Questions, answered before you have to ask
The things people want to know before getting in touch, written down so you do not have to spend a phone call finding out.
Working together
- Who will I actually be dealing with?
- Me. Cardboard Rocket is one person, deliberately. Nobody gets handed to an account manager or a junior once the invoice is agreed, and the person you talk to is the person writing the code.
- Do you only work with businesses in Glasgow?
- No. Glasgow and the west of Scotland is home, and meeting in person is easy there. Most of the work happens over email and calls regardless, so being elsewhere in the UK, or in the US, changes nothing practical. Prices on this site are in pounds.
- How quickly will I get a reply?
- Within one working day, and usually sooner. If something is broken on a site I support, that does not go in the same queue.
- What do you need from me?
- Less than you might think, but not nothing. Words about what the business does, photos if you have them, and one person who can make decisions. Projects stall waiting for approval far more often than they stall waiting for code.
Money
- Are the prices on the site real?
- Yes. They are genuine starting points rather than bait. What you pay depends on the scope, and you will know the final figure before any work begins.
- How does payment work?
- Half at the start and half when it goes live for project work. Support plans are billed monthly in advance.
- Could I not just build it myself on Squarespace or Wix?
- You could, and for some businesses that is honestly the right answer. The free tier gets you a site with the builder's own branding on it. Your own domain and something you would put on the side of a van means a subscription, and the advertised price is usually an introductory rate for the first term — the plans commonly renew at around double it, which is the figure worth comparing rather than the one on the pricing page. The bigger cost is your own hours, up front and then forever, because a site you build is a site you maintain. If those hours are better spent on the work that actually earns, paying once tends to be cheaper than it looks.
- Is this cheaper than going to an agency?
- Considerably, and that is not really the reason to choose it. An agency gives you a team and a process, and at a certain size that is worth every penny. For a single-page site or the first version of a tool, a large share of that cost is coordination between people you will never meet. What you get here instead is the person writing the code answering the phone.
- What if the scope changes halfway through?
- It often does, and that is fine. You hear what a change costs before the work happens rather than discovering it on the final invoice.
What you own
- Do I own the site when it is finished?
- Yes. The code, the words and the domain are yours, and the accounts are in your name. Handover means handover.
- What if I want to work with somebody else later?
- You take everything with you. Code that only one person can maintain would be a poor argument for staying, so the setup is deliberately ordinary and documented for whoever comes next.
- Is there a contract?
- Yes, a short one covering scope, price and timing. Support runs rolling monthly with a month's notice on either side.
Questions about a particular kind of work are answered on its own page — see services and pricing.
Got something in mind?
Tell me what you are trying to do and I will tell you honestly whether I can help, what it would cost, and how long it would take. I reply within one working day.