Why us
Do it yourself, a big agency, or one person who does the work
A fair question, and one I would ask too. Here is what each path gives you, what it costs, and when each one is the right call.
Side by Side
What changes on each path
Not a list of reasons the other two are bad. Builders are fine for some businesses and some agencies are great. This is what actually differs for a local business that needs a site built and kept up.
Who you talk to
Do it yourself
Nobody. You and a help center. When something breaks at 9 PM, it is your evening.
Big agency
An account manager. They take your notes to a project manager, who takes them to a designer, who hands them to a developer. Each handoff loses a little.
Handran Development
Me. You text the person who is building your site, and the answer comes from the person who knows the answer.
Price
Do it yourself
$16 to $50 a month forever, plus ten to forty hours of your own time for the first version, and more every time it needs a change.
Big agency
Local agencies usually start at $5,000 to $15,000 for a small business site, because you are paying for the office, the sales team and everyone in the chain above.
Handran Development
Builds start at $997 for one landing page and $1,997 for a full site. No office, no sales team, so the price is the work.
Speed
Do it yourself
As fast as your free weekends. Most builder sites take a month of evenings and then stop getting updated.
Big agency
Six to twelve weeks is normal. Your project waits in line behind bigger accounts, and every change goes back through the chain.
Handran Development
Most sites launch in two to three weeks. Changes after that are usually live the same day, because there is no line.
Who actually builds it
Do it yourself
You, from a template. It looks like the template, and Google can tell.
Big agency
Often a junior designer or a contractor you never meet. The people in the sales meeting are not the people in the code.
Handran Development
I do. Planning, design, code, SEO and launch. The person you met on the first call is the one doing the work.
After launch
Do it yourself
Still you. Hours change, prices change, and the site waits until you have a free evening.
Big agency
A retainer, usually a few hundred a month, with a support ticket queue. Small changes take days and come with an invoice.
Handran Development
Optional monthly plans from $59, or take the site and go. Either way you own it. On a plan, you text me and it gets done.
After the Build
You own the site. The partnership is optional.
When the site launches, it is yours. The code, the domain, the content, all of it. That does not change no matter what you decide next.
From there you have two good choices. Keep working with me on one of the monthly plans, starting at $59, and I keep the site fast, current and showing up on Google. You text me changes, I make them, and I watch the things you do not have time to watch. Or take the site and go. Host it anywhere, hire anyone, no hard feelings and nothing held back.
Most clients stay, because it is easier. But the plan has to earn that every month. That is the whole point of doing it this way.
When a Big Agency Is the Right Call
If you need a site with hundreds of pages, a custom web app, a full rebrand with video and print, or a team on call around the clock, hire an agency. That work needs more hands than I have, and a good agency will do it well. The same goes if your company needs a vendor with a legal department and a procurement process. I am one person in Bluffton, and I would rather tell you that up front than take a job I should not.
Want to talk to the person who builds it?
Tell me about your business and I'll reply with honest recommendations and a clear quote. No pressure either way.