Pricing
Prices up front. Payment after you're happy.
A lot of web designers won't give you a number until you sit through a sales call. Here are mine, with everything each plan includes. You'll get an exact quote in writing before I start, and you won't pay anything until the work is done.
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One-time build
$1,349 $899from · $450 off the build
Claim my spotFor you if you want to own it outright, or you already have hosting. A complete custom website, built and handed over.
- Custom design built around your business
- Works on phones, tablets, and desktops
- Contact form that goes straight to your email
- On-page SEO so Google can read your site properly
- Changes until you're happy with it — no set number of rounds
- The finished files, yours to keep
- Hosting and maintenance not included
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Best for new businesses
Monthly plan
$125 $75/mo from · locked for 12 months
After 12 months it moves to the standard price above. No other change.
Claim my spotPay for six months, get the next six free. Optional, and on top of the founding rate: pay the first six months in one go once you've approved your site, and that's $450 for your first full year, instead of $1,500 at the regular rate.
For you if you'd rather not put a lump sum down to get started. The same custom website, spread out over time, with hosting and upkeep rolled in.
- Everything in the one-time build
- Hosting every month
- Your domain name, registered and renewed for you
- SSL certificate (the padlock in the address bar), set up and renewed
- Security updates and backups
- Small edits each month
- No big cost up front
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Hosting & maintenance
$55 $35/mo from · locked for 12 months
After 12 months it moves to the standard price above. No other change.
Claim my spotFor you if you already have a website and want someone else to take care of it.
- Fast hosting on my server
- SSL certificate set up and renewed
- Uptime monitoring, so I know your site is down before your customers do
- Security and software updates
- Regular backups
- Small edits each month
Nothing's due until the work is done and you're happy with it. After that, a build or a founding year paid up front is an invoice you pay by card. The monthly plan and hosting go on a card that's charged once a month, starting the day your site goes live, or the day I take it over if you're only on hosting.
Founding client offer
Be one of my ten founding clients.
The next six clients get:
- Up to 40% off the regular price
- Six months free on the monthly plan, when you pay the first six in one go after you've approved your site
- Your monthly price locked for 12 months — the price is locked, you aren't
- Nothing due until the work is done
- No charge at all if you're not happy with it
Changes until you're happy means exactly that — there's no round limit. Until you've paid anything, I can end an engagement at any time. If I do, you owe nothing and you're free to take your business elsewhere. Once you've paid for a stretch of time, I finish it.
Put the founding rate and the free months together and your first full year comes to $450, instead of $1,500 at the regular rate. That's six months at $75, paid in one go once you've looked the finished site over and said yes. Not before. Paying month to month is still $75, with no free months in it.
I'm growing my client list, and I'd rather put that money into ten good websites than into ads. The saving goes to you.
Worst case, you see what your business could look like online, and it costs you nothing.
Six of ten founding spots left
Claim my spotClaiming a spot is free. You'll get a quote first.
The fine print, in plain English
What “maintenance” means here
Plenty of people sell maintenance without saying what's in it. Here's what's covered, and what isn't.
Included
- Security and software updates
- Regular backups
- Uptime monitoring
- SSL certificate renewal
- Small edits: text, photos, hours, prices
- Fixing anything that breaks in something I built
Quoted separately
- New pages or new features
- A full redesign
- An online store or payment setup
- Outside services that charge their own fees
- Your domain (included on the monthly plan)
- Writing new content after launch, or buying stock photos
Bigger projects
Need more than a standard website?
These take some planning, so each one gets its own quote.
Online stores
Products, a cart, and checkout. Priced by how many products you carry and how custom the checkout needs to be.
Web apps and dashboards
Booking systems, calculators, and operations dashboards to track jobs and customers. I run my own business on one I built.
Custom software
Desktop apps and automation for work you're doing by hand today.
Connecting your tools
Hooking your website up to the software you already use.
Straight answers
The questions that come up most
What's the catch with paying after?
There isn't one. I build it, you look it over, and you only pay if you're happy. I'd rather let the work do the convincing.
How does payment work?
Nothing is due until your site is done and you've looked it over. If you're not happy with it, you don't owe anything.
