ServicesCustom development

The small changes that otherwise wait six months

A monthly arrangement for a site that is already live, covering the queue of ten-minute changes nobody ever schedules and the upgrades that turn into migrations if they are skipped.

What you get

  • Content, layout and component changes as they come up
  • Framework and dependency upgrades, tested before they ship
  • A written log of what changed, when, and why

What a retainer is actually for

Every live site accumulates a list: a date to change, a section that should move up, a form field nobody needs, a new logo on the client wall. Individually none of them justify opening a project, so collectively they sit there for a year.

A standing monthly arrangement is what clears that list. The work is small by definition, which is exactly why it needs somewhere to go rather than a quote each time.

Upgrades before they become migrations

A framework version skipped for two years is not an upgrade any more, it is a rebuild. Kept current on a regular cycle, the same work is an afternoon with tests run against it.

Upgrades go out after they have been checked rather than on the day they are released, because the point of maintenance is that nothing visibly changes.

A record of what changed

Every change is logged with what it was and why it was made. Six months in, that log is the difference between a site your next developer can pick up and one they want to replace.

It also keeps the arrangement honest. You can see what the month bought without asking for a report.

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What it costs

Quoted individually

Maintenance is a fixed monthly arrangement rather than a project price, agreed in writing before the first month, with the notice either side needs to end it agreed at the same time.

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Common questions

What is not covered?

Back-end systems, servers, databases and security incident response, since I do not take those on. Hosting stays in your own account and is billed to you directly. Anything that is really a new project rather than a change — a new section, a new template, a redesign — is quoted separately, and I will say when a request has crossed that line.

Does the site have to have been built by you?

No, but it starts with a look at the code. Some sites are cheap to maintain and some are expensive because of how they were built, and I would rather tell you which one yours is before either of us commits to a monthly arrangement.

How does the arrangement work?

As a fixed monthly scope agreed in writing before the first month, rather than an open-ended hourly account. What is included, how requests are sent, and the notice either side needs to end it are all written down at the start, so neither of us is interpreting it later.

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