Web design, hosting, branding and video questions, answered.

It depends entirely on what it has to do - which is why the first question is never "how many pages" but "what's the job". More importantly we will ask, "what does success in this build look like for you?". The website needs to solve a problem, not just be a pretty online front of house. Most builds land between £2,500 and £6,000 - a single landing page is less, a members' area or a shop may be more. You get a fixed price before anything starts; half up front is requested to begin work.

We usually ask for four to eight weeks after we have received all content. The build is rarely what decides how long it takes - the words and pictures coming back from the client are often what slows a project. If you are ready to go, the time scale can be potentially shorter than four-eight weeks. A project outline would allow us to know what is involved and how long it may take. In any case, we will make every effort to deliver as quickly as possible.

Words and pictures, and examples of sites you love and hate - that tells us more in ten minutes than a brief does in ten pages. If you have a company brand document, send that over too. If writing the copy is the bit you dread, say so early and we will quote for writing it alongside the build.

Whichever fits your needs. Some businesses need their employees to be able to edit everything themselves and an environment that allows them to move between developers easily - that points one way, a CMS (Content Management System) like WordPress. Some need speed, security and a site that never nags for updates - that points another, a purpose-built static site. We'll tell you which may suit you and why, before any money moves.

If you want to, sure! That's when you'll want a CMS (Content Management System) like WordPress. The parts you'll actually change - prices, pictures, opening hours, news - are under your control. If you wish to update the core, theme or plugins, go ahead - this is what we would do in a maintenance plan though, and if you do it, you take responsibility. We are on hand if something goes wrong in the first 30 days after site completion. After that we are happy to help and potentially get you back online, although at our hourly rate.

Yes - members' areas, e-learning, e-commerce (shops), client portals and booking are running today on sites we have built and look after. Our initial chat with you will drill down on what is required from the goals that you have, then the advanced functionality can be built with those goals in mind.

Usually, yes. Sometimes the honest answer is that rebuilding may cost less than repairing, and if that's the case we'll say so rather than quietly billing for both. If you just want a new web host, we can move your website and email over at no additional cost and either give you hosting access or manage it for you.

Content usually comes from you, because you know the business better than we do. If writing it is the part you dread, say so early and we can quote for the copywriting alongside the build.

You do. As soon as the final bill is paid and the contract fulfilled - the domain, the content and the site itself are yours and they stay yours. We manage them to save you the time and effort, for as long as that suits you.

Every build leaves with the on-page work done properly: clean structure, fast pages, titles and descriptions written for what your customers actually search, alt text on the images, and a pass through Ahrefs, PageSpeed and Search Console before launch. That foundation is included in the price. We even create an analytics account and will share with you so you can see how your website is performing. Going further is a service in its own right - ongoing search engine optimisation, setting up and optimising your Google Business Profile, and preparing the site for AI search. All can be done to help your business, although they would be additional services.

We are on hand for 30 days to help with any issues, although every effort will be made to ensure there aren't any. After that, you can either let us deal with your website content updates for a fee or you can choose to complete them yourself. If you want to learn, we will send you videos to follow after launch so that you can get comfortable editing the site yourself. Most clients take our hosting - so SSL, Timeline Backups, server maintenance, malware scans are all handled by the person that built the site and knows it best. If you have your own hosting though, not a problem - we can move over from our servers to yours when you are ready. Ongoing website and server maintenance is then down to you, or your hosting provider.

Yes, and it is built that way from the start rather than checked at the end - proper heading structure, alt text on images, menus you can reach with a keyboard, readable contrast, and forms a screen reader can follow. We build against WCAG 2.2 at level AA, which is the benchmark used to judge whether a business has made the reasonable adjustments the Equality Act asks for. If you sell into the EU, the European Accessibility Act has applied since June 2025 and makes it a harder requirement again. Certifying a site formally against that standard is a separate piece of work, done by a person rather than a scanner - tell us early if you need it and the build is planned around it.

