure the CMS for my content?

4. How do you handle tablet and phone layouts?

5. Which SEO settings are included in the project?

6. Who owns the Framer project when we’re done, and how is it transferred?

7. What does the handover look like, and what happens if I get stuck later?

Ownership deserves a clear answer. The project should end up in your workspace or be transferred to you, so you’re never locked out of your own site.

What are the red flags when hiring a Framer designer?

Most of the problems that make a site hard to live with can be spotted before the project starts. Watch for these:

• No live links, only images or videos of past work.

• Vague answers about who owns the project after launch.

• Hardcoded text where a CMS collection would make editing easier.

• Phone layouts that look like an afterthought on their own portfolio.

• Code components or overrides used for things Framer can do natively.

• No mention of SEO settings or handover in the proposal.

The code point is easy to miss. Custom code has its place, but when it replaces native features, the site becomes harder for you to edit and harder for the next designer to maintain. I build with Framer’s native tools first and write a code component only when the canvas can’t do the job.

What does the process of hiring a Framer expert usually look like?

Every expert works a bit differently, but most projects follow a similar path:

1. Intro call. You describe the goal, the pages you need and your timeline.

2. Proposal. The expert sets out scope, deliverables and what’s not included.

3. Structure. Sitemap, content plan and often a plain wireframe before any visual design.

4. Design. The look of the site, usually shown in Framer so you can click through it.

5. Build. CMS, breakpoints, interactions and SEO settings.

6. Review. You test on your own devices and send feedback.

7. Launch and handover. Custom domain, publishing and a walkthrough of how to edit.

I keep wireframes plain on purpose. Getting the structure and copy right before colour and motion saves rounds of revisions later.

Where can you find a Framer expert?

Start with the Framer Experts directory. It’s Framer’s own list of experts and agencies, and you can browse it by country and compare portfolios and starting budgets.

The Framer Marketplace is another good place to look. Creator profiles show the templates, components and plugins someone has published. Published work tells you how a person builds when nobody is giving them a brief, which is a useful signal about the care they’ll put into your site.

Referrals from people whose Framer sites you like also work well. Ask them who built it and how the handover went.

FAQ

Is it better to hire a Framer expert or a general web designer?

If your site will be built in Framer, hire someone who works in Framer every day. A general web designer can design the pages, but CMS setup, breakpoints and handover are Framer-specific skills that decide how usable the site is after launch.

Can I edit my Framer site myself after it’s built?

Yes, if the site was set up with that in mind. Text, images and CMS content can be edited without touching the layout. Ask the expert to show you the editing flow before launch.

Can a Framer expert customise a template I already have?

Yes. Customising a template is a common project and often a sensible one. Share the template with the expert early so they can tell you what can be adapted and what would be faster to rebuild.

What do Framer’s expert levels mean?

Framer’s Experts directory labels the people and studios it lists by level: Expert, Pro Expert, Studio and Pro Studio. The label shows on each listing, next to their past work. I’m listed as a Pro Studio.

Working with me

I design and build Framer sites, customise templates and make AI images for sites that need them. If you’re looking for a Framer expert, you can read about what I offer or more about me and how I work. Whoever you hire, the questions above are a good place to start.