FAQ
Questions, answered plainly
Including what it costs, and why there are no client logos on this site.
Where are you based?
We work remotely, with clients in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and India, and we keep hours that overlap yours. The more useful answer is that the same people stay on your project from the first call through to maintenance.
Why can't we see your client work?
We don't publish client names, logos or screenshots. The businesses we build for would rather their systems weren't advertised, and we'd rather keep that promise than win work with a case study. We can walk you through what we have built on a call.
What does a project cost?
A fixed-scope app or web build runs into the thousands rather than the hundreds. We quote a firm number against a written scope before you commit anything. Audits and smaller fixes are priced on their own. If your budget and the work don't match, we'll say so on the first call.
How long does it take?
Audits and speed work, one to two weeks. A web application, four to twelve. A two-platform app with a staff side, six to ten. The scope document gives you dates rather than ranges.
Do we own the code?
Yes. Source code, servers, domains and store accounts are in your name and handed over with documentation. We don't hold anything back.
Can you work alongside our own developer?
Often that's the cheapest arrangement. We take the infrastructure and deployment side while your developer carries on building features.
Custom apps for business
Do we need two apps or one?
Two, in most cases. What a customer needs and what your staff need are different enough that one app does both badly. They share a backend, so the second one costs a lot less than the first.
Who owns the app?
You do. Code, store listings and developer accounts are in your name. If you stop working with us, everything carries on running.
Can it talk to the systems we already use?
If your accounts or stock software has an API, yes. If it doesn't, we'll look at whether a scheduled import and export is good enough, and tell you when it isn't.
Web development
Why Laravel and Next.js?
Both are widely used and well documented, so you can hire someone else to work on this in five years. Picking whatever is fashionable is how businesses end up with code nobody can maintain.
Can you take over a half-finished project?
Sometimes. We read the code first and give you an honest answer about whether carrying on is cheaper than starting again. We have told people to start again, and we have told people their existing developer was doing fine.
Shopify & WooCommerce
Should we leave Shopify or WooCommerce?
Probably not yet. They stop making sense when the fees or the limits cost more than a rebuild would, and most stores aren't close to that point. We'll tell you where you are.
Will we lose our search rankings?
Not if the URLs are mapped and redirected properly, which is a large part of the work. The old store stays live alongside the new one, so there is a way back if something goes wrong.
AWS and cloud infrastructure
Whose AWS account is it?
Yours. You pay Amazon directly. We're not a reseller and we don't add anything to your bill. We work inside your account with the access you give us, and you can take it away whenever you want.
Is AWS right for us?
Often it isn't. A single application with steady traffic usually runs cheaper and simpler on a dedicated server. AWS earns its money when you need managed databases, traffic that moves around a lot, or more than one region.
Can you reduce what we're already paying?
Usually. Idle load balancers, oversized instances, old snapshots and volumes nobody deleted are the usual suspects. You get the findings before we change anything.
Servers & IT support
Will you manage a server you didn't build?
Yes, after an audit. We'll tell you what's unpatched, unmonitored or has never had a backup tested, and then we agree what we are taking responsibility for.
What happens at 3am?
Monitoring alerts us. What we respond to and how quickly is written into the agreement, so nobody's guessing in the middle of an incident.
Still not answered? Ask us. You will get a reply from the people who would do the work.
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