No template. Ever.
Every site starts as an empty file. Type, colour, layout, motion and copy are chosen for your business and nobody else's. That is why none of the sites on this page look like each other.
Designed and coded by handWebsites built from a blank file. Not a template.
I design and build custom websites for businesses that are tired of looking like everyone else. A real first page within 48 hours of our call, and a finished site in one to two weeks. You deal with one person, and you own everything.
48h first page
1 to 2 wks full delivery
0 templates, ever
Why custom
Templates make every business look like the same business.
Most small-business websites are a theme with the photos swapped. Yours should look like it was made for you, because it was. That is the whole pitch.
Fast, because it is just me.
No account managers, no handoffs, no three-month timelines. You talk to the person building it. You see a real first page in your browser within two days, and a finished site in one to two weeks.
First page in 48 hoursBuilt properly underneath.
Quick to load, readable by screen readers, found by Google, and yours outright. Plain code with no subscriptions attached, hosted in your name for a few dollars a month, or free.
Last storefront: 100 SEO · 97 accessibilitySelected work
Three very different briefs. Three very different sites.
A novel launch, a clothing brand, and a software product. Same person, same blank file, nothing in common on screen.
Opening · the letter
Hero · the film plays as you scroll
The story and the map
Author, questions, waitlist
Launch site · author
Silver Solstice
A debut fantasy novel needed a world before it had a cover. The site opens like a letter, then a film of Argentmere plays forward as you scroll, and the page settles into the story, the map, the author and a waitlist that confirms people properly. The countdown is what the public sees until launch day; this is what opens with the book.
- Opening letter sequence, then a scroll-controlled film hero with captions timed to the footage
- Illustrated map of the town, character and place sections, questions, an author page
- Still-image experience on phones so nobody downloads a film on 4G
- Waitlist with double opt-in, confirmation emails and a failure alert; hidden beta-reader application
- Passphrase-protected dashboard so the author can watch signups
- No build step. One folder, a few serverless functions, deployed in one command
Landing · live demo, not a screenshot
The demo · edit a field, the rules react
Inspector · validation with reasons
Convert · one standard to another
Software product · healthcare
Interoperall
A developer toolkit for hospital messaging standards. The marketing site, the documentation, the pricing, the billing and the product are one codebase, and the home page is a working demo rather than a screenshot of one.
- Landing page with a live, editable demo of the core tool
- Docs, guides, cheat sheets, comparison pages and a changelog
- Sign-in, subscriptions and billing
- Seven browser-based tools behind it, with around two thousand automated tests
- A command-line tool and an on-site agent for teams who need it
- A launch kit of articles and posts, written to be useful before they sell anything
Storefront · home
Product page
The arcade
Shop · filters
Bag as a scorecard
Online store · apparel brand
Dead Average Golf
A golf clothing brand for people who shoot 95. A complete storefront and back office, from the product pages to the abandoned-cart emails, with a playable arcade game that hands out discount codes instead of a pop-up.
- Shop, filters, variant galleries, bundles, lookbook and journal
- Cart, checkout and payments with Stripe, plus accounts, wishlists and returns
- Admin for products, stock, orders and promotions, with a phone-sized version for the owner
- Order alerts, low-stock alerts, abandoned-cart recovery, restock emails
- Conversion analytics, SEO structured data, installable as an app
- A design system with measured contrast and motion rules, then a full brand review
Being rebuilt for launch · stills from the first version
Also built
Identity · show site
SPEWIN'
Name, wordmark, voice and a coming-soon page for an AFL comedy show, plus the show's whole 4K graphics package and a social kit cut for every platform.
App design · design system
Veya
A health companion app: an animated mascot with moods, a 42-icon system, a component library and a clickable prototype you can walk through.
Concept samples
Four businesses that don't exist, built the way yours would be.
Each one is a complete, working page. Open them on your phone. None of them share a font, a colour, or a layout, and none of them used a photo, so you can picture your own in there.
How it works
You will see something real within two days.
Not a wireframe, not a mood board. A page, in your browser, on your phone, that you can react to. Everything after that is faster because we are both looking at the same thing.
Day 0
A thirty-minute call.
What you do, who it is for, what you want people to do on the site, and anything you love or hate the look of. Send your current site if you have one. I send a fixed quote the same day.
Day 1 to 2
A real first page.
The home page, designed and built, at a private link. Real type, real colour, real motion, your words or a first draft of them. You tell me what is right and what is not.
Day 3 to 10
The full build.
Every page, every form, every email. The link updates as I go, so there is never a big reveal, just steady progress you can check over a coffee.
Week 2
Launch and handover.
Your domain, your hosting, your logins. A short walkthrough of how to change the things that change. Then a month of small tweaks included, because there are always some.
Will it work for you
Whatever you run, I have probably built the hard part already.
You sell things.
A storefront with payments, stock, variants, accounts, order and shipping emails, and the abandoned-cart recovery that quietly pays for the site.
You are launching something.
A launch page with a countdown, a waitlist that confirms people properly, the emails, and a private dashboard so you can watch the numbers.
You take bookings or quotes.
Forms that ask exactly what you need and nothing more, land in your inbox and calendar, and reply the way you would.
