Four steps. A fixed price. No big reveal at the end.
Every project runs the same way, from a five-page website to the platform behind nine NHS Stop Smoking Services. Here is each step, and the thing that lands in your inbox at each one.
What happens, and what you get.
Each step comes with something you can hold us to. Watch the plate go from a sketch to live software, seated on the same foundations as everything else we build.
Free website plan or consultation
Websites start with the free website plan. Four questions on a form, no call needed. Within five working days you get a sitemap, a homepage design and a fixed quote.
Portals, apps and systems start with a free consultation: a 45-minute video call with the people who would build it. If an off-the-shelf tool would do the job, we say so. Afterwards you get a written summary, yours to keep.
Sample data- From
- Echtic <hello@echticstudios.com>
- To
- Amira Khan, Harbour Physio
- Subject
- Your free website plan
Hi Amira, here is your plan, five working days after your form.
Sitemap
- Home, Treatments (three pages), Prices, Book online, Team, Contact and parking
Homepage design
- Phone and desktop, with your logo and photos: open the link to comment
Fixed quote
- Business website, £450, 1–2 weeks. Accept online, or say no thanks.
- From
- Echtic <hello@echticstudios.com>
- To
- Amira Khan, Harbour Physio
- Subject
- Our call on Tuesday: summary and next steps
Hi Amira, thanks for your time. Here is what we heard and what we’d suggest.
What you told us
- Three physios across two clinics, booked by phone into a paper diary.
- Patients ask for prices before they book.
- The website is nine years old and nobody can edit it.
What we’d suggest
- Stage one: a new website with prices on every treatment page.
- Stage two: a patient portal for forms and rebooking.
Not a fit if…
- You’d rather keep your current booking provider. Then we’d link to it instead of building one.
Fixed quote, in stages
A written quote on a private page. It sets out what we will build, in which stages, what is included and what isn’t, the timeline and a fixed price for each stage. Optional extras are priced separately, so you choose what goes in.
You accept it online, and nothing starts until you do. For websites the payments are staged: 40% to go ahead, 40% when designs are signed off, 20% at launch.
Sample dataechticQuote EQ-0312Work and fees
1Business websiteDesigns, up to 12 pages, forms, redirects£450Fixed price · 1–2 weeks£450·Essential care planHosting, backups, updates, monitoring£95a month- 40% to go ahead£180
- 40% at design sign-off£180
- 20% at launch£90
Accept onlineFixed price · stop after any stageDesign and build
We agree the designs with you before we build. Then you get a private preview link that updates every week, so you watch working software grow instead of waiting for a big reveal.
Every change runs through automated tests before it reaches your preview. Accessibility is checked as we go, against WCAG 2.2 AA, not bolted on at the end.
Sample datapreview.harbourphysio.echtic.devWeekly preview- NewTreatment pages, with prices on each one
- NewBooking: the two-tap flow, ready to try on your phone
- DoneYour six comments from Monday
Open the previewLeave a commentLaunch and care
Before launch: speed and accessibility checks, redirects from your old site, and for systems that hold personal data, an independent penetration test. Then we move your data across, go live and train your team.
After launch, a care plan keeps it hosted in the UK, backed up daily, updated and monitored. When something needs a fix, you talk to the people who built it.
Sample dataharbourphysio.co.ukAll systems normal- Uptime
- Checked every minute · no incidents this month
- Backups
- Restored and checked · Monday 06:00
- Updates
- Applied · Next.js and 4 packages
- Certificate
- TLS 1.3 · renews automatically
- Care plan
- Essential · next report 1 November
Our promises, in writing
These go into every quote and contract. They are the reason a fixed price from us actually stays fixed.
A fixed price, in stages
The price is written down before work starts and it does not move unless you ask for more. Larger projects are split into stages, and you can stop after any stage and keep everything built so far.
Staged payments
You pay as the work is delivered, never everything up front. For websites that is 40% to go ahead, 40% when designs are signed off, 20% at launch.
A warranty
Anything we built that doesn’t work as agreed is fixed at no cost during the warranty period set out in your contract.
Clear contracts and code rights
Plain-English terms, the rights to the code passed to you once it is paid for, and a data processing agreement where we handle personal data. We are happy to work to your own terms or framework instead.
You own it
Your domain, your code in your own repository, your data and the accounts it runs on. No lock-in, and no licence fees to us for your own software.
A full handover
If you ever move on, you get the code, the data, the documentation and the accounts, so another developer can pick it up without starting again.
Two tracks, one way of working.
A website starts with a free plan. A portal, app or system starts with a call. Both end with software you own, on the same foundations.
Website track
Get a free website plan- Free website planSitemap, homepage, fixed quote · 5 working days
- Go-aheadAccept online · 40% to start
- Build1–2 weeks · preview link as it goes
- LaunchRedirects, training · 20% at launch
Project track
Book a free consultation- Free consultationA call · about 45 minutes
- Staged quoteFixed price per stage
- Weekly previewsWorking software, stage by stage
- LaunchTests, data moved, team trained
- CareUK hosting, backups, support
After launch: care plans
Hosting, backups, security updates and support in one monthly plan. It is quoted alongside your build, so you know what running it costs before you say yes.
12-month minimum · extra work £60 an hour
Essential
£95 a month
A website that mostly looks after itself
- UK hosting, data kept in the UK
- Daily backups, restores checked
- Security and software updates
- Uptime monitoring
- 1 hour of changes a month
- Replies within 2 working days
Growth
£195 a month
A site or system your business runs on
- Everything in Essential
- 4 hours of changes or new features a month
- Monthly report: visits, enquiries, bookings
- Error monitoring with alerts
- Replies the next working day
Questions people ask
Something else? hello@echticstudios.com
How long does a project take?
A business website usually takes one to two weeks from go-ahead, or two to four weeks with an admin portal. A larger portal or business system usually has a first stage live in two to three months, and an app three to four, delivered in stages so you start using it sooner.
What if we change our minds mid-build?
That is what the weekly preview is for: changes are cheap while things are still being built. If you want something that wasn’t in the quote, we price it before we do it, so the total never moves without you agreeing.
Can we start with a smaller first stage?
Yes. Most people start with the piece that costs them the most time, get it live, then add to it on the same foundations. A website is often stage one of a bigger system.
Who will we actually talk to?
The people building it, from the first call to launch and after. There is no account manager in between.
What if we want to move on?
The code sits in your own repository, the hosting runs in accounts you own, and every system comes with handover documentation. Another developer can pick it up.
Do you work with our existing suppliers?
Yes. We work alongside your IT team or other suppliers, and connect to the systems they look after.
Five working days from now, you could have your website plan.
A sitemap, a homepage design and a fixed quote. Free, with no obligation.