Process
How a project actually runs.
The short version is on each section page. This is the long one: what happens at every stage, when money changes hands, what happens when you change your mind, and what exists after we hand over.
The six stages
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01
The first conversation
Free, and with no obligation. What you want, where it is, what you can spend, and whether we are the right people for it. This is also where we tell you if the cheaper option is the better one, which happens more often than you would expect.
Costs nothing.
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02
Quote and brief
You get a written scope and a price before anything starts: what is included, what is not, and what we need from you. Nothing begins until you have both and have agreed to them.
Still nothing.
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03
Deposit and start
Work begins once the deposit is in. From this point you have a project with dates on it rather than an enquiry.
30% deposit.
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04
Concept
The idea, in a form you can react to. Architecture concepts arrive in under two weeks; digital first concepts in three to fifteen working days depending on complexity. This is the cheapest moment to change your mind and you should use it.
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05
Development and revisions
Concept becomes the real thing. Two revision rounds are included on architecture, three on digital work. Revisions are for refining what was agreed, and a change of direction is a different thing, quoted separately and honestly rather than absorbed and resented.
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06
Handover
Files, access and documentation in the formats you need. Once it is built it is yours: the drawings, the code, the source files. Websites and systems arrive with one month of support and a twelve month warranty on major bugs.
Remaining 70%. Files and access are released on payment in full.
When money changes hands
30% deposit before work starts and 70% on completion. Two payments, both of them expected, neither of them a surprise. Files and access are released once payment is complete, which protects both of us and is stated up front rather than discovered at the end.
There are no hourly rates anywhere in the practice. You get a number for the job before it starts, and if the job changes we quote the change rather than quietly running a meter.
Third-party costs are separate and always at cost: domain registration, Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 licences, payment provider fees, and the $100 zoning and permitted use check if you take one. We do not mark those up.
When things change, because they do
You want something different after seeing the concept
That is what the concept stage is for and it is included. Two revision rounds on architecture, three on digital. Use them properly: it costs an afternoon here and it costs weeks once building has started.
You want a change of direction, not a refinement
Different from a revision, and priced differently. We tell you it is a change and what it costs before doing it, so the decision is yours rather than a line item you find later.
The project stalls at your end
It happens: funding moves, council takes longer, life intervenes. The work waits and nothing expires. Tell us and we will pick it up when you are ready.
The business changes while we are building the system
Every system we have built changed shape once real people started using it. That is expected and budgeted for rather than treated as a problem, which is the main practical argument for software you own over software you rent.
After handover
Architecture: your builder works from the drawings and we answer their questions while they do. Construction supervision, if you want somebody watching the site on your behalf, is a separate service quoted on request.
Websites and systems: one month of support, plus a twelve month warranty on major bugs. Those are different things, and the difference matters. The warranty means we fix what we got wrong, for a year, at no cost. Support is help with questions and changes.
After that first month a support plan takes over, from $80 a year. You choose the tier at the start of the project rather than being sold one at handover, and if you decline, the site is still yours and keeps running. The warranty applies either way.
Start here
Tell us what you want to build
A house, a brand, a website, a system, or all of it. Send a message and we will map out the path from idea to reality.