Methodology · Written-first · Two tracks
How a project runs.
Two sequences, depending on what you are holding. A new build runs brief, scope, design, build, launch, care. A rescue runs intake, paid diagnosis, written findings, repair or rebuild, handover, care. Every step ends with something in writing you can hold us to—and there is a short list of things we simply will not do.
01 / Track AA new website, built from scratch
A new build, in six steps.
Nothing here is inherited, so the quote comes early: one flat number before any code. Projects start at $1,500 CAD.
Brief
WrittenYou describe the business, who it serves, and what the current site fails to do. We ask the awkward questions early rather than after the invoice.You receive: a written summary of what we heard, and a straight answer on whether this is a fit.
Scope and quote
WrittenThe work gets narrowed to what the site actually has to do. Anything outside that is named as outside, not discovered later.You receive: a written scope, an explicit exclusions list, and one flat number. No hourly meter, no change-order surcharge.
Design
WrittenStructure first—information architecture and page hierarchy—then the visual design, worked against real content instead of filler text.You receive: a design direction to approve in writing before a line of build code is written.
Build
StagingPages are hand-built, not assembled from a template. Hosting, SSL, domain configuration, technical SEO and analytics are part of the build, not an upsell.You receive: a working staging URL you can click through, break, and mark up.
Launch
KeysA real launch, not a handoff: DNS cutover, redirects from the old URLs, indexing and analytics verified live rather than assumed.You receive: a completed launch checklist and every credential—domain, hosting, code, analytics—in your name.
Care
OngoingLaunch is the start of operations. Hosting, updates, monitoring and changes carry on afterward, quoted flat like everything else.You receive: a named person who already knows the codebase, and a site that does not quietly decay.
Copywriting, e-commerce, custom integrations and application functionality are scoped separately and quoted separately—named in step 02, never bolted on in step 04.
02 / Track BAn inherited site, app, or half-finished build
A rescue, in six steps.
Inherited code cannot be honestly priced sight-unseen. So the order flips: diagnosis first, quote second, code third.
Intake
WrittenWhat exists, who holds the accounts, what actually broke. Inherited projects are almost always missing at least one login, so the gaps get mapped before anyone estimates anything.You receive: a written inventory of what we can reach and what is missing.
Diagnosis
PaidA paid, time-boxed investigation of the code, hosting, DNS, dependencies and data. Time-boxed so the investigation cannot quietly become the project. Paid because it is real engineering work, and free diagnoses are how you get a quote designed to win rather than to hold.You receive: the actual answer to “can this be saved,” instead of a guess.
Findings
WrittenWhat the build really does, what is salvageable, what is unsafe, and a recommendation—repair or rebuild—with the reasoning attached.You receive: a written findings document plus a firm flat quote. The findings are yours to keep, and yours to take elsewhere for a second opinion.
Repair or rebuild
StagingThe work runs against the findings, not a wish list. Repair means hardening and finishing what is there. Rebuild means replacing it with something maintainable and carrying content, URLs and search equity across.You receive: progress in writing and a staging URL—not status theatre.
Handover
KeysRegistrar, DNS, hosting, code repository, analytics, forms, mail. Every account put in your name and handed over in writing.You receive: every credential. Being locked out of your own website is how most rescues start; it is not how this one ends.
Care
OngoingA rescued site rots again without someone responsible for it. Hosting, updates, monitoring and changes continue afterward, quoted flat.You receive: the same small team that did the rescue, still reachable.
If the diagnosis says the honest answer is “leave it alone” or “this belongs with someone else,” that is what the findings will say. A rescue you do not need is not a rescue we want to sell.
The other half of a process
What we refuse to do.
A methodology is only as good as the things it rules out. Most of the horror stories clients arrive with trace back to one of these five, so they are not preferences—they are conditions of the work. If a project requires one of them, we will say no and tell you why in writing.
Non-negotiable
Five things we will not do
- No fixed bids on unknowns. A number invented before the work is understood is a number someone pays for later—usually you.
- No hourly meter. Flat, written quotes only. You should never be charged for our learning curve or penalised for asking a question.
- No bid before diagnosis on inherited code. Nobody can price a codebase they have not opened. Anyone who does is guessing at your expense.
- No vanishing acts. If we start it, we finish it, and we hand over every credential whether or not the relationship continues.
- No work on a domain the client does not control. If the registrar is in a former developer’s name, getting it into yours is step one—not an inconvenience we build around.
03 / ConstantsTrue on both tracks
What never changes.
Written before spoken
Scopes, findings, quotes and handovers are documents, not conversations you have to remember. A call is for deciding; the document is what governs.
One small team, start to finish
No account-management layer, no relay race between sales, design, development and support. The people who scope it are the people who build it and the people who maintain it.
A reply within one business day
During a project and after it. Remote-first and written-first works only if messages actually get answered, so they do.
The keys are always yours
Domain, DNS, hosting, code and analytics are registered to you and handed over at launch. Nothing about the arrangement depends on you being unable to leave.
Start at step one.
Tell us where the project stands—new idea, ageing site, or a build somebody walked away from. You’ll get a direct reply within one business day.