N⁰ 00 · Frequently asked questions

Honest answers, in plain English.

No marketing-speak, no asterisks. If we wouldn't say it on a phone call, it isn't here. Thirty-five questions, all answered straight.

N⁰ 01 · The basics

Getting started.

Before we begin — the essentials.

How do we start?

Fill out the contact form, or send us an email. Within 24 hours we'll reply with a quote, a few clarifying questions, and a proposed kickoff date.

If everything looks good, you pay the downpayment, we book your kickoff call, and we're off.

Do you serve clients outside California?

Yes. We work with businesses across the US. Most of our process is async — kickoff calls, async feedback, launch — so geography doesn't matter much.

The only thing geography affects: in-person photo sessions (the "Photo session" add-on) are only available for Bay Area, LA, and San Diego right now.

What if I already have a website?

Two options: we can rebuild it from scratch, or we can take over hosting and care for the existing site under our Care plan. On Wix, Squarespace, or a similar editor? We can still help with SEO and growth through our Grow plan.

What if my business is brand new?

Even better — we'll help shape the brand voice and structure on day one. Just bring your business idea, what makes it different, and a few reference businesses you admire.

N⁰ 02 · Builds

Plans & tiers.

Five plans. Which one is which.

What's the difference between Build and Plaza Pro?

Build ($799) is our flagship — 8 pages, designed and written by hand, 3-day launch, 3 revision rounds. Right for the vast majority of small businesses.

Plaza Pro ($1,499) is for businesses that want a hands-on experience and a more bespoke result: unlimited pages, custom logo, a fully functional e-commerce store (product listings, payments, and order management), unlimited created stock photos, 5 revision rounds, and 30 days of post-launch tweaks. 5-day timeline instead of 3 to allow for the deeper work.

If you'd describe yourself as picky about brand and copy, want more pages, or want to talk through your business with a real person before anything is built — Pro is for you. Otherwise Build does the job at less than half the price.

What's the difference between Care and Care+?

Care (from $25/mo) is the basics: hosting, SSL, daily backups, security monitoring, software updates, priority human support, and up to 3 hours/mo of content & layout updates.

Care+ (from $65/mo) is everything in Care, plus three things: up to 6 hours/mo of updates (twice the Care budget), a plain-English monthly traffic report on the 5th, and a priority contact channel with same-day weekday replies. Plus a 20-minute quarterly check-in call.

Care+ does not include Google Business management or review monitoring — those are Grow features. Care+ is for businesses that update their site often but don't need full local SEO work.

What's the difference between Care+ and Grow?

Care+ is about your site — more update hours and a traffic report. Grow (from $119/mo) is about getting found — Google Business profile management, local SEO citations, review monitoring with draft replies, keyword targeting, and a monthly ranking report. Grow also includes unlimited content updates instead of capped hours.

If your goal is to look professional and be easy to update, Care+ is the answer. If your goal is to be the local result that shows up first on Google, you want Grow.

Can I upgrade or downgrade between Care, Care+, and Grow?

Yes, anytime. Just email us. Upgrades take effect immediately — we prorate the difference and start a fresh price-lock at the new tier. Downgrades take effect at the next billing cycle so you don't lose paid time. No fees either direction.

N⁰ 03 · Care plans

Pricing & payment.

Where every dollar goes — and how our price-lock plans work.

How do the price-lock plans work?

Every Care, Care+, and Grow plan lets you pick how long you want to lock in your monthly rate: 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, or 5 years. The longer you commit, the lower the monthly rate — and that rate is locked for both of us.

We can't raise it on you mid-term, and you keep the same rate even if we publish higher prices for new customers later. Billing is still monthly. If life changes and you need to cancel mid-term, you pay the remaining months at the same locked rate (no penalty, no markup) and we settle up in one final invoice. Full details are in the terms.

Why offer a multi-year price lock at all?

