Is this a subscription?

Yes, to our time and skills rather than to your website. Everything we build is yours as each month is paid, and after the first three months you can stop with a month's notice.

Do we need to have worked with you before?

No. A retainer can start with a new website or system in its first months, or carry on from a project we've already built for you.

What happens in a quiet month?

We keep a list of what could come next and suggest from it, so there's usually something useful to do. If time does go unused, it carries over to the following month.

Can we change the amount?

Yes. You can raise it from any month, for example for a larger piece of work, and lower it again with a month's notice. The minimum is €2,000 or £1,700 a month.

Who owns what you build?

You do. The work becomes yours as each month is paid, and it runs on accounts in your name.

How is it different from the care plan?

The care plan keeps a website running, with updates, monitoring and small changes. A retainer is time for developing your website or software further, and upkeep can be part of it.

Skills Retainer

Keep your website and software moving ahead.

A monthly subscription that keeps your website, your software or both getting better, so you stay ahead of your competitors on a budget you can plan for. We agree the priorities with you, then work through them in order.

See how it works

Why ongoing

Steady improvement, rather than a rebuild every few years.

Your website is often the first thing a new customer sees of your business. A common pattern is a full rebuild every few years, with small updates in between. The site is up to date at launch, then slowly falls behind the business it describes.

A retainer turns that into a monthly budget for steady progress, so your website and the software behind it keep pace with your business and help you stay ahead of your competitors.

How it works

Agreed priorities, worked through month by month.

Agree the priorities
We start with what matters most to the business: a new feature, a page that needs work, a signed-in area or a whole new section.
Work through them each month
We keep the list of what comes next and work down it in order, so there's a useful next piece of work waiting each month.
Review as the business changes
Priorities move. We go through them with you regularly and suggest what's worth doing next.
Change the budget when you need to
Raise it for a larger piece of work, then bring it back down once that's done.

What the time goes on

Your website, your software, or both, in the order that helps most.

It brings you the skills of a web designer, a developer and a copywriter, none of whom you may need full time.

New features on your website
Signed-in areas for your customers or your team
Custom software, built a section at a time
Design changes and new pages
Writing and updating content
Upkeep: updates, fixes and checks
Advice on what to do next

Over time

The longer we work together, the more useful our suggestions become.

Each month we learn more about how your business works, who your customers are and what they ask for. That makes the next piece of work quicker to plan, and makes it easier for us to suggest ideas you may not have thought of.

It also gives the work a rhythm. One person in your business agrees the priorities with us, and progress happens every month instead of whenever someone finds the time.

Examples

Four ways a retainer can run.

These are illustrations rather than clients, to show how the time can be spent and how the budget can change. Amounts are in euros.

A physiotherapy clinic with 8 staff

Months 1 to 3: A new website.; 3,000 per month
Months 4 to 9: Online booking, and an area where patients can see their appointments and exercises.; 4,000 per month
After that: Steady improvements each month.; 2,000 per month

An architecture practice with 12 staff

Months 1 to 3: A larger website, with a full project archive.; 5,000 per month
Months 4 to 8: A client area for drawings and project updates.; 5,000 per month
After that: Ongoing work, with the priorities reviewed each quarter.; 4,000 per month

An events company with 6 staff

Months 1 to 3: A new website.; 2,000 per month
Months 4 to 6: A higher budget for three months, to build an instant quote calculator.; 4,000 per month
After that: Back down, for upkeep and new features.; 2,000 per month

A training provider with 15 staff, happy with its website

Months 1 to 6: Custom software to replace its spreadsheets.; 5,000 per month
Then: A signed-in area for its learners.; 4,000 per month
After that: New features as the business changes.; 3,000 per month

Price and terms

From €2,000 or £1,700 a month, with three months to start.

from, a month

€2,000£1,700

That's less than half the cost of employing one person full time. The average (mean) full-time salary in the UK is £48,512 a year (ONS, April 2025), and employer National Insurance and pension take that to about £56,000, or around £4,700 a month.

Like any subscription, it's a fixed amount each month, so it's easy to budget for. We agree the amount with you, depending on how much you would like done. It's priced in euros, sterling is converted at a fixed rate, and Spanish IVA is added where it applies.

The terms, briefly

Three months to start, then month to month
Raise the budget from any month, or lower it with a month's notice
Unused time carries over for one month, and the oldest time is used first
Each invoice shows the time carried over, used and remaining
Unlike a platform subscription, what we build becomes yours as each month is paid
A month's notice to end it

FAQ

Questions people ask first.

No. If you'd like to spread the cost of a website or software project, we can split its fixed price into stages, with the last one at launch. A retainer is for ongoing work. It can start with a build, when the plan is to carry on improving it afterwards.

Start with a blank canvas.

Tell us a little about your project, and we'll come back within one working day.