You approve the design before I build.
Here’s the whole thing, start to launch, so you always know where we are and what’s next. The short version: we talk until the scope is genuinely clear. You hand me the facts, the material, the assets and the access. I turn that into a direction and show you a design draft. Development starts after you approve that draft, and not before.
the two moments that matter
Two gates, and nothing hidden.
Most website projects go sideways in one of two places: the clock starting before anyone is ready, or the build starting before the design is agreed. So I’ve made both moments explicit. You’ll always know which side of each gate we’re on.
Discovery is not the project start.
Signing, paying the deposit, or having a first meeting doesn’t start the quoted timeline on its own. The clock starts when the agreement is signed, the deposit is in, and the content, assets and access are complete enough for design work to genuinely begin.
so your timeline is real, not decorative
Design approval is the development gate.
Every website gets a design draft before development, sized to the project. Approval in writing means I can build the agreed direction. A new direction, replacement content, or a structural change after that may use a revision round or need a written change order first.
no surprises on either side
start to launch
The process.
Discovery
We start with the business, the audience, the one job the website has to do, and what success looks like. This takes as many conversations as the project honestly needs, and I don’t cap it at a number of calls or count it against your timeline.
What we’ll clarify together
- What the business offers, and who it serves
- The one primary action a visitor should take
- The pages and functionality you need
- Who will look after the site after launch
- Existing brand material, content, systems and access
- Timing constraints and any real launch deadline
- Websites, layouts and visual styles you like
- What you like about each reference, and what you’d hate to see copied
If the project isn’t clear enough for me to quote it responsibly, we keep talking. Nothing gets treated as started while it’s still fuzzy.
Recommendation, scope and a fixed quote
I recommend the offer, the delivery method and the platform that suit the project and whoever will maintain it. Then you get it in writing: the scope, a fixed project price, an assessed timeline, your included revision allowance, and any third-party costs I know about.
Website builds are priced by project and scope, never by the hour.
The agreement and deposit reserve the work. They don’t make an unready project ready to start, and I’d rather say that up front than pretend otherwise.
Content and design inputs
I won’t invent your business from a blank page, so this is the part where you hand me the raw material. I’ll send a structured content brief to make it easy.
What you provide
- Accurate business facts: services, products, prices, policies
- Existing text, notes, brochures, decks or other source material
- Approved photographs, testimonials, logos and brand assets
- Any required legal, regulatory or professional wording
- Access to the domain, current site, analytics, booking tools and other accounts
- Design pegs: sites you like, and sites you don’t
I take that material and organize it into pages, hierarchy, calls to action and website-ready presentation. I’ll edit and shape what you send me within the agreed scope, happily. What I won’t do is invent facts or promise full copywriting from nothing.
You stay responsible for the accuracy of the source material, and for approving the content that goes on the site.
- Gate 1
The project start gate
When these are all done, I confirm your official start date and the active timeline begins:
- Signed agreement
- Deposit received
- Scope and page count approved
- Content foundation supplied and confirmed sufficient
- Images, brand assets and account access received
- Delivery method and platform decision recorded
Discovery, quoting, waiting on content and half-finished handoffs aren’t active build time. If something’s outstanding I’ll tell you exactly what it is, and the project won’t quietly start while we wait for it.
- Gate 2
Design draft and approval
Every website gets a design draft appropriate to its scope before any development happens. The draft settles the layout, the visual direction, the content hierarchy and the interactions that matter. Bigger or more complex sites may need more design detail, or more than one screen, to establish the system.
I won’t make an uncertain design decision on my own. If I need clarification I’ll ask, and if there’s a meaningful choice I’ll lay it out and get your call.
You review the draft and send one consolidated response. Development begins once the design is approved in writing.
Development
I build the approved design, with the approved content, inside the agreed scope. Because the project is fixed-price, you’re never billed for the hours I spend thinking, testing or improving the agreed work. The price stays tied to the result.
I’ll follow the assessed timeline, send updates at meaningful milestones, and ask questions rather than guess. If a delay, a missing approval, a new requirement or a third-party hiccup affects the schedule, I’ll explain the effect and give you a revised date.
My own quality pass
Before I ask you to review anything, I test it myself. Depending on the build, that covers:
- Mobile and the major browsers
- Navigation, links, buttons, forms and booking flows
- Content placement and factual consistency
- Accessibility basics and readable contrast
- Performance and image sizing
- Foundational SEO and AEO implementation
- Analytics, indexing, domain and standard SSL setup where included
you shouldn’t be the first person to find a broken link
Your review and revisions
You look over the finished website and send one consolidated set of feedback per revision round.
- One-Page Site, Get Found and Portfolio Site include two client-requested revision rounds
- Small Business Site, Shop and Company Site include one client-requested full-site revision
- If my work doesn’t match the approved brief or design, I fix it free and it never touches your revision allowance
- Extra rounds, replacement content, a new direction or anything outside the agreed scope gets a written price before it begins
Final approval, payment and launch
Once the site is approved, here’s the launch sequence:
- I run the final quality check
- The remaining project balance is paid
- The site goes live on the agreed domain
- Forms, analytics, indexing, domain and SSL are verified in the live environment
- Ownership and the agreed files or account access are handed over to you
Launch happens once the final payment clears, so it’s worth having that ready if you’re aiming at a date.
After launch
For 30 days after launch I correct faults in the delivered work at no charge. Just tell me and it’s handled.
New content, new features, design changes, or anything caused by a third-party platform aren’t faults in the original build. Those go through Website Care, a written project quote, or the small-change policy on hand-built sites, whichever suits you best.
honest about the clock
What pauses or moves the timeline.
The assessed timeline assumes content, access, decisions and consolidated feedback arrive reasonably on time. Life happens, so here’s when the schedule may pause or shift:
Required material or access is missing
Content is replaced after approval
Feedback doesn’t arrive by the agreed deadline
The approved direction or scope changes
A third-party service creates a delay neither of us controls
Whatever it is, you’ll hear about it from me first, with a revised date attached.
A pause isn’t extra billable time on its own. It can move the project to the next available opening, because I only ever run one active build at a time, and that’s the same reason your build gets my full attention when it’s yours.
the promise
I will not build your website blindly.
You’ll see and approve the design before development. I’ll consult you whenever a decision is unclear, explain the tradeoffs that actually matter, and keep the project tied to the agreed scope, price and result. That’s the whole deal, and it’s a nice way to work.
Ready to start step one?
Discovery is free, unhurried, and doesn’t start any clock. Tell me what you’re trying to do and we’ll figure out the rest together.
usually replies within a day