Honestly? Because it's good for both sides. You get a lower rate and certainty — no annual "your renewal is here, the price went up" emails. We get to plan around steady revenue and pour that into actually taking care of your site instead of chasing new customers every month.

The lock works in both directions. If we ever decide to raise our base prices, your rate doesn't change for the length of your term. If you outgrow us or want to leave, you settle up the remaining months at the rate you signed up at — never a higher one.

Why is the Build $799?

Most agencies bill 30+ hours per project at $80–150/hr — that's $2,400–$4,500 for what we do in a focused 3-day sprint. We get there because we focus only on small business sites and we've built our process around that one thing.

The price reflects our actual cost, not what the market would tolerate.

Are there any hidden costs?

No. Build is $799. Plaza Pro is $1,499. Care starts at $25/mo, Care+ starts at $65/mo, Grow starts at $119/mo (those are the 5-year price-lock rates). Add-ons are listed transparently on the services page.

The only "extra" cost is the domain itself — usually $10–15/year, which you pay directly to a registrar like Namecheap. We help you set it up; we don't mark it up.

How does the first-month plan deal work with a Build?

Add a plan to your Build at checkout and your first month is discounted: Care is free, Care+ is 30% off, and Grow is 50% off. The discounted (or free) first month is charged today with your downpayment, then regular full-price billing begins on day 31 at your chosen price-lock rate, and your term begins then. You have to opt in — a plan isn't auto-added with your Build. Plaza Pro builds get a full free first month of whichever plan you choose.

How do I pay?

Standard payment is 38% downpayment ($300) at kickoff, 62% on launch ($499). We accept card, ACH, or Zelle. For monthly plans, we charge automatically on the 1st of each month at your locked rate.

Do you offer refunds?

If we miss our 3-day launch deadline through our fault (not waiting on you), we refund the downpayment. If you cancel mid-project, you keep what's been built and we return any unused portion of the downpayment.

For monthly plans, cancel anytime — no refunds for the current month, and any remaining months in your price-lock term settle up at your locked rate (no penalty, no markup). That's it.

N⁰ 04 · Process

Build process.

How a site actually gets made.

How do you really finish a site in 3 days?

Three reasons. One: we focus only on small business sites — we're not designing dashboards, e-commerce stores, or web apps. The shape of the work is repeatable. Two: one designer leads your project end-to-end, so there's no handoff lag between roles. Three: we batch your project into three focused days instead of context-switching across weeks.

Day 1: optional 40-min call + your build kicks off. Day 2: build finishes and we run our QA checks. Day 3: revisions and launch by end of day.

What's the free 40-minute designer call?

Every Build includes a free 40-minute call with a US-based designer on Day 1. The call is optional — if you'd rather just send your details and let us run, that's fine too. But if you want to talk through your business, look at references together, and shape the direction live, the call is included at no cost.

We wanted to give you the option to actually talk to the person designing your site.

How many pages does each plan include?

Build includes 8 pages. Pro is unlimited. Extra pages beyond 8 on a Build are $18 each — added at checkout or anytime later.

We priced extra pages low on purpose — a small business shouldn't have to pay more just because they need one more page.

How many revision rounds do I get?

Three formal revision rounds are included with Build, five with Plaza Pro. Most clients only use one or two. Tiny tweaks (font color, button text, photo swap) don't count as a round.

After launch, Build gets 7 days of free fixes and Pro gets 30 days. After that, changes come from your monthly hours (or are unlimited if you're on Grow).

What if I don't like the design direction?

That's exactly why the Day 1 call exists — we lock in direction together before we build. If something feels off when you see the Day 2 staging link, we adjust on Day 3 before launch. If a project ever needs a fundamentally different direction, we add a day rather than launch something you don't love.

What technology do you build with?

Static sites built with modern tools, served as static HTML. They're fast, secure, and don't have the "your site got hacked" problems that plague outdated platforms. You get a real codebase, not a drag-and-drop builder lock-in.

Can you write the copy for me?

