We build the site, then we run it.
A one-time build, then a monthly plan that keeps it hosted, maintained, and supported. Both costs are laid out below, and you own the site outright once the build is paid off.
- Website builds
- from $2,500
- Fixed quote agreed before work starts.
- Care plans
- $65/mo
- Required for the first 12 months, then month to month.
- Minimum first year
- from $3,280
- The build plus Essentials, paid in full. On the 12-month build plan it's from $3,532. The care plan is billed separately, on top of the build, not folded into it.
- Beyond included time
- $120/hr
- Quoted as a fixed-price project first if it's substantial.
How it works.
- BuildFixed scope and a fixed price, both agreed before anyone starts. Pay in full, or over 12 months.
- LaunchWe handle the DNS, the migration, and the go-live checklist. You approve the site before it goes anywhere.
- RunYour site runs on hosting we manage, or on the platform you already pay for. Every new build carries a care plan for the first 12 months, billed separately from the build, so the thing we just made stays fast, current, and looked after.
What a build costs.
Scope drives the number, so we quote in bands and then give you one fixed figure after a short discovery call. The figure you approve is the figure you pay.
Focused sites
from $2,500A small marketing site with straightforward pages and no major integrations.
Most custom business sites
$4,000 to $7,500Strategy and discovery, custom layouts, several content types, and the integrations a working business actually runs on. This is where most projects land.
E-commerce and custom functionality
$7,500+Stores, ticketing, searchable directories, custom plugin work, and integrations that make a site behave like software.
What does a $2,500 project look like?
A focused small-business marketing site, built on brand and content you already have, with straightforward pages and no major integrations or custom application work. More pages, e-commerce, content migration, advanced integrations, and custom functionality all move the quote up from there. If you want a number for your project rather than a band, the discovery call is free and the quote is yours whether or not you build with us.
Then we keep it running.
Every new build carries a care plan for the first 12 months from launch, billed separately from the build. After that it's month to month, with 30 days' notice.
Essentials
$65/moFor established sites that change rarely, and for owners who'd rather make their own edits.
- Managed hosting, or oversight of your hosted platform
- On sites we host: SSL, software updates, off-site backups, uptime monitoring, security scanning, and a restore whenever you ask
- On hosted platforms: upkeep of the custom code and integrations we built, plus coordination with platform support on technical issues
- Either way: one person to contact when something looks wrong
- No included edit time; edits run at $120/hr
Care
$295/moFor businesses making regular content and promotional changes, who'd rather not think about it.
- Everything in Essentials, plus:
- 2 hours of edits each month, reserved for you
- Response within one business day
- Monthly report on traffic, uptime, and what changed
Care reserves two hours of our schedule for you every month, with a response within one business day and no new quote required for routine edits. Those hours price at $115/hr against the $120/hr we charge ad hoc, a small gap on purpose, because a plan shouldn't pretend the maintenance underneath it is free. If you usually need less than about 1 hour 55 minutes a month, Essentials plus ad-hoc work will generally cost less. Care is for businesses that value reserved capacity, priority response, and more predictable monthly spend.
What the maintenance involves depends on how your site is built. A WordPress site needs core and plugin updates every month. A hand-coded site needs almost none of it. For WordPress and hand-coded sites, hosting is part of the plan. For hosted platforms like Squarespace or Shopify, the platform's own subscription stays in your name and is paid by you, and Essentials covers what the platform doesn't: the custom code and integrations we built on top of it, a monthly check of key forms, analytics, and connected services, maintenance-related configuration and settings work, and working with platform support on technical issues affecting the site. Fewer moving parts than WordPress, which is most of the reason to be on a platform. Same person on the other end either way.
Included time doesn't roll over, because it's reserved capacity rather than a bank of prepaid hours. A month you don't use is a month you don't use: it doesn't bank into the next one. If you know you have a heavy month coming, tell us. If you're on Essentials, we may recommend Care; if the work will exceed your plan time, we'll let you know and quote the extra before going beyond it.
What counts as an edit.
This is the most argued-over line in any care plan, so here it is in public rather than buried in an agreement.