Every WordPress build ships with a security plugin in place, wherever it ends up hosted. On our hosting that is backed by server-side security, with malware scans running daily, the server kept patched and maintained, and SSL on every account. On a static build that server-side layer is the whole of it, and on WordPress it sits on top of the plugin. A static site does give an attacker less to aim at, though depending on the technologies behind it, it can still need testing in depth. Backups are run on a rolling timeline covering the site files, the database and every mailbox - so if something ever does go wrong, there is always a good copy to go back to.

No. We are in Leigh-on-Sea, and if you are nearby the first conversation can happen over a coffee - but the client list runs from the Essex coast to Thailand, Australia and the United States. Most of our longest-standing clients have never needed to be in the same room. In the age of remote working and the world feeling more connected than ever, we are delighted to work with people and companies from all countries.

Yes, and it gets real design time rather than being an afterthought. Around six in ten website visits worldwide now come from a phone, so both the desktop layout and the mobile one are designed properly. Before launch the site is checked on real devices as well as online tools replicating the major handsets and operating systems, so it holds up whichever way somebody arrives. It matters commercially as much as visually - a business site that is awkward on a phone loses the enquiry there. We make every effort to stop that from happening.

You will be made aware of all ongoing costs before the build starts so that you can make an informed decision on the type of build and the maintenance going forwards. The build price is fixed before work starts, and it covers the build. Aftercare may well be important and will be discussed so that nothing comes as a surprise. After that there are a few things that can carry a cost, and you choose which of them you want. Website hosting is £240 a year. That covers SSL, Daily Timeline Backups, malware scans, server maintenance, five mailboxes and the worldwide CDN. Extra mailboxes are £5 a month each. Maintenance is charged per update rather than per month - £40 on the live site, £90 on a staging copy, £120 for a complex build that needs a fair amount of testing. How often you want one is your call. Content changes are yours to make for nothing, or ours to make for a fee. We are on hand free for the first 30 days after launch; after that, help with something that has gone wrong is at our hourly rate. Search engine optimisation, Google Business Profile work and preparing a site for AI search are services in their own right and are priced for the job. Moving an existing site and its email over to us is free.

Before we start a project we will provide a contract and deposit invoice, which will be 50% of the total fee. A set of milestones will be sent to you and if we meet them without slow down from your side or ours ... the project will complete on time. Before the site goes live, final payment is requested to mark the end of the work and formal relinquishment of the files. This applies to web, graphics and video. For hosting services, this is asked for upfront for the coming year.

We will have spent time on finding out what you like and what you like less to ensure that the design being made ticks the appropriate boxes. Namely, sticking to the agreed colour palette, your preferred style and is laid out in a way that has your key outcome in mind. That may be sales, enquiries or newsletter signups. If we haven't managed to hit the mark with the design after all of the above has been based on your initial requirements, we will speak again about what you feel is missing or needs changing. We can then adapt what has been made.

Most certainly. The site will be built on a development server that you will have access to when viewing is ready.

Yes a domain name is required. We can arrange to buy and manage this for you for a small fee (domain purchase and admin fee) or you can purchase yourself and handle the DNS (Domain Name System) settings. Either way, you own it for the period that it has been bought for, with renewals happening at a timescale depending on the period you purchased for. If you bought one year then it would be yearly, for example.

A contract is created at the start of any job. It will outline the key parts of the job and what is expected from both sides. Also payment terms. It is required as it protects both the provider and the client.

We can help you to come up with a plan to follow so that your side of things can be smooth sailing. Content and images usually come from the client but the layout and structure of the site will come from our years of experience. As such, we can give you instructions on what is needed and where it would go. This will save you a lot of time creating the parts that you need to do.

Every build ships with analytics set up and a cookie choice that asks properly rather than assuming, and it is included rather than an extra. Nothing non-essential runs until the visitor has said yes, and withdrawing that consent is as easy as giving it. Having built the site, we know what it is made of and what it collects, and we can write that down for you. It is the part most people get stuck on, and it gives you the basis for your privacy policy, cookie policy and terms. What we cannot do is tell you whether your business is compliant, or take responsibility for those pages. They have to cover how your business handles people's information away from the website as well as on it, and that is a legal question rather than a design one. The final call there is yours.

