What things cost.

Websites

Hand-coded, no monthly fees, you own the code. The intake form at /build/ generates a starting template you can edit — then we work together to refine it into your finished site. The tiers below are common bundles to anchor on.

Custom tools

Each project is scoped individually. Most fall between $500 and $5,000. Some are smaller — a single API integration can be done for $500 if the scope is well-defined. Some are larger — a small platform with auth, billing, and a UI runs $5,000-10,000. Real quotes are based on a 1:1 conversation about what you actually need.

Ranges reflect the spread of typical scope. A simple "Telegram bot that posts a daily weather summary" is on the low end; one with custom command handling, scheduled tasks, and webhook integration is on the high end. Real quotes are based on a 1:1 conversation.

The real 5-year cost

A hand-coded site is one cost. A monthly-fee platform is $X/month for as long as the site exists. Over 5 years, the gap is wider than the sticker price suggests — and it widens further once you add transaction fees, app tax, premium themes, and the time-cost of working around platform limits.

Numbers reflect the standard tier for each platform as of 2026-08. Real costs vary by add-ons, transaction volume, and how many apps you need. The full breakdown — including transaction fee math, app tax, and break-even timing — is in the small business website cost guide.

Compare to the leeching platforms

Each comparison is a deep-dive on the real 5-year cost, what hand-coded gives instead, the honest tradeoffs, and how the cut-over works. Pick the one you're on (or considering).

Each link goes to a ~2,500-word deep-dive with the real cost math, what hand-coded changes, and a 5-step cut-over process.

What's actually included

Beyond the visible deliverable. The price isn't just the site — it's the handoff, the deploy, and the support window.

• Hand-coded websites from scratch — the code is yours on day one
• Cut-overs from Squarespace, Wix, GoDaddy, Shopify, WordPress.com, Weebly, or Duda
• Custom internal tools: dashboards, AI integrations, booking systems, small platforms
• SEO + AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) baked into every site — not sold separately

The full source code ships in a git repo you own. The deploy lives in your own Cloudflare account (or AWS, Vercel, Netlify, Fly.io — whatever you prefer). The 30-day support window covers bugs, deployment questions, and small tweaks (typo fixes, color changes, copy edits, up to 1 hour of "I changed my mind" work).

Ongoing work

Most projects are one-and-done. You get the site, the code, the deploy, and the 30-day support window. After that, you can extend it yourself, hire me, or hand it to another developer — the code is portable and well-commented.

For ongoing maintenance, support, or a long-running retainer, the work is scoped to a monthly fixed-price — typically $200-500/month for small sites (typo fixes, plugin updates, small feature additions, uptime monitoring) and $500-1,500/month for larger sites with active content (blog posting, regular copy edits, monthly analytics review). Real retainer quotes are based on a 1:1 conversation about what you actually need each month. No retainers without a clear project scope.

What I don't build

Some things are explicitly out of scope. Knowing these upfront saves us both time.

• Anything on a monthly-fee platform (Squarespace, Wix, GoDaddy, Shopify, etc.) — the studio's value is "you own the code," so building on a leeching platform is a contradiction
• Native iOS or Android apps
• Retainer-only engagements without a clear project scope
• SEO or AEO as a standalone service — it's built into every site

How payment works

Fixed-price projects, milestone payments, no surprises. Smaller projects have a $250 minimum deposit.

What's not in the price

Some things the bigger platforms and agencies charge for — you don't pay here.

• No monthly platform fees
• No "support contract" you didn't sign up for
• No leeching-platform lock-in
• No scope creep without a new quote
• No proprietary tools you can't take elsewhere

Third-party infrastructure (hosting, domain, API usage) is billed directly to your account with zero markup from me. A typical small business site runs ~$5-10/month in Cloudflare Pages + domain costs.

Want the math behind these numbers? Read the small business website cost guide — the 5-year TCO breakdown vs. Squarespace, Wix, and Shopify, and what drives the price up (and what doesn't).