Domain and DNS ownership
Identify registrars, hosting providers, nameservers and account owners, then establish clean client ownership and recovery access.
For web developers and digital agencies
When the website project uncovers everything around the website.
Domain ownership nobody can find. DNS spread across three suppliers. Email that breaks the moment a record changes. Suburban Secure resolves the surrounding technology problems without taking over your project or confusing your client.
The new site is ready. Then the questions start.
Nobody knows who controls the domain. The previous developer still owns an important account. Email delivery breaks when records change. Or the client just assumes their web agency manages Microsoft 365 too. Suburban Secure is a specialist you can bring in for that surrounding technology work, so it stops landing on your desk by default.
Common reasons agencies bring us in.
Email authentication and delivery
Review SPF, DKIM and DMARC, investigate delivery problems and coordinate changes across website, marketing and email platforms.
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace
Configure domains, accounts, administrator access and security without making your agency responsible for ongoing email support.
Website and hosting risk
Review account ownership, administrative access, backups, abandoned plugins, staging environments and handover arrangements.
Client questions outside your scope
A clear place to refer Microsoft 365, Wi-Fi, devices, cloud, account security and infrastructure problems your client raises.
How collaboration works.
Built so it never looks like a takeover.
1. Introduce us
Send a short email introducing Suburban Secure and explaining the issue.
2. We define the boundary
We confirm what belongs to the web project, what belongs to the client and what requires separate technology work.
3. We resolve the agreed problem
Work is scoped directly with the client, with the agency kept informed where appropriate.
4. Everyone gets a clean handover
The client receives ownership and access documentation, and the agency receives the technical details needed to finish its work.
A ready-to-send introduction.
No need to draft anything from scratch. Copy this, fill in the brackets, and send it to [email protected] — that's step one of "How collaboration works" above.
Keep it short. We'll reply to confirm whether it's something we can help with, and what we'd need to define the boundary before anyone talks to the client.
Email template
Subject: Client introduction — [client / organisation name]
Hi Nicholas,
We're currently working on [website / project] for [client name]. Along the way we've run into a [domain, DNS, email, Microsoft 365, hosting] issue that's outside our scope:
[One or two sentences describing what's going on.]
Could you let us know if this is something Suburban Secure can help with, and what you'd need from us to confirm the boundary before anyone talks to the client?
Thanks,
[Your name]
[Agency name]
Partner promises.
- We will not present ourselves as the designer or developer.
- We will not interfere with the creative or commercial relationship.
- We will explain changes before touching production DNS.
- We will establish client-owned access wherever practical.
- We will document material changes and handover details.
- We will not turn a small referral into an aggressive managed-service pitch.
A specialist, not a competitor
Suburban Secure doesn't design or build websites. The work here is domains, DNS, email authentication, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, hosting and account ownership — the technical surroundings of a web project, kept separate from the creative and commercial relationship you own.
Introduce a clientQuestions agencies ask.
Can you make DNS changes without interrupting the website or email?
Yes — that's the point of doing it properly. Before touching production DNS we document the current records, confirm what depends on them and agree a change window, so mail flow and the live site keep working while ownership and configuration get tidied up.
Who owns the client relationship?
You do. We're brought in for a specific technical problem, not to build an ongoing relationship with your client at your expense. We won't present ourselves as the designer or developer, and we won't turn a small referral into a pitch for a broader engagement without your knowledge.
Can you work behind the scenes?
Yes. Plenty of engagements are introduced to the client as part of the broader project team, with Suburban Secure never mentioned by name if that's what works best for you. We're comfortable being visible or invisible — whichever keeps the client relationship clean.
Can you troubleshoot SPF, DKIM and DMARC?
Yes, this is core work for us. We review records across whichever platforms are involved — website host, email provider, marketing platform — find what's actually breaking delivery or authentication, and fix it without guessing.
Can you migrate email without migrating the website?
Yes. Email and hosting are separate systems even when a client assumes otherwise, and moving one doesn't require touching the other. We'll confirm exactly which records and services are involved before anything changes.
Can you help recover a domain or account?
Often, yes. Recovering access to a domain, registrar account or admin login that's fallen out of contact — a previous developer, a long-gone staff member, an old agency — is one of the more common reasons we get brought in.
Can you audit hosting and website ownership?
Yes. We review who actually controls the hosting account, domain, backups, staging environments and any abandoned plugins or logins, then help establish clean, client-owned access and a documented handover.
Do you support Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace?
Yes. We configure domains, accounts, administrator access and security for both platforms, without making your agency responsible for ongoing email support you never signed up to provide.
What happens if the issue is outside the agreed scope?
We say so and explain what's involved, rather than quietly expanding the job. If it needs separate technology work, that gets scoped and quoted directly with the client — your project stays exactly as big as you intended it to be.
Do you offer referral fees?
Not as a starting point. We'd rather build a track record of successful introductions first and decide later, together, whether a formal arrangement actually improves things — not complicate the trust that makes referrals work.
Got a client stuck on something outside the website?
Send a short email describing the issue. We'll confirm the boundary, work directly with your client on the agreed problem, and hand back a clean result — no surprise pitch, no confusion about who owns what.