Strategy first.
Fixed price. No surprises.
Six steps from first call to live site. Every stage has a deliverable you can see, a fixed price you can plan around, and a date you can mark on the calendar. No black box, no “contact us” pricing, no scope creep mid-build.
The six steps.
Most agencies run a black-box process you can’t see inside. Ours is open. Here’s exactly what happens from your first email to the day we go live.
Discovery Call
A 15-minute call to understand what you actually need. Not a sales pitch, not a needs-assessment-pretending-to-be-a-pitch. You tell me the problem, I tell you whether Northern is the right shop for it. If we’re not, I’ll point you at who is.
At the end of this call we either book a Scoping session or you walk away — no pressure, no follow-up nurture sequence.
Scoping & Quote
A longer working session to map the project. We look at your current setup, identify the leaks, scope what needs to ship, and agree on the deliverables. You leave with a fixed-price quote and a date the build can start.
For website work this often slots into one of our fixed-price packages. For automation work it slots into a Northern AI Suite tier. For bespoke, we quote the scope.
Kick-Off & Brief
The 50% deposit clears, the project starts. Day one we send a kick-off questionnaire — brand assets, copy starters, login details if we’re migrating hosting, photos, examples you like. We do this asynchronously so you fill it in around real work.
By end of week one you have a written brief back from us, the project timeline, and a single shared place (Notion or email, your call) where every comment, asset and decision lives.
Design
We design before we code. You see the homepage and 1–2 key inner pages first — static mock-ups, full pixel detail, real copy not lorem ipsum. One round of feedback included as standard, a second on Premium and Bespoke.
You sign off the design before we write a single line of HTML. Fewer surprises later, fewer “can we just move that” rebuilds.
Build
Hand-coded, semantic HTML where it’s right; WordPress, Shopify or Northern AI Suite where they fit better. We name the stack publicly on our Stack page — nothing hidden.
You get a live staging URL within a week. You can test on phones, share with the team, leave comments. The build is never a black box that drops at the end.
Launch & Handover
Final QA, accessibility check, SEO foundations (schema, GSC, GA4), domain transfer. Site goes live, balance invoice goes out. You get a zipped copy of the code as standard — the domain stays in your name, the project files stay in yours.
For AI Suite builds, we run two onboarding sessions in the first month to make sure you and your team are using it without thinking about it.
What we promise.
Four guarantees that travel with every project regardless of which tier you pick.
The four guarantees
1. Fixed price. The number on the quote is the number on the invoice. If scope grows mid-build we re-quote the delta in writing before any work happens — we don’t just bill it.
2. No lock-in. The domain stays in your name. The code is yours on launch day. 30 days notice on any monthly service. No exit fee, no “but we host your DNS” gotcha.
3. Direct line. You email Dave, Dave replies. No account hand-off, no junior team, no “your project manager will be in touch”. 13+ years of agency work means you get the founder on the project, not delegated to it.
4. Tool-agnostic. Northern AI Suite is one option, not the only one. If HubSpot fits your business better, we build with HubSpot. No affiliate kickbacks, no hidden allegiances. The Stack page lists every tool we work with.
Common questions.
Before you ask. If yours isn’t answered here, email Dave directly — dave@northern.digital.