Getting 404 pages

I installed the demo and have been working on the menu (removing and adding pages as I go), and the pages seem to have the correct link ex: contact page is blah.com/contact, but when I go on the actual website, the contact page ends up in a 404 error.

I have read up resetting the permalinks, but everytime I change it, it says to change the .htaccess file. Is this located in the FTP?

I currently have a tech manager that handles all the server sided issues, would he need to go in and change the .htaccess file?

Thanks,
Suzzi