You run a software product.
Marketing site, documentation, pricing, sign-in and billing in one place, with a live demo instead of a screenshot.
You need something odd.
Dashboards, internal tools, data pipelines, desktop apps, broadcast graphics, app prototypes. If it runs on a screen, ask.
Pricing
Three starting points. One fixed quote.
Every site is scoped on a call and quoted as a fixed price. The packages below show what that usually looks like, so you can place yourself before we talk. Nothing in them is locked: pages, features and integrations are added or dropped to fit what your business actually needs.
A$1,800to A$3,000
One long page that does the job of a whole site, for a business that needs to look right, be found, and be contacted.
SuitsCafés and restaurantsTradesTrainers and coachesConsultantsLaunches and events
- Designed and written from a blank file, with you
- Mobile first, fast, accessible
- Contact, booking or quote form to your inbox
- Menus, hours, maps, price lists, whatever you need
- Search engine basics done properly
- Domain and hosting set up in your name
- A month of tweaks after launch
For example: a wood-fired restaurant with a menu that changes weekly and a booking form that asks the right four questions. See Hearth.
First page in 48h · live in about a week Start hereA$3,500to A$7,500
A full site with room to grow. Several pages, a section you update yourself, and the forms, emails and integrations to match.
SuitsStudios and clinicsAccommodationProfessional servicesAgenciesGrowing brands
- Everything in The Page
- Up to about eight designed pages
- A journal, news or offers section you can edit
- Bookings, timetables or enquiries wired to your tools
- Email templates in your brand
- Analytics you can actually read
- Photography or imagery direction if you need it
For example: a Pilates studio with a live timetable and trial booking, or a coastal stay with rooms, seasonal rates and enquiries. See Formwork or Saltmarsh House.
First page in 48h · live in one to two weeks Most people start hereA$8,000to A$20,000
For selling online or running a product. Payments, accounts, an admin you can run from your phone, and the automations that work while you sleep.
SuitsApparel and product brandsSubscriptionsSoftware productsAnything with accounts
- Everything in The Site
- Products, cart, checkout and payments
- Customer accounts, orders, returns and tracking
- Order, shipping and abandoned-cart emails
- Admin for products, stock and promotions
- For software: docs, pricing, sign-in and billing
- Launch support and a month of tweaks
For example: a golf apparel storefront with a playable arcade, or a developer product whose home page is a live demo. See the work.
First page in 48h · live in two to six weeks Let's scope itHow a quote works
The package is the starting point. The scope is yours.
- 1
We talk for thirty minutes. What you do, who it's for, what the site has to achieve, and what you already have.
- 2
You get a written scope and a fixed price within a day. Pages, features and integrations are added or removed to fit. If something in a package isn't useful to you, it comes out, and so does its cost.
- 3
The price doesn't move unless the scope does, and only with your yes. Half up front, half at launch. You own the code, the domain and every account.
Not sure which fits? Most businesses land in The Site. If your budget sits below the first band, say so anyway. Sometimes a smaller page done properly is the right answer, and if I'm not the right fit I'll tell you who might be.
Fixed price, agreed before work starts
You own the code, the domain, the accounts
Hosting runs A$0 to A$30 a month, paid to the host, not me
Questions
The things people ask on the call.
Do I actually own the site?
Yes, all of it. The code, the domain, the hosting account and every login are in your name from day one. There is no monthly fee to me and nothing that stops working if we never speak again. If you want someone else to take it over later, they can.
Can I update it myself?
The things that change often, such as menus, prices, hours, products and posts, are set up so you can change them without touching code. For bigger changes, most clients just message me. Small changes are usually done the same day.
Why not Squarespace, Wix or a WordPress theme?
You can, and for some people it is the right call. But a template site costs about the same once you pay someone to wrestle it into shape, it is slower, it carries a subscription forever, and it looks like a template. If your business competes on anything to do with taste, trust or being memorable, that matters.
How is 48 hours possible?
Because there is no handoff. One person does the design and the build, in the browser, from the first hour. I also use modern tooling, including AI tools, the way a carpenter uses power tools. Every decision about type, layout, structure and words is made by a person, and every line is reviewed before you see it.
What if I don't have photos?
Plenty of businesses don't. Good type, colour and motion carry a site a long way, as the samples above show. Where imagery is needed I can generate it, clearly labelled as such, or art-direct a short shoot. If you would rather have no generated imagery on your site at all, say so and there won't be any.
What do you build with?
Plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript for most sites, because it is the fastest thing on the web and it will still work in ten years. React and Next.js for shops and apps. Stripe for payments, Resend for email, Vercel, Railway or Cloudflare for hosting. Nothing exotic, nothing you cannot hire someone else to maintain.
Where are you, and who do you work with?
Melbourne. I work with businesses anywhere in Australia, and happily further afield if the timezones line up. Calls are on video, in Melbourne hours, and I reply to email within a business day.
Start a project
Tell me what you're building.
One email is enough. What the business is, what you want the site to do, and a link to anything you like the look of. You will hear back within a business day, usually with a first thought and a time to talk.
Replies within one business day
Melbourne · AEST