The Bigger Build · £5,500, fixed · up to 25 pages and one system

The website has a job to do, and every quote so far said 'from £8,000'.

A shop, a booking engine, a private page per job where the client sees this week's photos. Everything in The Build, up to 25 pages, plus one system built in rather than bolted on, then three months of Growth so it's found while it's new. One number, scoped in writing before it starts.

The £250 Strategy Session comes off it. The scope is agreed in writing in the session, so the number doesn't move.

Not sure yet? Fifteen minutes on the phone, free, no plan at the end.

Why the last quote came with a spreadsheet

'Depends what you need'

Every agency call ends with 'we'll put together a proposal'. The proposal is a range, the range is wide, and the top of it is what you'll pay.

Built, then invisible

The last site with a booking system launched, and nobody found it for six months. The system worked. Nothing pointed anyone at it.

The client who rings for an update

A £100,000 extension, and the client rings on Thursday for a photo. A private page per job, with this week's pictures, the schedule and what's been paid, is the thing the firm with 40 reviews hasn't got.

What I do about it

One person scopes it, writes it, designs it, builds it and then gets it found. The number is fixed because the scope is written down in the session, not guessed at from a phone call.

1

The Strategy Session, then a written scope.

What the site has to do, which system, which pages, what 'done' looks like. That scope is the contract. If you want more later, it's a new number, in writing, before I start on it.

2

Everything in The Build, up to 25 pages.

Words written from two or three recorded conversations, design to the price you charge, ownership in week one, the three promises in the contract.

3

One system, built in.

A Shopify or WooCommerce shop, a booking engine, a client area where each customer sees their own job, or a second-location site. Payments, stock and bookings in one place, on your phone.

4

Three months of Growth, from launch day.

Google profile run for you, reviews asked for after every job, a new search page in the first quarter, and a report every month. New sites need help being found. This one gets it from day one.

What you get back

A site that does the job.

Sells, books, or shows a client their own job on a phone: this week's photos, the schedule, what's been paid. No copying names between three tools on a Saturday.

Found from the first month.

Reviews collecting, profile active, a report in your inbox each month saying what came in.

One number that held.

Scoped in writing before the first payment. The spreadsheet of extras doesn't exist here.

You own all of it.

Shop, bookings, domain, files, logins. In your name from week one. Any developer can pick it up.

One number, scoped first

£5,500fixed, no VAT

Half to start, half when you've approved the design. The £250 Strategy Session comes off the first half. Third-party costs, Shopify's monthly fee for example, stay with you and are listed in the scope so nothing arrives as a surprise.

Set it next to the 'from £8,000' quote and ask what the extras add up to, and whether anyone has offered to get the thing found once it's live.

A kitchen company, average job
£25,000
Margin at 20%
£5,000
The Bigger Build
£5,500
Jobs it has to win to pay for itself
Just over one

Run it on your own margin. If the sum doesn't work, the Strategy Session will say so before you spend £5,500.

Things people ask before they book

What counts as 'one system'?

A shop (Shopify or WooCommerce), a booking engine, a client area, or a second-location site. One of those. If you need two, the scope says so and the number is agreed before we start.

How long does it take?

Six to eight weeks from the day the words are signed off, with a firm date in the scope.

Do I pay Shopify as well?

Yes. Their monthly fee and card processing are yours, and they're listed in the scope so you know before you sign.

What happens after the three months of Growth?

It carries on at £199 a month if you want it to, and cancels any time if you don't. By then you'll have the first three reports and can see what it's bringing in.

Can I run the shop or the bookings myself?

Yes. That's the point of building it in. You get a training session and an editing area for products, prices, slots and pages.

What if you're ill or on holiday?

You know my dates away in advance. Hosting runs on Vercel and doesn't depend on me being at a desk. And because everything is in your name, any developer can carry on if I'm not there.

I've been quoted less elsewhere. Why you?

Ask what the cheaper quote includes for the words, for being found, and for what happens if the rankings drop. Then ask who owns the domain at the end. That tends to be where the difference is.

If it's a brochure site after all

Up to twelve pages, no shop or booking engine: that's The Build at £2,950.

See The Build

Book the Strategy Session. The scope comes out of it.

Ninety minutes on what the site has to do, a written plan and scope within three working days, and £250 that comes off the £5,500 if we go ahead.