A straight answer before you spend
Advice from the person who builds the things, not from someone whose only product is more hours. Whether to rebuild or repair, what a quote should contain, why the last site failed — answered in writing, with no obligation to hire us for the work that follows.
Everyone advising you sells the thing they recommend
The agency says rebuild. The platform says migrate. The freelancer says the last developer did it wrong. Each may be right, and each is being paid by the answer. What is usually missing is somebody technical who reads what you actually have and says what they would do if it were their money.
- You have three quotes that differ by a factor of ten and cannot tell why
- Nobody can explain why the last website did not produce enquiries
- You are being told to rebuild and cannot tell if it is necessary
- A developer disappeared and you do not know what you own or where it lives
- A proposal is full of terms you would have to trust rather than judge
- You are choosing a platform based on who was most persuasive
What a consultation produces
A written document you keep and can hand to anyone. It is useful precisely because it is not tied to us doing the work.
Rebuild or repair, decided
An honest read on whether your current site is worth fixing. Rebuilding is more profitable for us and is frequently the wrong advice, so we will show you the cost comparison rather than assert it.
Quote and proposal review
What a quote actually commits the vendor to, what is missing from it, and which line items are standard versus padding. Bring us three and we will tell you what differs beneath the price.
Platform selection
WordPress, Shopify, Webflow, Squarespace or custom — matched to what you need to do in five years, not to what is fashionable or to what we prefer building.
Technical and security audit
Performance, accessibility, structured data, security posture and search health, with each finding verified rather than pasted from a scanning tool. Automated reports produce false findings constantly, and acting on them costs real money.
Ownership and access recovery
Working out what you own, where it is hosted, who controls the domain and how to get the keys back. This is a common and stressful situation and it is usually solvable.
A specification you can hand to anyone
If you are going to tender the work, a clear written scope so the quotes you receive are comparable and the vendor cannot redefine the job halfway through.
Who this suits
Anyone about to spend significantly
A few hundred dollars of independent review before a five-figure commitment is the cheapest insurance available on the decision.
Businesses burned once already
If the last project went badly, the useful question is what went wrong structurally — otherwise the next one goes the same way with different people.
Organisations with an internal team
A second technical opinion for a marketing lead or an owner who has to approve a plan they cannot independently evaluate.
Anyone locked out of their own site
Domain, hosting or account access lost with a previous developer. Recovering it is usually possible and rarely as bad as it feels.
How a consultation runs
Short, structured and written down. Most engagements are complete within a week.
Tell us the decision you are facing
A short call or a message describing what you are trying to decide and what you have been told so far.
We examine what exists
The current site, the hosting, the analytics and search data, and any quotes or proposals you have received.
We talk it through
A working session where you can ask anything, including the questions you have been embarrassed to ask a vendor.
You get it in writing
The recommendation, the reasoning, the realistic cost range, and what to do if you disagree with us. Yours to keep and to share.
What it costs
A flat fee agreed before we start, based on scope. If you later hire us for the build, the consultation fee comes off it — and if you hire someone else, the document is still yours and still useful.
- Flat fee, agreed in advance, no hourly meter running
- Credited in full against a build if you go ahead with us
- The written recommendation is yours regardless of who does the work
- No obligation, no follow-up sales sequence
- We will say if your question is small enough to answer free on a call
Questions about consulting
- Will you just tell me to rebuild with you?
- Frequently not. Repairing an existing site is often cheaper and faster, and we have told plenty of people to keep what they have and fix three specific things. If the recommendation is always the most expensive option, the advice was worthless — and you would be right to distrust it.
- Can you review a quote from another agency?
- Yes, and it is one of the most common reasons people come to us. We will tell you what the quote actually commits them to, what is missing, whether the price is reasonable for the scope, and which questions to ask before signing. We will also tell you when a competitor's quote is a good deal.
- I have lost access to my domain and hosting. Can you help?
- Usually, yes. Domains have a registrant of record and there are established recovery processes even when the previous developer is unresponsive. It takes patience and paperwork rather than anything technical. Bring whatever records you have and we will tell you what is recoverable.
- How is this different from a free website audit?
- A free audit is a lead-generation tool, usually produced by a scanner and designed to look alarming enough to prompt a call. We have re-tested plenty of them and a majority of the findings are false or trivial. A paid consultation is a person reading your actual situation and verifying each finding before putting their name to it.
- Do you work with businesses outside NJ and NYC?
- Yes. Consulting is entirely remote and location makes no difference to it. Local SEO advice is naturally tied to where your customers are, but everything else applies anywhere.
- What if I just have one question?
- Ask it. If it takes ten minutes on a call, we will answer it and not invoice you. Consulting is for the decisions big enough to deserve written analysis, and we will tell you which kind yours is.
Still deciding? Book a free 20-minute call and we will tell you honestly whether this is the right spend for where you are.
Related services
Web Design
If the conclusion is to build, this is what building with us involves.
Read more about Web DesignConversion Optimization
When the site works but the enquiries do not arrive.
Read more about Conversion OptimizationSEO
When the question is why nobody is finding the site at all.
Read more about SEOBring us the decision
Tell us what you are trying to decide and what you have been told. We will tell you what it would cost to answer it properly — and if it is a ten-minute answer, you will get it for nothing.