Yes. Real copywriting by a real person — we run a short brand intake, draft your page copy in your voice, and you review and tweak. No corporate fluff, no robotic phrasing.

If you already have copy, even better — we'll edit it instead of starting from scratch.

What does unlimited content & layout updates on Grow mean?

Exactly what it sounds like. On Grow, you can ask us to update copy, swap photos, rearrange sections, restyle a page, add a new service block, refresh seasonal banners — as often as you want. We don't track hours and we don't charge per change.

The only things outside this: full redesigns of your site identity, brand-new pages beyond your original 8, custom integrations (booking systems, payment flows, member portals), and anything that requires custom development. We'll quote those upfront.

N⁰ 05 · Ownership & control

Your site is yours.

We build it, you own it.

Who owns the site?

You do. You own your domain, your content, your design files, and the site code itself. We just host and maintain it for you.

What if I want to leave?

You take everything. We export the site code, transfer the domain to your registrar, and hand you a 1-page guide for how to host it yourself or move it to another studio.

If you're inside a price-lock term, we settle up the remaining months at your locked rate in one final invoice — no exit fees, no markup, no "leaving penalty." Same rate you signed up at, just paid in one shot instead of monthly.

Will my site break if I cancel?

If you cancel without a new host, eventually yes — same as canceling any hosting service. We give you 30 days to find a new home and we'll help with the migration.

Will my site look like every other small-business site?

Not if we're doing our job. Generic, template-y output is the failure mode — we explicitly design against it. Real photos of your business, custom typography choices, a layout shaped around your actual services, copy that sounds like you.

Your business is your baby. We treat your site like ours.

N⁰ 06 · SEO & growth

What we promise — and what we don't.

Honest talk about rankings, visibility, and timelines.

Will I rank #1 on Google?

No one ethical guarantees that. What we guarantee is the work that improves rankings: technically sound site, fast load times, optimized Google Business profile, consistent local citations, content that targets the right searches, and monthly tracking so you can see progress.

Most clients on Grow see meaningful local ranking improvements within 60–90 days.

What's actually included in local SEO on Grow?
  • Google Business Profile optimization (categories, photos, posts, Q&A)
  • NAP consistency across 30+ directories
  • Citation building and cleanup
  • Review monitoring and response coaching
  • Keyword targeting based on your services and area
  • Schema markup for local business structured data
  • Monthly written report with rank tracking and traffic
Do you do paid ads (Google Ads, Facebook)?

Not as a core service. We focus on organic visibility because it compounds. If you want paid ads, we can recommend a few specialists or coach you on setting up basic campaigns yourself.

How long until I see results?

Google Business changes can show within 2–4 weeks. Local search rankings typically take 60–90 days for noticeable movement, and 6 months for meaningful traffic shifts. SEO is slow but durable — we'll show you exactly what's moving each month.

N⁰ 07 · Support & changes

When you need help — post-launch.

No portals. No ticket queues. Just a real reply from the person who built your site.

How do I request changes?

Email us, or text us. That's it. No portal, no ticket system, no SLA jargon. We respond within a few hours during business days — and the person replying is the same person who built your site.

What's actually included in 3 hours of monthly changes?

Anything that doesn't require a redesign. Updating menus, prices, hours, photos, adding a new page, swapping a section, fixing a typo, posting a news or announcement update, updating a holiday banner. Most months, clients use 30–60 minutes.

What if I need a bigger change — a new section, a redesign?

Care and Grow members get a discounted hourly rate ($60/hr) for work beyond the included 3 hours. We'll quote larger projects upfront so you know what you're committing to.

What happens if my site goes down?

We're alerted automatically — usually within seconds — and have your site back online before you even notice. If it's a longer issue, we'll text you proactively. No waiting on hold with a generic hosting helpdesk.

Still have a question that isn't here? Drop us a line. We answer honestly.
No obligation, no sales pressure
Just a real reply within 24 hours.

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