Switching agencies starts with “they are not enough”. Then passwords sit in a freelancer’s Gmail, Search Console was never invited, DNS is a mystery. The new team looks guilty; you never took ownership.
Ownership first
Repo, host, domain, Google (Search Console, Analytics, Ads), Meta, SSL, backups. If they are not on a company account, this is a hostage talk. HED Creative asks for that list in discovery.
URL and content inventory
Which pages bring enquiries? Changing a theme without a 301 map is a relaunch in disguise. Cloning a pile of thin posts onto the new site creates cannibalization. Keep independent URLs; merge junk.
Ads and the form
If Ads is locked in an agency MCC, spend stops. If the form still mails the old agency, proposals vanish. Both lines get tested on handover day.
Two weeks in parallel
The new spine stands before old access dies. Cutting DNS early also cuts email and verification. Berlin / Ankara: a written checklist, one counterpart.
Do not repeat the model
A project that ends with an ownerless site is the same failure. Name care or a partner queue up front. A switch is not an escape into a cheaper freelancer pile.
Put the handover list in the form — access, domain, who is angry. Map, then proposal.