Company / How we work
A written price before anything starts.
Three steps from the first call to handover. Nobody enjoys finding out what something cost afterwards.
The first conversation costs nothing and there is no pitch at the end of it.
# scope.md
conversation: "30 min, free"
scope: "written"
price: "agreed first"
changes: "re-quoted"
updates: "plain english"
handover: documented
owner: "the client"
The process
Three steps, no surprises.
A conversation
Half an hour, no cost, usually a video call. We ask what the project is, what you have already tried, who looks after things now and what is driving the timing.
We will not quote on that call. If it is obvious we are the wrong people, we will say so there and then and point you at who is.
A scope and a price
Written up and sent over, normally within a couple of days. What we would do, what it costs, roughly how long, and what is specifically not included.
Nothing begins until you have agreed it. If the job turns out to be bigger than it looked, we re-quote before doing the extra rather than after.
Delivery and handover
We do the work and keep you posted in language you can pass on to somebody else. No status reports nobody reads.
At the end you get a written record of what changed, where everything lives and how to get into each account. Passwords are handed over separately and securely, never in the document. Written for the next person, not for us.
Principles
How we behave.
- You own everything. Domains, hosting, accounts, licences, documentation. All in your name, not ours. Leaving should be easy, or the rest of this is just talk.
- Plain English, always. If an explanation needs jargon to make sense, it is a bad explanation. You should be able to repeat it to your accountant.
- The price is the price. Agreed in writing before work starts. If scope changes, we tell you what it costs before we do it, not on the invoice.
- We build it so someone else can run it. Standard tools, documented, no clever arrangement that only works while we are around.
- Only what we would use ourselves. We recommend software and hardware we would run in our own business. If something simpler will do, we say so.
- We will tell you not to spend money. Sometimes the answer is fewer systems, or nothing this year. Saying so costs us a job and keeps the relationship.
- We take on a few projects at a time. Deliberately. Everything we take on is something we can actually get to, rather than something we can add to a queue.
Questions
The ones we get asked.
Why is there no pricing on the website?
Because a five page website and a full ordering system are not the same job, and a published rate would be wrong for one of them. Every project gets a fixed written price before anything starts, which we think answers the same question more honestly than a number on a page.
What does the first conversation cost?
Nothing. Half an hour, and there is no pitch at the end of it. If we are not right for the job we will say so, and we would rather do that in the first half hour than the third month.
Who actually does the work?
The person you speak to on the first call. If a job needs a specialist, a cabling contractor on a larger site for example, we name them in the scope and say what they will do. Nobody turns up that you were not told about.
Do you do day to day IT support?
No. Somebody to ring when a laptop will not start is an IT support contract, and a good local one is worth having. We take on projects, and ongoing direction for a small number of clients. If support is what you need, we will happily say so.
What happens if the project turns out to be bigger than expected?
We stop and re-quote. You see what the extra costs and decide whether to do it, before we do it. What does not happen is extra appearing on an invoice at the end.
If something was our misjudgement rather than a genuine change in scope, that is ours to absorb, and we will say which it is.
Who owns the work when it is finished?
You do. Domain, hosting, accounts, licences, content and documentation, all in your name. If you want to take it somewhere else, there is nothing to untangle first and nobody to ask.
What happens after handover?
It is yours. If something we built fails because of how we built it, we put it right at no cost. Anything ongoing, such as website updates or network monitoring, is written into the scope with what it covers, or it is not part of the job.
Do you work remotely or on site?
Both, depending on the job. Integration and web work is mostly remote with a call when it helps. Network and cabling work obviously needs somebody in the building, and we will say up front how many days that means.
How quickly can you start?
We work to a booked start date rather than squeezing jobs in, so it depends what is already in the diary. The banner at the top of the home page says which month we are currently taking projects on for.
How do we pay?
Smaller projects are paid up front. Larger ones are staged against agreed points in the work, set out in the scope so you know what is due and when. Payment link comes with the proposal.
Want to test all that?
Tell us what you are trying to get done. Half an hour, no cost, and a straight answer about whether we are the right people.