Images usually come from the client. One important point is that the correct licence is held in order to use the images. Either bought from reputable sources online OR even better - take the images yourself. If you are not able to take high quality images, and do not have the budget to purchase, we can give direction on where to find royalty free images. You may find difficulty finding specific pictures on royalty free sites though.

Planning can start straight away. What usually decides the date is how quickly your words and pictures come together, and that is on your side rather than ours. We would look at the work diary and tell you when the full build can begin, so you know how much time you have to get your part ready. Some parts of the year are busier than others, so it is worth asking at the time and we will give you an honest answer rather than a hopeful one. Quite often we are already working on the planning, wireframes and site structure while you are gathering content, so very little time is wasted waiting.

Sooner than a website, usually. There is no content to gather, so what we need from you at the start is smaller: what the business does, who it is for, what it must not look like, and examples of branding you like and cannot stand. Once we have that, we would look at the work diary and tell you when the three directions can be with you. The research and the drawing are ours to do, so the date depends mostly on what else is in the studio rather than on anything you have to prepare. Some parts of the year are busier than others, so it is worth asking at the time.

A logo on its own is £800. A logo together with a written brand guidelines document is £1,500, and the guidelines can be added later for £700 if you would rather start with the logo but you will then be paying a little more. Printed pieces - labels, cards, menus, workwear - are charged at our hourly rate once we know what they are, because a business card and a run of product labels are not the same job. Posters and menus on an ongoing retainer are typically £120 to £600 a month, depending on how much comes through. Every one of those is a fixed price, agreed before anything starts.

Logos and full identities, plus the printed pieces that carry them - product labels, business cards, compliment slips, t-shirts, even album covers. If it carries your name, it can come from the same desk as your website.

Yes - when the same studio draws the brand and builds the site, everything matches from the first day, with no round of file-swapping between suppliers.

Three different directions to start with, based on your brief and taking into account the evidence you gave as likes and dislikes. We do not offer fifty variations on the same idea, and not one take-it-or-leave-it. You pick a direction, and we work that one properly. There are optional revision rounds after that, and at that point we should be there with the finished product.

Vector master artwork in AI, SVG and EPS that scales to the side of a building. PNG and JPG at web and print sizes. Full colour, single colour, black and reversed versions. Favicon and social crops, already sized. Your colour values in HEX, RGB, CMYK and Pantone, with the typefaces listed. You should never have to ask us for "the logo file" twice.

It is the rules of your brand written down in plain language - colours, typefaces, spacing, and how the logo should and should not be used. It is optional, but hugely useful to designers and printers that you may use in the future. It earns its keep when there are several people touching the brand: a sign-writer, a printer, whoever builds the next thing. There is one on the branding page you can leaf through page by page.

Happily. Everything leaves print-ready with the bleed and colour values your printer will ask for, and if it is easier we will talk to them directly for a small charge so nothing gets lost between the two of you.

Yes - as a one-off or on a monthly retainer. Send the details and a deadline, and artwork comes back within 48 hours. We have been doing exactly that for one client for fifteen years, in a sports bar on the other side of the world.

Most definitely. If the logo works we will use it and build the site around it. If the only version you have is a low-resolution image someone emailed you years ago, we can redraw it properly as vector artwork so it can be used in various places without losing its quality, although this would be an additional chargeable service.

The timescale for branding is genuinely open ended. The creative process on our side can take a few days but the research and initial evidence on your side can take as long as it takes. As such this is a different question to answer. If we assume that you have completed what we have asked for, up to one working week is usually enough to come back to you with some definitive options at the start of the branding journey. Then revisions can be swifter once a direction has been chosen. For the branding guideline, there is a fair amount of back and forth with that but I would conservatively suggest 1-2 weeks to get it to the point you can use it.

Yes. As soon as the final invoice is paid and the contracted work is complete, the files and the brand are yours. Everything is drawn from scratch rather than taken from anywhere, so there is nothing in it that belongs to somebody else. What we cannot do is clear a name or a trademark. Whether a logo or a business name conflicts with something already registered is a legal question and the work of a solicitor, not a designer.