Work Process

If you’ve never worked with a web developer or company before, it can be intimidating. Often in poor working relationships there’s a great deal of ‘mystery’ involved in the process, where clients do not have regular access to the website as it’s being developed; deal frequently with changes or alterations not requested and without prior conversation and consent; and the worst case-scenario, having a developer walk off the job entirely, leaving them stranded.

Sometimes prices aren’t justified: blanket quotes for an entire project without further explanation when questioned, or seeing the word ‘miscellaneous’ on a bill. Yikes!

Worst of all, once the project is ‘completed’, some of the worst developers refuse to fix problems they created with the project when requested.

We know all this because we’ve heard these horror stories from our clients.

We want nothing to do with that sort of business.

What we offer instead is professional design and development work with integrity, honesty, and a focus on identifying what you need and hope for in your project.

We communicate with you and work with you and your team to accomplish whatever is needed to make the project a success.

Read on to get a better sense of how things move along when working with us.

Step 1: Inquiry

So what do we do differently? For starters, we establish a clear, concise estimate quote with a given price range. It’s one of the first things we do after gathering enough information about the scope of your project.

You’ll know within a reasonable price window exactly what it will cost to have your project done by us. No hidden costs. No ‘mysterious’ additional work thrown in. If you need more work outside of what we arrange with you, we’ll draw up a new invoice for which you have the choice to decline. If something can’t be done within the quote, we’ll tell you before agreeing to service.

Our pricing reflects both our experience and our track record. We’ve been working with the web for a combined 35 years of experience, and always present true-cost scenarios and options for our customers to fit their needs and budgets.

Step 2: Conception

If you require design work, we talk with you about your ideal website- are there others on the web you can point us to that demonstrate the theme of what you’re going for? Are there specific functionality requirements that you need, like being able to update your content?

We discuss things with you until we’ve got a strong grasp of what you need, and then produce a Photoshop or PDF (your preference) template of the website design. We mention any functions that aren’t obvious from the design.

If we’re working on a development project with you, we go over the aspects of functionality until you’re satisfied with the direction we’re taking. We’ll inform you of any limitations or road blocks in the process, and work with you to find another way.

Step 3: First Drop Of Code

Once we’ve finished a design or development plan, we setup an interactive, secure and private place on the web where we will chart progress if needed, and share plans moving forward.

When we start developing the website, we’ll also give you a link to our private server environment where we’ll be building your web content. Our server is available 24/7. This is your ‘preview url’, and it will remain the same through the entire development phase.

Step 4: The Details

If you needed us to setup a web server and WWW address online, or have other needs like tutorials for updating your content or accessing your administration, we can also include those services in your package. And we’ll likely arrange a suitable completion date target with you at this point.

Step 5: Launch

When we’re ready to go and have arranged a time for the website launch, we’ll upload your files to your server, configure and double-check everything to make sure there are no errors or outstanding problems with the launch, and pull the trigger when you say go. We’ll arrange the launch so things go as smoothly and easily as flipping a light switch. Okay, maybe not that far. But it will be painless, fast, and require no effort on your part.

Be aware that by this point we will have received full payment from you.

We will continue to work with you for a specified time after launch. Included in most quotes are a few hours set aside for minor bugs or last minute post-launch changes. The hours are usually bundled with your package and are offered free of charge.

Step 6: Coming Down

After the successful launch of your website, at your discretion and convenience, we ask that you give us some feedback we can use to help our service and share with other potential clients.