Web Development
Web development in Nanaimo, custom built from scratch.
When a website has to do something, sell, book, take a donation, manage stock, it stops being a design job and becomes a development one. We build those sites from scratch for Nanaimo and Vancouver Island businesses, with no templates and no plugins, from $899 CAD on a fixed quote.
What we build
The working parts behind a small business site
Each of these is a shipped project you can open and click through. The full write-ups are in our work.
Ecommerce development
An online store with checkout, subscriptions, live courier shipping rates, branded order emails and a back office the owner runs alone. See MO Coffee, a Nanaimo coffee roaster.
Inventories and listings the owner manages
Stock that arrives, sells and changes price every week, managed from a simple admin screen with photo galleries, no developer needed. See Morky Auto Imports in Parksville.
Forms, payments and mailing lists
Volunteer and sign up forms, donations by card and e-transfer, and a mailing list, all on one site the owner edits on the page. See the Paul Van Ryssel campaign site.
Platforms with a database and admin dashboards
When a client needs a full application, we build one: a tournament platform with divisions, pools, standings and admin dashboards that change live on event weekends. See CEVA.
Menus, hours and specials the staff update
A pub that edits its own menu, prices and weekly specials right on the page, with menu data Google can read. See Smugglers' Cove Pub.
WordPress, Wix and Squarespace
Moving off a platform without losing your rankings
A lot of the developers Nanaimo businesses end up searching for are WordPress developers, usually because the site has become a chore: plugins to update, something breaking after every update, and a page builder slowing every page down.
We do not build on WordPress. We rebuild the site as custom code and move it across with every old address kept or redirected, so Google finds the new site where it left the old one. We have done it from WordPress for Westro and from Wix for Junk Matters, and the website redesign page explains how the move is done.
How it is built
Fast, owned by you, and edited by you
The whole offer, including what the build fee buys, is on the pricing page.
- Custom code on a modern stack, hosted on Cloudflare's global network
- An editor so you change text and images on the live page yourself
- A fixed quote before any work starts, never an hourly bill
- You own the site once it is paid in full
- Hosting, domain, SSL, backups and support for $40 a month
Common questions
- What is the difference between web design and web development?
- Design is how the site looks and reads. Development is what it does: the store, the booking, the inventory, the forms and the admin screens behind them. Most local sites need a little of both. We do both on every project, so the person who designs a page is never handing it to someone else to make it work.
- How much does custom web development cost in Nanaimo?
- A custom built site starts at $899 CAD, plus $40 a month for hosting, your domain, security, backups and support. Projects with a store, an inventory, accounts or a database cost more because there is more to build and test, and you get a fixed quote before anything starts, never an hourly bill.
- Do you build on WordPress?
- No. Every site we build is custom code, which is why there are no plugins to update or break and no page builder slowing it down. We do move businesses off WordPress regularly, redirecting every old address so their Google standing carries across.
- Can you build an online store?
- Yes. MO Coffee is a Nanaimo roaster we built a full store for: checkout with subscriptions, live courier shipping rates, branded order emails and a back office the owner runs alone. Smaller shops with a handful of products are a lighter build of the same thing.
- Can I update the site myself after it is built?
- Yes. Every site comes with an editor that lets you change text and images directly on the live page. Inventories, menus and products get their own simple admin screens, so the day to day changes never need a developer.
- Who actually writes the code?
- Sem and Phillip, the two of us, here in Nanaimo. No subcontractors and no account managers, so the person you talk to is the person building it.
Tell us what the site needs to do.
Describe the job in plain words: what customers should be able to do, and what you want to manage yourself. We will tell you what it takes to build and give you a fixed price. Free, and no obligation attached to it.