5 min read · updated 2026-10-18
Who owns the AI agent if the freelancer disappears?
Short answer
You own the agent if the phone number, the model account, the calendar, and the CRM are in your name, and you can change the opening line, read recent conversations, and switch the assistant off without messaging the person who built it. A working demo on someone else’s login is a rental. Support after handover is 7, 14, or 30 days for the agreed scope, not a permanent on-call.
Four things you should be able to do alone
The useful test is not a demo. It is what you can do the week the builder is unavailable.
- Change the opening line, the hours, or one approved answer.
- Read a recent conversation and see where it was written.
- Turn the assistant off, and have calls or chats fall back to you.
- Hand the logins to a different person without asking the original builder to export anything.
Whose name is on the accounts
Set this on day one. Moving it later means call history, billing, and calendar access are stuck under a login you do not control.
The phone number should be yours, forwarded into the assistant, so switching it off is a forwarding rule you hold. The model or voice account should be billed to you, with the builder added as a user. The calendar and mailbox should be connected from your Google or Microsoft account, not a mailbox the builder created. The CRM was already yours. If a workflow tool sits in the middle, that instance is yours too, credentials included.
A builder who keeps those in their own accounts can still do good work. They have not delivered a thing you can keep.
What the support window is
Basic includes 7 days of fixes, Standard 14, Premium 30, counted from handover. That covers the scope you agreed: a broken booking, a missed alert, an answer that does not match the list you approved.
It does not cover a new channel, a new price list every Monday, or someone on call at 2 a.m. for the life of the business. Those are a new scope or a retainer, and they should be priced as such. An agent with no named owner inside the business will drift as soon as the answers change, even if the code is fine.
What to ask before you pay
Ask where the number and the billing live, who can turn it off, and what you receive on the last day: the approved answers, the handoff rules, and a short note of what breaks if a credential expires. If the reply is “I’ll keep it running for you”, you are buying a service, not a build. That can be a fair deal. It is a different contract, and the monthly fee should be written down.
This is what I do: AI Agents & Voice Assistants — three packages from $150.
