Ownership
What you own. In plain English, before you ask.
We quote the work, because no two businesses need the same thing. This part we publish, because it should never depend on a conversation: who owns what, what happens if you leave, and what it costs to buy your site outright — with the actual numbers.
Why this page exists
Because the question people are too polite to ask is “what happens if this goes wrong?” — and in this industry it’s a fair question. Plenty of web companies keep the code, keep the domain, or quietly charge you to get your own data back. You are allowed to ask any of them for this page. Most of them can’t give you one.
The two routes
Two ways to work with us. They differ on one thing — whether you own it or we run it. Nothing else hides behind that difference.
- 1.1
Owned — you buy it
You pay for the build and it's yours — the code, the content, the domain in your name. Care afterwards is optional and month to month. If you ever leave, you leave with everything. Care afterwards is £59/mo for a site, £99/mo once there's software to look after, and it's optional.
- 1.2
Managed — we run it
A service, not a purchase — we build it, host it, look after it and keep it working, and you pay monthly. You don't own it while you're renting it, and we'd rather say that plainly than bury it in terms. Your minimum term is agreed in writing before you sign — it's on your agreement, not decided after.
- 1.3
You can switch
Managed to Owned, whenever you like, at the published price in section 3. Nobody decides forever on day one.
Who owns what
Line by line, for both routes. The domain answer matters most if things ever go wrong, and it's the same either way.
- 2.1
Your domain — always yours
In your name from day one, both routes, no exceptions. We never hold a domain. If one of yours is currently in someone else's name, check that today — with them, not just with us.
- 2.2
Your content — always yours
Words, photos, logo — everything you gave us and everything we wrote for you. Both routes, forever, no argument.
- 2.3
Your data — always yours
Bookings, orders, enquiries, customers. Exportable to CSV on request, both routes, written into the agreement rather than left to goodwill.
- 2.4
The code — depends on the route
On Owned it's yours from launch: the repository transfers to you and any developer alive can pick it up. On Managed we keep it while you're renting — that's what makes Managed cheaper — and you can buy it any time.
Keep paying and it becomes yours
Managed isn't rent forever. Half of every pound you pay comes off the price of owning it, so the buyout shrinks each month until there's nothing left to pay — about two and a half years on a site. Nobody has to ring us to start it.
| After | The site | Site + working parts |
|---|---|---|
| Day one | £1,175 | £2,025 |
| 6 months | £908 | £1,608 |
| 12 months | £641 | £1,191 |
| 18 months | £374 | £774 |
| 24 months | £107 | £357 |
| 30 months | Yours | Yours |
A worked example on a typical build of each, so you can see the shape of it before we’ve quoted you anything. Yours is calculated the same way, from the build you actually agree — and the table is generated from the same file the maths runs on, so the two can’t drift apart.
The bottom row is the point of it: the price reaches zero and stays there. That’s 27 months on a site, and 30 once there are working parts to look after. You don’t have to do anything to get there except stay.
- 3.1
Half of what you've paid comes off
Every pound on Managed credits fifty pence against the buyout. Keep going and it reaches zero on its own.
- 3.2
You can buy it early, any month
At the published price in the table. No negotiation, no exit fee — buying early is a shortcut, not a rescue.
- 3.3
Calculated from the middle of your build
Not the ceiling. Nobody who stayed should be penalised for having asked for a more complicated site.
- 3.4
Owning it doesn't end the relationship
The day it's yours, the payment drops to care — £59/mo for a site, £99/mo once there's software to look after — and care is optional, month to month. Better said now than sprung on you later.
If you leave
The part most companies write carefully. We've tried to write it plainly instead.
- 4.1
Nothing gets switched off out of spite
Ever. Not as leverage, not while an invoice is disputed. Your site stays up to the end of the month you've paid for.
- 4.2
You take your domain, content and data
Both routes, always. On Managed, if you haven't bought the code, the site itself comes down — because you were renting it. Said clearly before you sign, not after.
- 4.3
On Managed, what early exit costs is fixed upfront
On Managed, if you leave inside your minimum term, what that costs — if anything — is agreed with you and written on the agreement before you sign it. Never worked out afterwards.
- 4.4
No admin charge to leave
No admin charge for leaving, none to export your data, none to release your domain. Some firms charge hundreds for that last one.
- 4.5
The door stays open
Restart any month you like. Someone who leaves well usually sends another along — worth more than trapping them would be.
If you’re weighing us against someone else, ask them for their version of this page. Not what it costs — everyone quotes. Ask who owns the code, whose name the domain is in, what it costs to leave, and whether paying them for two years ever ends in you owning anything. The answer, and how long it takes them to give it, tells you most of what you need to know.
It’s your site. Here’s exactly what that means.
- 5.1
Owned: yours from day one. Managed: yours once you buy it out.
Domain, content and data are yours from day one, either route. The code goes with them too, from day one, if you bought outright. On Managed, the code stays ours while you're renting — it becomes yours as you buy it out, not before.
- 5.2
Small tweaks are part of care
Price changes, opening hours, new photos, a reworded headline — message us on WhatsApp and it's done, usually the same working day. That's what the monthly is for.
- 5.3
Bigger changes get a number first
A new page, a new section, a new feature — we say what it takes and what it costs before any work starts. No surprise invoices, ever.
- 5.4
It grows when you're ready
Booking, ordering, loyalty, a dashboard — built and bolted on as your business asks for them. Start simple; you never rebuild from scratch.
And leaving is boring on purpose: agreed in writing before you sign. Content and data hand over inside the month you’ve already paid for, on both routes — the code goes with them if you’re Owned, or once you’ve bought it out if you’re Managed. The full detail is above, in section 04.
Ask us anything.
The usual questionsSomething else on your mind? Ask it on the call, or drop it in the contact form and you'll get a straight answer back.
A straightforward site ships in about a week. A site plus booking or ordering is 2–4 weeks. A full system is 4+ weeks depending on scope. You get a firm timeline after the first call.