On the monthly plan, once you've approved your site I send you a link to a payment page with your plan and its price on it, and you put your card in there. The first charge is the day the site goes live, or on a start date we agree up to four weeks after you approve it, and then on the same date every month. Hosting for a site you already have works the same way, except the link comes once we've agreed the plan, and the first charge is the day I take your site over or a date we agree within four weeks of that.
Either way, the card goes straight to Stripe, the payment company. I never see the number and I don't keep it. Stripe emails you a receipt for every charge.
A one-time build, or the founding offer's $450, is an invoice instead. I email it after you approve the site and you pay it by card.
Stripe also gives you a billing page where you can change the card, see what you've paid, or cancel. It's at redhorsewebdev.com/pay/billing, and you sign in with your email address.
What if my card is declined?
Stripe tries it again over the next two weeks or so, and emails you a link to put in a new card. Nothing gets switched off while that's happening. If it still hasn't gone through, I'll get in touch with you before anything changes.
Am I locked into a contract?
No. There's no minimum term and no cancellation fee, and you don't have to give notice. The monthly plan is monthly — if you want to stop after two months, you stop after two months. Tell me, or cancel on your billing page, and the plan runs to the end of the month you've already paid for and stops there. Nothing more is charged, and there's no refund for the days left in that month.
“Locked for 12 months” is about the price, not about you: it means your rate can't go up for a year.
If you take the founding offer and pay the first six months in one go, that's a different thing again — you've bought a full year, and a full year is what you get.
What does the $450 actually buy, and when do I pay it?
Twelve months. You pay for six at the founding rate and the next six are free, so $450 covers a full year of hosting, upkeep, your domain and small edits. That works out at $37.50 a month.
You pay it after I've built the site and you've approved it. If you never approve it, you never pay it.
It's yours once it's paid. If you decide at month three that it isn't for you, nothing gets switched off — the site stays up and stays looked after to the end of the year you bought. There's no refund partway, because there's nothing left undelivered.
At the end of the twelve months you either carry on at the standard rate or you don't. If you'd rather not commit to a year, month to month is $75 and you can stop whenever — there are just no free months in that.
What happens after 12 months?
Founding prices on the monthly and hosting plans are locked for 12 months. After that, they go to the regular rate: $125/mo for the monthly plan or $55/mo for hosting. You'll know the date from day one, because it's on the page where you put your card in. The change happens on its own, on the same card, and I'll email you 30 days before it does.
What if the founding spots are all taken?
Then the offer comes down and prices go back to regular. You can still get a quote any time, just not at the founding price.
Do I own my website?
With a one-time build, yes, from day one. The files are yours and you can host them anywhere.
On the monthly plan the site stays mine while the plan runs, which is what lets the cost be spread out instead of paid up front. If you leave, we sort it out then: depending on how long you've been with me and why you're going, you either get the files or pay a one-off fee for them. Ask me before you cancel and I'll give you the number. If you cancel on your billing page first, I'll get in touch before the plan ends, and nothing is switched off until we've talked.
Who owns the domain name?
On the monthly plan I register it and pay the renewals, so it's in my name while you're with me. If you leave and want to take it, you pay me what I last paid to renew it — the actual cost including tax and fees, with nothing added on top — and it's transferred to you.
With a one-time build you register it in your own name from the start, so it was never mine to transfer.
What counts as a small edit?
Swapping text, replacing a photo, updating your hours, or changing a price. Anything that takes minutes. New pages and features get quoted first, so an invoice never catches you off guard.
How long does it take?
Most sites launch in one to two weeks once I have your info and photos. Bigger projects get a timeline with the quote.
Are there setup fees or hidden costs?
No setup fee. The monthly plan includes your domain, registered and renewed by me. With a one-time build, you register the domain in your own name, usually about $10 to $15 a year. If anything else would cost money, you'll hear about it before the work starts.
Why is this cheaper than other quotes I've gotten?
Because you're not paying for an agency. Agency quotes for a small business site often run into the thousands, and a lot of that pays for salespeople, account managers, and office rent. There's one of me, so you're paying for the website.
Do I have to be local?
No. Everything works by phone, text, and email, wherever you are.