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Hi eric,
I'll go through your points one at a time.
(1) Choosing a site designer is like choosing an accountant or a solicitor. You need to find someone who is good at what they do, listens to their customers needs, builds to specification and who suits your budget. There are many, many thousands of web designers on the internet, all jockeying for position ahead of the next. So I'd suggest browsing a few of their sites, taking a look at their portfolios and seeing who charges the most reasonable rate (which doesn't mean the lowest).
(2) Website designers are basically temporary employees of whoever decides to build a website. They are, as such under your instruction and, if honest and honourable, they won't go stealing whatever ideas you may have. There may, of course, be the odd bad apple and it could be worth making sure you both sign an agreement (similar to a copyrite in a way) when work is agreed to be undertaken. This would, legally, stop the designer taking any of your ideas. But I'd say play this sort of thing by ear. You can get a feel for a designer (as you can with anyone) when you meet with them and discuss your plans. You could take the view that, if they don't offer that sort of agreement anyway, that they aren't worth bothering with. On the other hand, think about their reputation and whether they don't do it for a reason. Suggesting such a signing could be deemed to be 'offensive,' and your site may not be taken on.
But, essentially, once the idea is in the public domain, it becomes the property of the public and is available for all to adapt and re-use as they wish. Innovations which are patentable (is that a word??) or copyritable (is that a word either??) are legally assigned to you and couldn't be reproduced.
In general though, web designers are there for their customers and do what they are paid to do. If they kept running off with every idea they heard, and I'm sure most of them hear a **** of a lot, then they probably wouldn't be in business for very long. It's much better for them to hone their talents by working to customer specifications and getting paid for it.
(3) Web designers need to know how much work is involved in creating an entire site before pricing it up accurately and undertaking the job. Sketches of the required layout and details of any logos or other graphics provide the designer with a means of visualising the final version of the site and hence they are able to apply an approximate figure to it's likely cost. This can change throughout the course of the build, if particular areas need more work or the customer changes their mind, but things stay pretty close to the original estimate.
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