Supporting your business with ‘pay as you go’ options for website design, development and maintenance

Our PAYG service is straightforward: you pay £75 per hour for the time we spend working on your project, with a 15-minute minimum charge. This includes everything we do on your behalf – design work, development, meetings, liaising with third parties, and even researching solutions to your specific challenges.
What counts as billable time:
– Actual website building and development work
– Meetings and consultations (video calls, phone calls, emails) over 15 minutes
– Research and planning for your specific requirements
– Software licensing and subscriptions needed for your project
– Communication with hosting providers, domain registrars, or other third parties on your behalf
How to save money: If you’re planning a larger project or want to spread the cost, you can ‘bulk-buy’ time in advance. This not only helps you budget but also saves you money as we waive the 15-minute minimum charge for prepaid hours.
We always keep you informed about ongoing costs and can work to a set budget if you prefer. Before starting any significant work, we’ll give you an estimate of how long tasks are likely to take so there are no surprises.
Special rates: We offer discounted hourly rates for registered charities and not-for-profit organizations because we believe in supporting organizations doing good work.

PAYG works brilliantly for some people and less well for others. Here’s how to decide:
PAYG is ideal if you:
– Have a tight budget and want to spread costs over time
– Already have a clear vision and most of your content prepared
– Enjoy being hands-on and want to do some work yourself
– Need specific tasks completed rather than a full website build
– Have an existing website that needs updates or improvements
– Want flexibility to pause and resume work as your budget allows
A package might be better if you:
– Want predictable, fixed pricing from the start
– Need comprehensive guidance throughout the entire process
– Don’t have your content or brand strategy fully developed yet
– Prefer a ‘done for you’ approach with less involvement
– Need extensive consultation and planning time
– Want everything included (hosting, domain, email) without tracking separate costs
The key factor is preparation. If you have a clear brief, design ideas, and content ready, PAYG can be incredibly cost-effective. If you need hand-holding throughout the process, a package provides better value.
We’re always happy to discuss your specific situation during a Power Hour consultation to help you decide which approach suits you best.

You might be surprised! An hour of focused professional development can achieve quite a lot, especially if you’re well-prepared.
Real examples:
– We’ve built complete simple websites in 3-6 hours (when clients have content, branding, and clear requirements ready)
– Setting up a blog facility and formatting 2-3 blog posts: 30-60 minutes
– Connecting Google Analytics (GA4) and Google Search Console: 15-30 minutes
– Adding a contact form with proper spam protection: 15-30 minutes
– Integrating a booking system: 30-60 minutes (depending on complexity)
– Making a website mobile-responsive: 1-2 hours (depending on current state)
– Setting up an online shop with 10-15 products: 2-3 hours (with product information provided)
What affects how far an hour goes:
Preparation is everything. If you have content written, images ready, and a clear idea of what you want, we can work quickly and efficiently. If we’re waiting for content, making decisions on calls, or exploring options together, the same tasks take longer.
Complexity matters. Adding a simple contact form is quick. Integrating a complex booking system with specific requirements takes more time.
Your existing setup. Working with a well-structured WordPress site is faster than fixing a poorly-built website with underlying issues.
Top tip: Book a Power Hour first to plan your project properly. This planning session helps us estimate accurate timings and ensures you’re prepared, which ultimately saves you money on the actual development work.

This is a valid concern, and we handle it in several practical ways:
Budget management: Before starting any work, we’ll give you a realistic estimate of how long tasks will take. While we can’t always predict everything (sometimes we discover underlying issues), we aim to give you a clear picture upfront.
Staged approach: You can tackle your project in stages, focusing on essential elements first. For example:
Stage 1: Get the basic website live with core pages
Stage 2: Add blog functionality and a few initial posts
Stage 3: Integrate booking system or e-commerce
Stage 4: Enhance design elements and add advanced features
This way, you have a functional website at each stage and can pause to save for the next phase if needed.
Prepaid time blocks: Bulk-buying hours in advance not only saves you money but also helps you budget more effectively. You know exactly what you’ve paid upfront and can plan your project around those hours.
Honest communication: We’ll always keep you informed about time spent and remaining budget. If we’re approaching your limit, we’ll flag it before continuing so you can decide whether to pause or proceed.
Minimum viable website: We can help you identify what’s absolutely essential to get your website live and functioning, and what can wait. Sometimes having a simple, professional site live is better than waiting until you can afford everything at once.
The beauty of PAYG is flexibility – you control the pace and can resume whenever your budget allows. Your website doesn’t need to be perfect on day one; it can grow as your business grows.

Absolutely! This is fundamental to how we work, regardless of whether you choose PAYG or a package.
Full ownership: Your website is yours. We build on platforms (typically WordPress but we do work with other platforms!) that you have complete admin access to. You’re not locked into using our services for basic updates or changes.
Built for independence: We specialise in creating websites that you can edit yourself without needing a developer for everyday tasks. Adding a blog post, updating text, changing images, or creating new pages – these should all be things you can do independently.
Training and resources: Even with PAYG, we provide access to our support resources, including video tutorials and help articles. If you want more comprehensive training, we can include that in your PAYG hours, or you can book separate training sessions.
No hidden dependencies: We don’t create proprietary systems or use obscure plugins that lock you into our services. Everything we build uses standard, widely-supported tools and practices. If you wanted to work with another developer in the future, they could easily pick up where we left off.
Ongoing support available: While you can manage your site independently, we’re here if you need us. PAYG means you can come back for occasional help when you hit a technical challenge or want to add new functionality. You only pay for support when you actually need it.
Access to everything: You’ll have all login credentials, documentation about any integrations we’ve set up, and we’re happy to help you understand how your website works. No secrets, no gatekeeping.
This approach aligns with our ethical values – we believe in empowering business owners, not creating dependency. Your website is a business asset, and you should have complete control over it.