Included in your monthly time
- Text and image swaps
- Adding or updating posts and pages using templates already built
- Menu and navigation changes
- Contact detail updates
- Small style tweaks
- Form field changes
Quoted as project work
- New page templates
- New functionality or integrations
- Custom plugin work
- Redesigns
- Content migration
- SEO campaigns
- Copywriting
- E-commerce buildout
- Third-party service fees
When something breaks, who pays for it depends on what broke it.
If it broke because of an update we applied, a host or infrastructure fault, or a deployment we ran, fixing it does not touch your included time. Our maintenance caused it, our maintenance fixes it. Charging you for that would make the plan worth less than nothing.
If it broke because of a change made by you or a third party, or because an outside integration changed how it works, the repair can come out of your included time, and out of hours beyond it. We'll tell you which it is before we start, not after.
Know what happens when the payments stop.
Some pay-monthly website deals are rentals and some aren't, and the difference matters most when you try to leave. You'll see the pitch around: one monthly figure, often somewhere near $175/mo, covering the build and the hosting together. It's genuinely simpler than this page, and for some businesses it's the right trade. The question to ask is what happens at the end. In some subscription models the payments continue as long as the site stays live, and the site is never yours: cancel, and the site itself doesn't come with you.
| Approach | Five-year cost | Yours at the end |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription site at $175/mo | $10,500 | No |
| A build here, plus Essentials | $6,400 | Yes, outright |
The difference is that the build payments end, and the website is still yours.
Beyond your included time: $120/hr
When a request runs past your plan's included time, or falls outside what a plan covers, it's $120/hr billed in 15-minute increments and invoiced at the end of the month. Anything substantial gets quoted as a fixed-price project first, so you approve the number before work starts. On Essentials there's no included time, so every edit works this way.
Fair questions, straight answers.
Is the care plan included in the build price?
No. It's billed separately, on top of the build. A build at the $2,500 floor with the Essentials plan comes to $3,280 across the first year: $2,500 for the build, then $65/mo. On the 12-month build plan it's $3,532. We'd rather put both numbers here than make you calculate them yourself.
Why is the care plan required for the first year?
Because the first year is when a new site actually needs attention: platform and software updates, small fixes, a reliable path for the content changes and the occasional thing that breaks for reasons nobody predicted. Sites that are painful to update stop getting updated, and a site nobody maintains gets slow, then insecure, then replaced. Running it ourselves for the first year is how we keep that from happening to a site with our name on it.
What happens after 12 months?
The care plan goes month to month. Cancel it with 30 days' notice, move between tiers whenever you want, or leave it alone. If you took the 12-month build plan, it finishes at the same time, so nothing carries on past the first year that you didn't choose to keep.
Can I host the site myself?
Yes, and some clients do. For WordPress and hand-coded sites we host, hosting is part of the care plan. Self-hosted arrangements are quoted separately, because access, backups, software versions, and the server environment are outside our control.
What if I need more than my included time?
It's $120 an hour, billed in 15-minute increments and invoiced at the end of the month. Anything substantial gets quoted as a fixed-price project before work starts, so you approve the number first and there's no invoice you didn't see coming. On Essentials there's no included time, so every edit works this way.
Do I own my website?
Yes, outright, on final payment. Not licensed, not leased, not rented back to you. Ask for a full export at any point, including while you're still on a plan, and you'll get the site's files and content in a form another developer can pick up and keep working on. Cancelling a care plan does not cost you the website.
Who owns my domain?
You do. Domains are registered in your name, on your account, paid with your card. We'll do the DNS work, but we don't hold the registration: a web company that controls your domain can hold your business hostage, and no client should have to take our word that we won't.
What isn't covered by a care plan?
Anything in the "Quoted as project work" column above. It's quoted as a fixed-price project rather than drawn from plan time, so you approve a number before it starts. Third-party costs (domain registration, paid plugins, platform subscriptions, stock photography) are billed at cost or paid directly by you.
Tell us what you're building.
Every project starts with a conversation, not a contract. We respond within 24 hours.
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